The Lufthansa Group has hosted the first meeting of its newly-established Accessibility Customer Advisory Committee in Frankfurt.
The aim of the committee is to improve the travel experience for passengers with impairments or disabilities.
Members with limited mobility, visual impairments, hearing impairments, or cognitive impairments and with corresponding accessibility requirements are represented in the committee. This committee will support the Lufthansa Group with their observations, experiences, and ideas in order to further develop existing offers, products, and services for people with visible and invisible disabilities.
The Lufthansa Group is supported in this initiative by the North Rhine-Westphalia State Disability Council (Landesbehindertenrat NRW; LBR), the umbrella organisation of self-help groups and social associations in the state.
The overarching goal of the LBR is to enable people with disabilities and chronic illnesses to participate in all areas of life. In addition to around 20 members of the LBR, who represent various disabilities, Paralympic athletes Johanna Recktenwald and Nico Dreimüller will support the Lufthansa Group’s Accessibility Advisory Board with their personal experiences and expertise.
Dieter Vranckx, Chief Commercial Officer Lufthansa Group, said: “We want to work with the target group to further develop the travel experience for passengers with physical or cognitive impairments and make it as easy and self-determined as possible. The members of the Lufthansa Group Accessibility Customer Advisory Committee support us with valuable insights and recommendations. In line with a holistic approach, we are looking at the entire travel chain and the sometimes very different needs for barrier-free travel. We are focusing on all the levers that we, as the Lufthansa Group, have at our disposal to continuously improve the flight experience for all our guests.”
LBR Managing Director Ann-Christin Rauch said: “This co-operation is a milestone for accessibility, as it is the first of its kind between a self-help association and a private company. For LBR NRW, one of its main tasks is the solution-oriented implementation of accessibility, as it is not only essential for people with disabilities, but also offers relief and comfort to the general public. We want to help ensure that people with disabilities also have the right and opportunity to travel as a matter of course. In addition, we want to use the project to raise awareness among other social groups of the importance of inclusion and participation.”
The Lufthansa Group will meet regularly with the advisory committee members to gather feedback, discuss suggestions, and further develop promising ideas.
Lufthansa customers with special requirements for air travel can also share their experiences and contribute to current issues relating to barrier-free travel.
In recent months, Lufthansa’s websites have been redesigned to provide important information for people with disabilities or impairments, with additional helpful information and a simpler structure and language. This can be accessed at any time via a wheelchair icon, which is prominently displayed in the header of each web page next to the language settings at the top right-hand corner.
