Dot Wants Airlines To Provide Free Med Oxygen

[EyeInTheSky]

Your government at work.

DOT Proposes Rule to Require Airlines to Provide In-Flight Medical Oxygen Without Charge

Many U.S. air carriers and foreign air carriers operating to and from the United States would be required to provide medical oxygen without charge to passengers who need it during flight, under a new rule proposed today by the U.S. Department of Transportation. This proposed requirement would apply to all passenger carriers operating at least one aircraft with more than 60 seats.

The Department is proposing this requirement because passengers needing supplemental oxygen on flights have long experienced significant difficulties in obtaining the services they need in order to fly. Currently, airlines are not required to provide medical oxygen to passengers, and many choose to not offer it. Those that do may require passengers to pay for the service, sometimes at a prohibitively high cost.

“Passengers who use oxygen deserve the same access to our air transportation system as do travelers with other disabilities or medical conditions,â€￾ said U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta. “This rulemaking continues our effort to ensure that Americans with disabilities are treated fairly when they travel by air.â€￾

Airlines also are not required to allow passengers to use their own portable oxygen concentrators onboard aircraft, although a recent Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rule permitted carriers to allow passengers to use Airsep Lifestyle and Inogen One portable oxygen concentrator devices aboard an aircraft if certain safety conditions are met.

The proposal, if made final, also would require all U.S. air carriers and foreign air carriers operating to and from the United States, except for on-demand air taxis, to test four types of respiratory assistive devices to ensure that they will not cause interference with aircraft navigation or communication systems. These four types of respiratory devices are ventilators, respirators, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines and certain portable oxygen concentrators. Passengers who use respiratory assistive devices have had difficulty traveling on certain flights because carriers were concerned about possible electromagnetic interference with aircraft navigation and communication systems. Under the proposed rule, passengers would be allowed to use these devices on aircraft if they can be safely operated on board.

The proposed rule would require the airlines to comply with all applicable safety and security regulations when providing medical oxygen service, testing respiratory devices and permitting their use aboard aircraft.

Comments on the proposed rule, which was published in today’s Federal Register, are due in 60 days. The proposed rule and comments on the proposal may be obtained via the Internet at http://dms.dot.gov, docket number OST-2005-22298.

 

[Winglet]

We're going to see more and more of this kind of tripe in the future. The population is aging and many, many older Americans have bought into the culture that everybody else owes them a living. Witness the prescription drug program. In general the selfishness and sense of entitlement promoted by the powerful lobbies is really deplorable. For someone that has ruined their own lungs through a lifetime of smoking and other abuse to expect expensive service above and beyond the norm, really chaps me.

Unfortunately, I am having less and less respect for older people, especially those who think they have a right to my money.

 

[EyeInTheSky]

We're going to see more and more of this kind of tripe in the future. The population is aging and many, many older Americans have bought into the culture that everybody else owes them a living. Witness the prescription drug program. In general the selfishness and sense of entitlement promoted by the powerful lobbies is really deplorable. For someone that has ruined their own lungs through a lifetime of smoking and other abuse to expect expensive service above and beyond the norm, really chaps me.

Unfortunately, I am having less and less respect for older people, especially those who think they have a right to my money.

[post="297585"][/post]​

Winglet, not everyone on O2 has had a life filled with cigarrettes or has become so obese that they need a super rascal scooter with life support. I am all for putting oxygen on the planes at the fed's expense. It never ceases to amaze me that no one in Washington gets the fact that airlines are broke. We'll probably have two more airlines in bankruptcy this month and another small start up is about to kick the bucket (Independence). Norm Mineta ought to know better. His old lady was a flight attendant for UAL for over 30 years; she retired several years ago. Maybe when all the airlines stop flying they'll get it. Needless to say, I've bought a nice plot of land in Costa Rica to retire...I don't want to be in this country when I am old.

 

[robbedagain]

I'm wondering why oit has taken so long for the feds to even say this. I think that this should be automatically free especially if someone who travels need it.

 

[javaboy]

whats next Iron Lungs?

 

[jimntx]

What's happened to the Bushies' philosophy that we should let the market handle these things? If you want to give free oxygen and I want to charge for it then you get to corner the sick market.

I guess some really rich, white Republican donors have complained about the airlines charging them for a tank of therapeutic oxygen? They are the only ones I ever see on the airplane with the therapeutic oxygen--flying to the Palms (Beach and Springs) or to Scottsdale via Phoenix, or to South Florida in general.

 

[hp-csr-phx]

Those little electric scooters are going to get out of hand. What a pain they are.

 

[drifterreno]

HP is working on it's certificate for onboard oxygen as we speak.

 

[jimntx]

I suppose that the next frontier will be to make all the rides at Six Flags and other amusement parks of that type wheelchair accessible! After all, we wouldn't want to deny someone the right and opportunity to throw up their lunch just because they are confined to a wheelchair, now would we?

 

[JS]

The crude remarks in this thread towards the disabled are sickening. You people should be ashamed of yourselves. :down:

 

[jimntx]

The crude remarks in this thread towards the disabled are sickening. You people should be ashamed of yourselves. :down:

[post="297785"][/post]​

Now, don't get your politically-correct panties in a wad. If you had seen as many instances as I of passengers--who have had therapeutic oxygen on the a/c--lighting up a cigarette the second they get outside the terminal, you too would be less than sympathetic to their plight of having to pay for that oxygen.

I smoked for 30 years. It is not society's responsibility to pick up the tab for my stupidity. (Though I have been quit for 13 years now, and knock on wood, have had no lasting consequences so far.) And, one of my favorite people in the whole world is a young woman living with cerebral palsy. She does not, however, expect the world to rearrange itself for her personal comfort and enjoyment at every turn. She ACCEPTS the fact that there are some things she can not do.

 

[marco90821]

We're going to see more and more of this kind of tripe in the future. The population is aging and many, many older Americans have bought into the culture that everybody else owes them a living. Witness the prescription drug program. In general the selfishness and sense of entitlement promoted by the powerful lobbies is really deplorable. For someone that has ruined their own lungs through a lifetime of smoking and other abuse to expect expensive service above and beyond the norm, really chaps me.

Unfortunately, I am having less and less respect for older people, especially those who think they have a right to my money.

[post="297585"][/post]​

Bravo for you, I could not agree more! These are the same people that overspent buying their RVs, boats and living the "good life" at a time when they should have been saving for their futures. Now they expect to have everything given to them; seems like just another welfare society.

 

[JS]

Now, don't get your politically-correct panties in a wad. If you had seen as many instances as I of passengers--who have had therapeutic oxygen on the a/c--lighting up a cigarette the second they get outside the terminal, you too would be less than sympathetic to their plight of having to pay for that oxygen.

I smoked for 30 years. It is not society's responsibility to pick up the tab for my stupidity. (Though I have been quit for 13 years now, and knock on wood, have had no lasting consequences so far.) And, one of my favorite people in the whole world is a young woman living with cerebral palsy. She does not, however, expect the world to rearrange itself for her personal comfort and enjoyment at every turn. She ACCEPTS the fact that there are some things she can not do.

[post="297789"][/post]​

That's her choice to settle for less, but that doesn't make it right.

The reason someone became disabled is not relevant to airline employees or the DOT. The fact of the matter is that the law requires access to public facilities by the disabled.

If you don't like it, I suggest you work for a golf club, where you don't get subsidies, and you can accept or reject anyone you want. You can make your motto "Imperfect people not welcome".

 

[RowUnderDCA]

This is one of those areas were government regulation makes some sense. If all aren't required to do it, then all will try to cream the cheapest passengers by gouging those that need it, leaving them with onerous choices.

It might be better if all were required to provide the service at some fixed cost. But we all know that 0 is easier to administer then getting the government to actually price regulate.