On July 5, 2012, the U.S. Department of Transportation published a draft updated Technical Assistance Manual (TAM) for airlines and passengers with disabilities about their rights and responsibilities under the Air Carrier Access Act. DRAFT Technical Assistance Manual. This draft TAM is intended to update the previous TAM on these same issues issued in 2005 in order to account for legislative and regulatory developments since then. The draft TAM is lengthy and provides extensive guidance on handling passengers with disabilities under the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA). Given the Department’s recent history of enforcement actions against carriers for alleged violations of the ACAA and 14 CFR Part 382, this TAM will be an important guidance document once finalized. Interested parties wishing to comment on the draft TAM should submit comments to the DOT, in Docket DOT-OST-2012-0098, on or before October 3, 2012.
