14 CFR Part 382 Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Air Travel (Air Carrier Access Act): Preamble and Section-by-Section Analysis (with amendments issued through July 2010)

1. Movable aisle armrests

The current rule requires U.S. carriers using aircraft with 30 or more seats to have movable aisle armrests on at least half the passenger aisle seats. Such armrests need not be provided on emergency exit row seats or on seats on which movable aisle armrests are not feasible. The carrier is required to provide a means to ensure that individuals with mobility impairments or other passengers with disabilities can readily obtain seating in rows having movable aisle armrests. The requirement applies to new aircraft ordered or delivered after the rule went into effect (retrofitting was not required) or to situations in which existing seats are replaced by newly manufactured seats.

The Foreign Carriers NPRM proposed retaining these requirements and applying them to foreign carriers, with some modifications and clarifications. The exception for seats on which movable aisle armrests are not feasible was not included in the Foreign Carriers NPRM regulatory text, and a new requirement was proposed that would call on U.S. and foreign carriers to ensure that movable aisle armrests were proportionately provided in all classes of service. The information provided by carriers about the location of movable aisle armrests would have to be specified by row and seat number.

A number of carriers and aircraft manufacturers commented that the proposed deletion of the feasibility exception and the requirement to have movable aisle armrests in each class of service were problematic. They said that some seats and seat console designs for first and business class seats in fact did make movable armrests infeasible or too costly. Moreover, they said, the wider seat pitches in first and business class cabins often permitted horizontal transfers of passengers from boarding chairs to aircraft seats, making movable armrests unnecessary in these cases.

The Department agrees that, if in a given aircraft, seats and seat pitches are configured so as to permit a horizontal transfer of a passenger from a boarding wheelchair to the aircraft seat (i.e., a transfer that can be accomplished without lifting the passenger over the aisle armrest), it would not be necessary to have a movable aisle armrest at that location. Consequently, if a carrier can show, through an equivalent alternative request, that such transfers are feasible with a given cabin configuration, the Department would grant the request for the carrier’s aircraft using that configuration. The underlying rule, however, will be adopted as proposed, because without a means of making a horizontal transfer into aircraft seats, passengers who board using boarding wheelchairs will have to use the less comfortable, safe, and dignified method of being lifted over the armrest. Carriers that are unable to demonstrate an equivalent alternative would have to provide movable aisle armrests even in first and business class.

Some commenters also said that putting seats with movable armrests into existing aircraft should be required only when newly designed or developed types of seats are installed, as distinct from newly manufactured seats of the same type that formerly occupied the space. Consistent with other provisions of the ACAA, ADA, and section 504, when a feature of a vehicle or facility is replaced, it must be replaced with an accessible item. (We note that, according to information referred to in the regulatory evaluation, movable aisle armrests are now standard features of at least some seat manufacturers’ products.) This obligation is not limited to new models of a feature placed into a space where older models formerly were used. Indeed, adopting the commenters’ suggestion would create a means for carriers to avoid providing movable aisle armrests on existing aircraft when newly manufactured armrests are installed, since carriers could simply order older seat models whenever they replaced the seats. When carriers remove any of the old seats on existing aircraft and replace them with newly manufactured seats, half of the replacement aisle seats must have movable armrests.

Disability community commenters generally favored the Foreign Carriers NPRM proposal, but suggested some modifications. Some comments said that emergency exit rows should be made part of the base from which the 50 percent calculation should be made. The Department believes, however, that the existing formula, which excludes those rows from the calculation, will result in sufficient rows being equipped with movable aisle armrests. Other comments suggested requiring some rows (presumably, in economy as well as business or first-class sections) to have wider seat pitches, the better to accommodate service animals or assistive devices, or to remove some rows entirely and provide securement devices so that passengers could sit in their own wheelchairs. The Department regards these suggestions as impractical and potentially too costly to airlines, as they would reduce seating capacity on the aircraft. The latter suggestion, in addition, would be inconsistent with FAA safety rules concerning passenger seats on aircraft, since aircraft seats must be certified to withstand specified g-forces.

One comment suggested requiring that in new aircraft or those subject to a cabin refit, the bulkhead row always have a movable aisle armrest. While we do not believe it is necessary to be this specific in the regulatory text, we believe that this is a good idea that carriers and manufacturers should consider, except when a bulkhead row is unavailable to passengers with disabilities because of FAA safety rules (e.g., a bulkhead row that is also an exit row). Bulkhead rows are often used by people with disabilities (see the seating accommodations section of this Part).