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Airline Safety Information and Entertainment Access Act
12/7/2023, 5:05 PM
Summary of Bill S 1911
One key provision of the bill is the requirement for airlines to provide passengers with up-to-date safety information before each flight. This information would include emergency procedures, safety protocols, and other important details to ensure the well-being of passengers in the event of an emergency.
Additionally, the bill aims to enhance the entertainment options available to passengers during flights. Airlines would be required to offer a variety of entertainment choices, such as movies, TV shows, music, and games, to cater to the diverse preferences of passengers. This provision is intended to improve the overall travel experience for passengers and make long flights more enjoyable. Furthermore, the bill includes measures to ensure that passengers with disabilities have equal access to entertainment options. Airlines would be required to provide accessible entertainment options for passengers with visual or hearing impairments, as well as other disabilities, to ensure that all passengers can enjoy the in-flight entertainment. Overall, the Airline Safety Information and Entertainment Access Act seeks to enhance the safety and comfort of passengers on commercial airlines by improving the availability of safety information and entertainment options. This legislation aims to make air travel a more enjoyable and accessible experience for all passengers.
Congressional Summary of S 1911
Airline Safety Information and Entertainment Access Act
This bill requires air carriers (including foreign carriers) to ensure equal access to airline information and entertainment programming for all airline passengers regardless of their disabilities.
Specifically, the bill requires an air carrier to provide or make available for persons with disabilities
- open captioning and an American Sign Language (ASL) option when the information and programming are available to passengers through shared video displays,
- closed captioning and an ASL option when the information and programming are available to passengers through individual video displays, and
- audio descriptions when the information and programming are available to passengers through individual or shared video displays.
An air carrier must also provide any aural public address announcement in textual format through individual or shared video displays.
Further, an air carrier must ensure all control systems for video displays, applications (apps) for personal devices, web portals, and websites for passengers have the option to allow a person with a disability to operate the item nonvisually.
The Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (the Access Board) must set forth the minimum technical criteria for individual video displays, apps for personal devices, web portals, and websites for airline passengers to ensure that they include a mechanism that allows persons with disabilities to operate them nonvisually. The Department of Transportation must issue any necessary regulations.
A civil action may be brought by an aggrieved person or the Department of Justice in a U.S. District Court against an air carrier for violations of these requirements.
