The ‘Breaking down the barriers to travel and shopping’ panel took place at 10:00 – 11:00 CET on day two of TR Sustainability Week (2-6 December).

An intriguing exchange around improving accessibility and special assistance at airports for passengers with visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodivergent travellers, those with health conditions or injuries kicked off the webinar agenda today (3 December) on day two of TR Sustainability Week (2-6 December). 

Building on a dynamic opening day of live panel discussions, the session ‘Breaking down the barriers to travel and shopping’ (10:00-11:00 CET) galvanised conversation around ways to remove obstacles while tackling barriers to discrimination in the travel journey, with valuable contributions provided by Sally Alignton, Founder and CEO of Ethos Farm and Anna-Ruth Cockerham, Accessibility Manager at London Gatwick Airport.

Cockerham, named in the UK’s top 100 most influential disabled people on the Shaw Trust Disability Power 100 list, reminded viewers that all airports in the UK are mandated to provide special assistance services to passengers “from door to aircraft”, for those that have temporary or permanent impairments, including injuries or disabilities.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) regulates airports on the speed of their special assistance provision, with airports themselves responsible for setting and delivering service standards.

Informed choices in the travel phase

“At Gatwick, we are really looking at how we are going above and beyond what we are regulated to provide to open up more parts of the passenger experience,” she opened.

As reported, London Gatwick has partnered recently with AccessAble to launch a series of bespoke Detailed Access Guides to help passengers make decisions around the type of assistance they may require when travelling through the airport.

Elsewhere, the upgraded London Gatwick railway station opened last November with a number of accessibility enhancements, including larger lifts with braille and embossed control buttons and hearing loops on all platforms.

Ruth-Cockerham explained that a lack of information and uncertainty regarding the accessibility of airports and facilities available continues to present a barrier to passengers, affecting their ability to make informed decisions as it concerns the type of assistance they may wish to book. This can perhaps result in an over-use of assistance services to travel to the aircraft safely.

“A lot of people may not like the feeling of being pushed around in a wheelchair and using these services; they’d prefer to do things independently if they could, but not knowing whether they can means they have to [book assistance services] when they may not necessarily want to,” she continued.

Clockwise from top right: Faye Bartle, Managing Editor Digital and Marketing; Sally Alington, Founder and CEO, Ethos Farm; and Anna-Ruth Cockerham, Accessibility Manager Gatwick Airport.

On the other hand, passengers may choose not to book special assistance should they be unfamiliar with the airport’s scale, for instance, such as the distance of travel to reach the departure gate, or the terminal facilities.

This, according to Ruth-Cockerham can present an obstacle to enjoyment of the broader passenger experience. For instance, not being aware of whether the airport’s shops have accessible provision.

“When passengers have that information, they can plan their journey much more thoroughly; they can be confident that they can go to the toilet, get something to eat before getting on the plane, which means they can be a bit more comfortable to spend more time shopping or sitting in the lounge, just the same as non-disabled passengers.”

On retail specifically, Anna-Ruth says that when passengers are moving through retail environments, including duty free shops, they often consider other aspects of their journey, such as boarding the aircraft, taking medication and comfort breaks, which are often taken for granted in airport travel.

“To really maximise the retail experience they need to know a lot about the rest of the airport experience,” she insisted, citing step-free access, self-checkout heights, the availability of hearing loops at tillpoint and navigation in cases where shopping aisles are crowded or narrow.

Other considerations include the sensory environment within the airport’s departure lounge, for instance where they might be exposed to bright lights or sounds, which could influence store visitations or the area of browsing, as well as the timing of those visits.

Ethos Farm CEO and Founder Alington, herself a champion of the social model around disability, drew attention to the importance of thinking differently about airports, which she maintains should viewed as environments to equalise equality of opportunity for passengers, rather than creating differences.

More to follow…

You can view the session on demand by clicking the button above.

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