American Airlines formally reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to continue the airline’s significant actions to improve the travel experience for customers traveling with wheelchairs and mobility devices.

American has a long-standing commitment to serving passengers with disabilities. In 2023, American served more than 8 million passengers who requested assistance, and transported more than 146,000 wheelchairs and other personal mobility devices. American provides these services in accordance with all regulations free of charge and in challenging airport environments around the world where weather, air traffic control, and other complexities can make travel difficult for all passengers. In recognition of the special challenges passengers with disabilities face, in 2024 alone, American invested more than $175 million in services, infrastructure, training and new technology to help ease their journey and transport their specialized equipment.

The impact of these investments is clear. In 2023, when American received more than 8 million requests from customers for wheelchair assistance, less than 0.1 percent (or less than 1 in every 1,000) of these customers submitted a disability-related complaint to American. Further, customer claims for mishandled wheelchairs and scooters have declined by more than 20% over the last two years. Despite American’s best efforts, if a wheelchair or other mobility device is damaged or delayed during a customer’s journey, American pays for or provides repairs, replacements and loaners. The vast majority of cases are resolved directly with the passenger, without a lawsuit or the passenger escalating the matter to the DOT for resolution.

American’s investments in improving travel for customers using wheelchairs and mobility devices

• As a result of American’s recent investments, the airline has improved its wheelchair and scooter handling rate by more than 20% since 2022.
• American’s disability-related complaint rate for wheelchair assistance services is less than 0.1% – which means there is less than one complaint for every 1,000 requests for wheelchair assistance. American is working to get that number to zero.
• American became the first U.S. airline to launch an automated tag for mobility devices, which will ensure more accurate and consistent information for team members handling the devices and provide enhanced visibility of the devices throughout the customer travel journey.
• American has delivered wheelchair movers to all of its hubs and gateways and invested in wheelchair lifts at more than 20 airports, with five more expected to be in place by the end of the year.

Despite these improvements, there are instances where the service the airline provides is disrupted, untimely, or results in harm to the passenger or their equipment. American takes all these complaints and claims seriously, and it works hard to remediate them. The airline investigates every complaint, providing customers with written responses. American routinely provides compensation to dissatisfied customers — including via trip credits, miles, vouchers and cash — to make the situation right.

You can view a fact sheet on American’s investments in improving travel for people with wheelchairs and mobility devices.