UK taskforce calls for disability training for all airline and airport staff

Lady Grey-Thompson’s report warned of ‘a clear gap in the training and awareness of security staff in the treatment of disabled passengers and their equipment’ Photograph: Thomas Krych/AP

Airline and airport staff should have mandatory training in disability and accessibility awareness, a government taskforce has urged, to ease the stress, confusion and harm experienced by the growing numbers of passengers requiring assistance to travel.

A report from the group, led by the crossbench peer and former Paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson, said the experience of flying for disabled people “can be ad hoc, inconsistent and sometimes catastrophic”.