The airline American Airlines is facing an investigation by the US Department of Transportation over alleged poor handling of wheelchairs of passengers transported in the cargo hold.

For several years now, various lobby associations for people with physical disabilities have been criticizing the fact that wheelchairs are particularly often damaged or destroyed unusably when traveling by plane. According to the representatives, total losses are also particularly common. So far, the carriers have always been able to talk their way out of it, pointing out that the aids are very sensitive.

There is a simple reason why American Airlines has now come into focus. Travelers filmed ramp workers being rude to wheelchairs at Miami International Airport and shared the video on social media. The behavior of the people seen in the recording has now alarmed the Ministry of Transport.

It should be investigated whether these are just “unfortunate individual cases” or whether there is even hatred of workers towards people with disabilities behind them. It is not assumed that it is some kind of “organization”, but rather the actions of many individuals who take pleasure in seeing a person who relies on their wheelchair return it damaged or even unusable. The US Department of Transportation is only now taking seriously the advice that has been given by associations for many years. Now there is video evidence and airlines or their ground handling partners can no longer simply deny everything, at least in this one case.

When contacted, the affected airline, American Airlines, said: “We recognize the importance of supporting the independence of customers with disabilities by ensuring that mobility devices are properly handled during their journey with us. This image is very concerning and we are gathering more details so we can address it with our team. We will continue to work hard to improve the experience of assistive technology across our network.”