The US Department of Transportation has some good information about traveling with a disability on flights
to/from and within the US.
See
https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/traveling-disability and
https://www.transportation.gov/indi...r-protection/wheelchair-and-guided-assistance for instance. They also have other guidance including technical guidance.
I always travel with some key documents printed off and electronic copies of some others, both government documents and the airline's own policies. They have come in handy at times.
Some key quotes from the two pages linked above:
The Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) is a law that makes it illegal for airlines to discriminate against passengers because of their disability. The Department of Transportation is responsible for enforcing the ACAA, which applies to all flights to, from, or within the United States.
Airlines are also required to provide passengers with disabilities many types of assistance, including wheelchair or other guided assistance to board, deplane, or connect to another flight; seating accommodation assistance that meets passengers’ disability-related needs; and assistance with the loading and stowing of assistive devices.
AND
If I have a disability, am I allowed to board the airplane before passengers without disabilities?
Yes. If you self-identify as a passenger with a disability who needs additional time or assistance to board the airplane, the airline must allow you to board the airplane before other passengers.
Note for that last one: this is literally what is required. The airline cannot require you to state what specifically the disability is, nor do you have to prove you have one -- self identification that you are "a passenger with a disability that needs additional time or assistance to board the airplane" is sufficient and what the regulations require. The airlines are then bound to allow you to pre-board.
I have been asked if I am able to walk to the plane myself or if I need assistance, and that is ok for them to ask (since obviously if I need assistance they would need to know so they can provide it). They may load you before or after those who are in wheelchairs (I have had both scenarios and as far as I can tell it depends on a combo of airline policy, the # of each, which is easier for them that particular day etc; IME those in wheelchairs usually go first, with those who need wheelchair all the way to the seat going before those who only need it to the plane door - I assume this is because it is person and equipment intensive and they don't want other people unintentionally getting in the way - safer for everyone that way), but regardless of the specific order they load those with disabilities, they have to load you before they load the rest of the passengers.
Here is DOT guidance for the airlines about pre-boarding: Additional Guidance: Preboarding of Air Travelers With Disabilities
https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/preboarding-notice-final which has a link to a PDF of the guidance itself. I carry a printed copy of this document with me when I fly to/from or within the US.
This document is worth reading for anyone who preboards whether for an obvious or an invisible disability. For example, it is helpful to understand the following:
In the revised final rule published on May 13, 2008, the Department expanded the preboarding requirement to cover not only people who need a specific seat assignment or who need to stow their personal folding wheelchairs, but also to cover passengers that “need additional time or assistance to board, stow accessibility equipment, or be seated.” For a passenger to be entitled to preboarding, that passenger must self-identify at the gate as being a person with a disability that needs to preboard for one of the above-listed reasons. In the section-by-section analysis of the preamble to the final rule, the Department noted that the obligation to preboard passengers with disabilities “exists regardless of the carriers’ preboarding policies for other persons (e.g., families with small children).”
<the law is:
14 CFR 382.93 states, “As a carrier, you must offer preboarding to passengers with a disability who self-identify at the gate as needing additional time or assistance to board, stow accessibility equipment, or be seated.” >
and also this
It is the Enforcement Office’s view that section 382.93 requires carriers to board passengers with disabilities who self-identify at the gate as needing to preboard for one of the listed reasons to board the plane before all other passengers, including first class passengers, elite-level passengers, members of the military, passengers with small children, etc.
One thing I do when I fly is I do not rely on the airline to make a pre-boarding announcement (they aren't required to make one) : I present myself to the desk at the gate and self-identify to the airline employee there that I have a disability and will need to pre-board because I need extra time boarding. If they don't volunteer the info I will ask them if they will be making a pre-boarding announcement and at about what time. Sometimes they will ask me to sit in a specific area, but usually they don't. Sometimes they will come and get me before boarding starts and let me board, other times they may make a general pre-boarding announcement, it really depends; that is why I like to ask what they will be doing - so I know how to know it is time to pre-board.
SW