Re: Increasing Awareness of the Department's Toll-Free Hotline for
Air Travelers with Disabilities
Dear Disability Rights Advocates:
As you may know, in August 2002, my office, the Office of the Assistant General Counsel for Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings (Enforcement Office), established a toll free telephone number that consumers who experience disability-related air travel problems may use to obtain information and assistance. The aviation consumer disability toll-free hotline, which is staffed from 7 am to 11 pm local time in Washington, D.C., seven days a week, provides general information to consumers about the rights of air travelers with disabilities and assists air travelers in resolving time-sensitive disability-related issues that need to be addressed in real time. Unfortunately, many members of the public are still not aware of the existence of the hotline and as a result the hotline is not being fully utilized.
To increase awareness of the existence of the hotline and in response to a disability rights advocate's suggestion, the Department has produced and has available business cards with the toll-free hotline number, which can be easily carried by air travelers who are disabled. The Department has also begun enclosing this hotline business card, which is in print form on one side and has Braille superimposed on the back, with the letters we send to passengers with disabilities advising them of the outcome of the office's investigation of their disability-related complaints about air travel. Attached is an electronic copy of the hotline business card, which can be opened by using Microsoft Word and may be translated to Braille if the reader has Braille interpretation software. For your information the attached business card does not have the Department's logo due to Departmental restrictions on distributing the logo electronically. At this time, the Enforcement Office would also like to provide your respective organizations an opportunity to obtain up to 50 hard copies of the card with the Departmental logo for distribution to your members. If you are interested in receiving hard copies of the hotline business card, please contact the hotline, at 1-800-778-4838 (voice) or 1- 800-455-9880 (TTY) to obtain assistance.
The Enforcement Office is committed to improving the quality of air transportation for people with disabilities and believes that with your help the toll-free hotline can be a major factor in accomplishing this goal. At this time, I would like to extend my personal thanks and appreciation for all the work that you have done thus far to raise awareness of the needs of travelers with disabilities and to encourage you to continue to disseminate information about the existence of our aviation consumer disability toll-free hotline.
Sincerely,
-ORIGINAL SIGNED-
Samuel Podberesky
Assistant General Counsel for
Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings
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U.S. Department of Transportation Toll-Free Hotline 7 a.m. To 11 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, daily 1-800 778-4838 (voice) |
