Lazarski Aviation Academy
Many passengers have probably seen employees at airports wearing reflective vests with the acronym “PRM.” They are responsible for assisting people with disabilities to board planes. However, the number of people requiring assistance, or some other form of assistance, is growing. How to deal with the growing demand for airport accessibility?
PRM is an acronym for passengers with reduced mobility. Such persons, upon prior notification (no later than 48 hours before departure), can count on, for example, a wheelchair and assistance from an airport employee in moving around the terminal. Or, if it is impossible to climb the stairs to the plane on their own, they can get there using a special lift. Assistance also applies to the visually impaired, the blind, the hearing impaired and the deaf.
– The range of services under the regulation is most often associated with mobility limitations. But we have numerous people with other special needs who don’t know that they can, too, in order to get assistance. And these are, for example, elderly people struggling with dementia, or children or adults with autism or sensory sensitivities,” said attorney-in-fact Krystyna Marut of the MMM Legał Law Firm of Attorneys at the scientific conference ‘Air Passenger Rights’ at Lazarski University.
“Sunflower” at the airport. Passengers with special needs
An example of going above and beyond for people with special needs is the Sunflower Program. People with special needs who are not entitled to PRM assistance are given a lanyard with sunflowers on a green background. This is meant to be a discreet signal to airport staff, informing them, among other things, of their right to go through check-in and security checks without a queue, to board as the first or last person, to ensure more attention from staff.
Warsaw-Modlin Airport, which has joined it, stresses on its website that worldwide 1 in 7 people is a person with a disability. In Poland, that’s about 5 million citizens, 75 percent of whom show no signs of disability.
Issues of people with special needs during air travel require empathy. – It may happen that a passenger is traveling with a guide dog or Emotional Support Animal, and a passenger with a severe allergy to dog hair is sitting next to him. These are situations that can be remedied, but you need to know about them beforehand. When you don’t know about them, there can be problems,” the lawyer stressed during her speech.
Another example she cited is so-called quiet airports. Following the example of shopping malls and train stations, for the sake of sound-sensitive people, of whom there is no shortage in a noisy terminal, they dispense with announcements over loudspeakers. – Which, however, is inadvisable for people who are blind or visually impaired. These are the challenges that airports and carriers face, she added.
Airport accessibility: demographics are a challenge for airports
However, technology can come to the rescue. Both when it comes to assistive robots, moving around the airport with the passenger, and developed mobile applications, making it easier to find your way around the airport, both in the form of textual and audiovisual content.
The importance of PRM and assisting people with special needs is growing due to demographics.
– It is in the interest of the industry as a whole that the largest possible group of people with special needs or disabilities want to travel by air. This is a very large and growing one. The elderly often have the time and funds to travel and enjoy the autumn of their lives. Sometimes they are afraid, precisely because the airport and airplane, is a difficult space,” concluded r. pr. Krystyna Marut.
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