Almost 10 million passengers were affected by a data breach at Cathay Pacific airlines in 2018. Hackers have exposed Cathay customers’ passport and credit card numbers and captured a variety of personal data including names, nationalities, dates of birth, phone numbers, physical addresses, and historical travel information, according to the airline. 

British Airways informed the public that personal and financial data from 380,000 customers was stolen by hackers in summer 2018.

A passenger with a cerebral palsy waited for United Airline’s wheelchair to help him off the plane. After waiting for about 30 minutes without receiving adequate support by the airline staff, he decided to crawl off the plane to reach his own wheelchair. The airline reached out to him after the incident to apologize and offered compensation. The passenger was pleased with the airline’s response.

The articles below recount several stories of disabled air passengers who were denied  a flight because of the size of their wheelchair or whose wheelchairs have been damaged during transport. Airlines were reported as not offering sufficient compensation for the damages, or only offering them after legal action on behalf of the passengers. Furthermore, as some of the wheelchairs took a long time to repair, the affected people were restricted in their mobility or forced to pay extra expenditures for car rentals, taxis or other kinds of assistance. 

U.S. DOT accessibility requirements

For many people, it’s easy to take travel for granted because it’s simple and quick to book an airline ticket or check in online. But this is not the case for everyone, especially people with disabilities. With this in mind, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) issued a mandate requiring airline websites to be accessible to passengers with disabilities, as defined by the Website Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). It applies to all airlines with websites marketing air transportation to U.S. consumers for travel within, to or from the United States. 

Barriers at airports and airlines

Accessibility is often thought of and promoted in terms of the airport and on-board experiences; however, that is shortsighted. Considering that accessibility factors into the entire passenger experience, including shopping, purchasing, and after-travel, it is important for businesses to take a more comprehensive and universal approach to how they address accessibility. As more and more passengers with disabilities are traveling with air carriers, technology will play an ever-evolving role in enhancing their experience. Among the biggest issues with airlines is the difficulty of checking in online and choosing seats and the fact that customer service is often only available by phone. Within airports, digital information screens pose significant physical barriers, along with varying levels of customer service standards. Other issues included non-accessible check-in machines  and trouble finding assistance meeting points. For deaf travellers who can't hear announcements, changes of the gate or station platform result in missed flights and trains.

Racism on flights

A new report by the International Air Transport Association shows that airlines are not doing much when it comes to racism and sexual harassment on flights. The International Air Transport Association reported that there were 350 reported cases of racial, homophobic, ageist, and sexual abuse on flights, and yet only one in 20 offenders were removed from planes.

Department of Homeland Security raises concerns of racial profiling by TSA supervisors

Full-body scanners have become standard at airports over the past decade. Unlike metal detectors, the scanners can detect nonmetallic items. However, they can't tell what objects are. Black women have been raising alarms for years about being forced to undergo intrusive, degrading searches of their hair at airport security checkpoints. Airports reactet with improved training for its workers on "hair pat-downs" but it turns out there's an issue beyond the screeners. Full-body scanners and facial recognition software may be biased in their programming. The latter is known for being less accurate in reading the faces of racial and ethnic minorities.