DOT sued for lack of disabled accessible bathrooms on small jets
The US Transportation Department is being sued to enforce regulations for disabled accessible bathrooms on single-aisle jets.
The Paralyzed Veterans of America filed a lawsuit against the DOT, seeking a judgement which would compel the department to issue regulations forcing airlines and plane manufacturers to ensure disabled passenger accessibility.
The DOT mandated the requirement for wide body aircraft under the 1986 Air Carrier Access Act but held off on imposing the legal requirement for smaller jets.
The department has tried several times to get a consensus between disabled travelers, manufacturers and the airlines and last held talks on the issue two years ago.
It called for planes with 125 seats or more to have wheelchairs onboard and lavatories with accessible handles.
However The Trump Administration blocked it a year ago.
The suit was filed by the Democracy Forward Foundation, on behalf of the Paralyzed Veterans of America.
"Essentially, the lawsuit is based on this notion that the agencies need to be acting with reasonable diligence and moving forward and not needlessly stalling them," said Foundation lawyer Karianne Jones.
Airlines say installing adequate disabled access bathrooms means cutting up to six seats on a typical jet, which would cost the industry more than $1 billion a year.
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