It’s easy to complain about the woes of air travel, but for disabled passengers, getting around the world by plane is almost certainly even more difficult. 

However, flying could become easier for disabled travellers in the US after an announcement by the Biden administration. 

The proposal, made on Thursday, would require employees who handle wheelchairs or physically assist disabled passengers to undergo more-thorough training. Delaying the return of a wheelchair or damaging it would also be classed as discrimination against disabled people — a federal law. 

These regulations would make it easier for the Transportation Department to exact penalties on airlines that mistreat wheelchairs. 

Both the increased training for employees and penalties would work towards the same goal; making travel more comfortable and safe for disabled people. 

“There are millions of Americans with disabilities who do not travel by plane because of inadequate airline practices and inadequate government regulation, but now we are setting out to change that,” 

“This new rule would change the way airlines operate to ensure that travellers using wheelchairs can travel safely and with dignity,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said. 

Buttigieg said millions of these travellers did not fly because airline practices and government regulations were inadequate. Last year, airlines mishandled more than 11,000 mobility scooters and wheelchairs and these were only the instances that were reported to the Transportation Department. 

During the proposal announcement at the White House, Paralyzed Veterans of America CEO Carl Blake said he was yet to meet a member of the organisation who hadn’t had their wheelchair damaged during a journey. 

Stories of travellers being forced to drag themselves along the ground, sit stranded at an airport for five hours or, in one tragic instance this year, die at an airport are all too common. 

This isn’t the first time the Biden administration has attempted to make flying easier for disabled travellers. Last year, new regulations required more commercial aircraft to have accessible toilets, and in 2022, a bill of rights for disabled airline passengers was published. 

However, Senator Tammy Duckworth, chairwoman of the Senate Commerce Committee’s aviation subcommittee, said Congress needed to protect the policies if they were to enable lasting change. 

“This rule could be overturned by a future Department of Transportation under a different administration,” Duckworth said. As a former army pilot who lost both legs in the Iraq war and travels in a wheelchair, Duckworth deeply understands the consequences if such a thing were to happen. 

While there is no specific timeline for when the rules will be finalised, the proposed regulations will be open to public comment for 60 days.