Recommended Practice 1700e (Passenger Services Conference, IATA), formally designated PSC(30/43)1700e, is the industry recommended practice that requires member airlines to publish, in Airline Guides (and by extension in equivalent modern public channels), the essential rates, charges, safety rules, and conditions that apply to the carriage of passengers with disabilities (PWD), passengers with reduced mobility (PRM), and passengers with non-visible disabilities. It is classified as Type B with indefinite expiry. The practice was reviewed and updated as part of the Passenger Accessibility Process Task Force (PAPTF) work under the Travel Standards Board and advanced through the 2021 Passenger Standards Conference cycles together with related updates to Resolution 700 and RPs 1700b, 1700c, and 1700d.
Its purpose is twofold: to make the necessary information available to the travelling public in a transparent and accessible manner, and to facilitate interline transactions involving passengers with disabilities (as defined in Resolution 700) by ensuring that carriers, agents, and interline partners have clear, published reference points for applicable rules and charges.
Origin, Status, and Relationship to Other Standards
RP 1700e completes the suite of IATA passenger-accessibility recommended practices. Resolution 700 establishes the overarching acceptance and carriage framework. RP 1700b covers carriage conditions and safety-assistant requirements. RP 1700c addresses individual seat assignment. RP 1700d covers group travel. RP 1700e ensures that the commercial and safety conditions governing all of the above are publicly and consistently published.
The practice is indefinite. Terminology was modernised around 2021 via the PAPTF process, aligning older “reduced mobility” language with inclusive “Passengers with Disabilities (PWD)” usage while retaining the core publication obligations. The recommended practice remains fully applicable to PWDs, PRMs, and passengers with non-visible disabilities.
As a Type B recommended practice it provides strong industry guidance. Member airlines are expected to implement the publication requirements in their tariffs, Airline Guide entries, websites, apps, and conditions of carriage. Transparent publication supports compliance with regional regulations that independently require public availability of safety rules and restrictions (notably EU Regulation 1107/2006 Article 4(3), which mandates that air carriers make publicly available, in accessible formats, the safety rules applying to the carriage of persons with disabilities and reduced mobility as well as any restrictions on their carriage or on mobility equipment due to aircraft size).
Purpose and Scope
The “WHEREAS” clause of the practice states that the necessary information must be made available to the travelling public and that publication is required in order to facilitate interline transactions involving passengers with disabilities. The scope therefore covers both consumer transparency and interline operational clarity.
Publication is required “when applicable.” Airlines publish only those items that form part of their actual policy or tariff; they are not obliged to invent charges or restrictions that do not exist. The information must be kept current so that passengers, travel agents, tour operators, and interline partners can rely on it when planning and pricing journeys.
Technical Structure and Key Provisions
After establishing inclusive terminology consistent with Resolution 700, the practice recommends that Members arrange to publish in the Airline Guides the following information when applicable:
- Safety rules and restrictions
The safety rules that apply to the carriage of passengers with disabilities, as well as any restrictions on their carriage or on that of mobility equipment due to the size of the aircraft.
This includes, for example, aircraft-type limitations on the number or size of mobility aids, exit-row seating prohibitions, requirements for a safety assistant in defined circumstances, and any other safety-driven constraints. - Charges for stretcher cases and extra seats for medical reasons
How charges for carriage of stretcher cases, or for passengers requiring more than one seat due to medical conditions, are assessed.
Clear publication of the basis of assessment (fare, multiple of the applicable fare, fixed charge, etc.) prevents disputes at the point of sale or during interline settlement. - Charges for safety assistants
How charges for safety assistants accompanying passengers with disabilities are assessed, whether the safety assistant is carrier-provided or non-carrier-provided.
This covers both situations in which the airline requires a safety assistant and situations in which the passenger elects to travel with one. Publication must distinguish the commercial treatment of each case. - Special layover or interline connection expenses
Whether any special layover or interline connection expenses are absorbed and under what conditions.
This item addresses expenses that may arise when a PWD’s itinerary involves overnight stops or connections that require additional assistance, hotel, meal, or ground-transport arrangements.
These four categories constitute the mandatory publication set under the recommended practice. Airlines may of course publish additional accessibility-related information (assistance booking procedures, SSR codes, website links, contact numbers, etc.) beyond the minimum required by RP 1700e.
Implementation in Airline Operations
In the modern environment “Airline Guides” is interpreted broadly to include:
- Traditional printed or electronic Airline Guide entries and tariff filings.
- Carrier websites and mobile applications (preferably with a clearly sign-posted, accessible “Special Assistance” or “Passengers with Disabilities” section reachable in one or two clicks from the homepage).
- Conditions of carriage and tariff rules filed with governments or published in interline systems.
- Information provided to Global Distribution Systems (GDS), travel agents, and tour operators.
- Accessible formats (screen-reader compatible, alternative text, large print, etc.) consistent with regulatory requirements such as those under EU 1107/2006.
Practical implementation steps typically include:
- Maintaining a controlled document or tariff rule that lists the four categories of information required by RP 1700e.
- Ensuring the same information appears consistently across all public channels.
- Updating the published text whenever safety rules, aircraft types, or commercial policies change.
- Training reservations, sales, and interline staff so they can locate and quote the published conditions accurately.
- Coordinating with interline partners so that each carrier’s published rules are visible and applied correctly when constructing multi-carrier itineraries.
Responsibilities, Transparency, and Interline Facilitation
The publishing carrier is responsible for the accuracy and currency of the information. Because the practice exists in part to facilitate interline transactions, published charges and conditions become the reference point for interline billing and settlement when a safety-assistant seat, stretcher, extra seat for medical reasons, or special connection expense is involved.
Transparency also reduces passenger complaints and regulatory findings. Passengers and their agents can determine in advance whether a safety assistant will travel free or at a reduced rate, how a stretcher journey will be priced, and whether aircraft-size restrictions may affect the carriage of a particular mobility aid.
Benefits for Passengers, Agents, and Airlines
For passengers and their agents: advance knowledge of applicable safety rules, restrictions, and charges enables informed booking decisions and reduces the risk of unexpected costs or refusals at the airport.
For airlines: standardised publication supports consistent interline handling, clearer tariff construction, fewer day-of-travel disputes, and demonstrable compliance with both IATA guidance and regional accessibility regulations.
For the industry overall: a common publication framework reduces friction in multi-carrier journeys and strengthens the reliability of the accessibility system.
Auditability and Compliance
Compliance is readily auditable through:
- Presence and currency of the required information in Airline Guide entries, websites, and tariff filings.
- Consistency of the published text across channels.
- Evidence that interline partners and agents can access the same information.
- Alignment with any additional national or regional publication mandates (e.g., EU 1107/2006 Article 4(3)).
- Internal quality checks and regulatory inspections that verify the information is accurate and accessible.
Real-World Application Examples
- An airline publishes that a safety assistant required under its safety rules travels free of charge in the same cabin class when the passenger meets defined criteria, while a personal-care attendant not required for safety pays the applicable fare.
- The same airline publishes the formula used to calculate the charge for a stretcher (for example, a multiple of the applicable one-way fare plus equipment fees) and any aircraft types on which stretchers cannot be accepted.
- Restrictions on the dimensions or battery type of mobility aids that can be carried on certain regional aircraft are listed clearly, together with the advance-notice period required.
- A statement appears indicating whether the carrier absorbs hotel and meal expenses for a PWD who misses a connection because of delayed assistance, and under what documented conditions.
Conclusion
Recommended Practice 1700e is the transparency and commercial-clarity pillar of the IATA passenger-accessibility framework. By requiring the publication of safety rules, restrictions on carriage and mobility equipment, assessment methods for stretcher and extra-seat charges, treatment of safety-assistant charges, and any absorption of special layover or connection expenses, the practice ensures that essential information is available both to the travelling public and to interline partners. When implemented consistently across Airline Guides, websites, tariffs, and distribution systems, RP 1700e reduces uncertainty, supports fair and predictable pricing, and reinforces the overall reliability of accessible air travel.
Sources for this description include the published text of RP 1700e as amended through the 2021 Passenger Standards Conference processes, related Resolution 700 language, IATA guidance materials on accessibility, and aligned regulatory frameworks (particularly EU Regulation 1107/2006). Full proprietary IATA manuals
