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This section is intended to offer patients education and
resources regarding traveling and oxygen treatment.
This
is an organization that helps people locate O2 suppliers
when you are traveling. Call
866-693-3012 or 1-800-642-6063, with one
phone call, you can arrange for oxygen or other medical
equipment needs before you leave home, and know that
you'll be taken care of at each stop on your itinerary.
Freedom Link® is
a 24-hour a day services for traveling and relocating
patients. Freedom Link®
works because it is a division of The VGM Group ,
the largest network of independent HME dealers in the
U.S. Freedom
Link® provides peace of mind, and all you have to
do is enjoy your trip!
Flying with Oxygen
June 10, 2008
On June 3rd,
Vlady Rozenbaum, Ph.D.
attended the DOT 2008 Disability Forum, an annual,
all-day event by invitation only. The topic was "Working
Together to Improve the Air Travel of Passengers with
Disabilities." The purpose of the forum was to
discuss the Department's Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA)
rulemaking intended for completion in early 2008.
As you may know, from November 2004 to February 2006,
the Department of Transportation issued three notices of
proposed rulemakings (NPRM) to amend its rule
implementing the Air Carrier Access Act - an NPRM
proposing to extend the Department's air carrier
disability rule to foreign air carriers (69 FR 64364),
an NPRM on medical oxygen and portable electronic
respiratory assistive devices (70 FR 53108), and an NPRM
on accommodations for passengers who are deaf, hard of
hearing and deaf-blind (71 FR 9285). The
Department plans to issue one complete rulemaking on
these three pending proposed rules. At the forum,
the major provisions of the rulemaking were explained
and the attendees had an ample opportunity to discuss
concerns, share experiences and ask questions.
This forum was the fifth in a series of forums hosted by
the Department to
facilitate joint efforts to improve the air travel of
passengers with disabilities. As with the previous
forums, this forum provided disability
community organizations, representatives of the airline
industry, airport
authorities, airport associations, airport service
contractors, and
government officials an opportunity to have an exchange
of ideas and explore ways of making accessibility to air
travel a reality for all.
With regard to flying with oxygen, one of the panels
focused on Portable
Oxygen Concentrators (POC) and Other Respiratory
Assistive Devices; FAA
regs/guidance on POCs; and the PHMSA [Pipeline and
Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration] regs/guidance on lithium battery
transport. From now
on the FAA will not be specifically approving the new
POCs. Instead each
airline will make the decision as long as the device
meets the FAA
requirements. At this time there is only one new
applicant for an FAA
approval: Central Air by Delphi (we have posted about
this POC). During the Q&A period I suggested free oxygen
for passengers based on my experience with the Polish
Airlines LOT, which offers it. I also asked for the
consideration of liquid oxygen portables. Later I talked
to Blane Workie,
Chief, Aviation Civil Rights Compliance Branch, OAEP. In
response to my
comment that POCs are expensive, she stated that Lincare
rents Inogen for
$75 per week. I told her that Inogen does not provide
sufficient amount of
oxygen for some users, so there must be other options
explored as there are similar problems with other POCs.
I will talk to her more about this issue
in the coming days.
Sometime in 2009 there will be a SNPRM issued on other
issues related to
accommodations of disabled passengers. Hopefully, it
will include the free
oxygen and liquid oxygen issues. It will certainly
include suggestions for
the in-flight entertainment system; rules on service
animals (safety
concerns); ticket kiosks at the airports (fully
accessible to handicapped
passengers); and website accommodating persons with
disabilities. These
issues were pushed very hard by attendees from a number
of disability
organizations (blind; deaf; mentally handicapped, etc.).
They, in fact, were
very visible and vocal at the forum (they also appeared
to have known
personally all of the DOT officials present at the
meeting). There were only
a few reps from the lung diseases. I noticed only an
official from the ALA
and the lobbyist for the COPD Foundation. Now wonder our
issues are pushed aside or put on the back burner. There
was hardly any discussion of the oxygen issues during
the Q&A period, but there was a lot of talk about the
proper captions on films shown during flight and the
type of entertainment that should be provided.
We have still a long way to go.....Vlady
Rozenbaum, Ph.D.
Portable Oxygen - A User's
Perspective
http://www.portableoxygen.org/
Air Travel with Oxygen - U.S.A
http://www.lungusa.org/site/pp.asp?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=23052
Sea Puffers - Cruises for COPDer's
http://www.seapuffers.com/
Traveling with Oxygen - Canadian
Lung Association
http://www.lung.ca/diseases-maladies/copd-mpoc/living-vivre/travel-voyages_e.php
Airline Oxygen Availability
http://www.emphysema.net/airline_oxygen.htm
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