Disabled air travelers across Europe face a paradox: regulations exist and standards are in place, yet the journey from booking to baggage claim remains filled with friction, indignity and preventable stress.
A new study from Breda University of Applied Sciences found that systemic change requires more than compliance—it demands active collaboration with the people most affected by current failures.
The research, published in Research in Transportation Business & Management, examined the full passenger journey for nearly 90 million Europeans living with disabilities. The study included wheelchair users, people with visual and hearing impairments, and those navigating hidden conditions like autism and anxiety. Researchers traced every touchpoint from online booking through baggage claim to understand where the system breaks down.
The study identified what researchers call the "cumulative effect of barriers." A missing accessibility note during booking seems minor. Staff failing to communicate disability information at check-in seems like a procedural oversight. A wheelchair damaged during loading seems like an isolated incident. Individually manageable, together they create an exhausting pattern that wears down passengers and denies them dignity.
"Many regulations and standards exist, yet the struggles remain," said Simone Moretti, senior researcher in Tourism Impacts on Society at Breda University. "The aviation sector has good intentions, but consistent, dignified service requires more than compliance. It requires truly understanding what these passengers go through."
The problem isn't ignorance or malice but fragmentation, the study found. One department doesn't know what another promised. One airport implements a standard differently than another. One staff member hasn't been trained on the protocol the next person follows perfectly. These gaps accumulate into barrier after barrier.
European accessibility law is now in its second year of implementation, and the aviation industry faces projected passenger growth over the coming decade. If current systems scale without fundamental redesign, the study warns, air travel will remain structurally exclusive for millions.
The research team, working through INCLAVI, an EU Erasmus+-funded initiative focused on inclusive aviation, proposes a solution centered on genuine co-creation. Disabled passengers would be active partners in designing new services and infrastructure, not afterthoughts consulted near the end of a process already largely determined.
The team introduced two key concepts: the cumulative effect of barriers and standardized flexibility. The first names the problem explicitly. The second suggests the path forward: systems that maintain consistent safety standards and procedural integrity while remaining adaptable to individual passenger needs.
A uniform safety protocol can coexist with flexible implementation. An airport can follow the same accessibility framework while tailoring support to each passenger's actual requirements.
Brenda University and its partners have developed a free training course for aviation professionals designed to shift mindset and build skills for inclusive service. Training alone won't fix the system, but training grounded in the actual experiences of disabled travelers—combined with structural redesign that includes those travelers as co-creators—can begin to address the fragmentation that currently defines air travel for people with disabilities.
The research shows that compliance creates a floor, not a ceiling. Meeting regulatory minimums feels like progress until you speak with affected people and realize they're still struggling. The next phase requires lifting ambitions beyond "meeting the standard" to "designing with and for the people we serve."
For millions of European air travelers with disabilities, summer holidays shouldn't mean steeling yourself for stress and indignity. The research shows the barriers are not inevitable—they're systemic, and systems can be redesigned.
