About 200 million people in the world have an intellectual disability, and yet, many travel agents and providers aren't aware that there is a special code that can assist these individuals when they travel.
Travelport wants to change that.
Travelport launched a new campaign today to bring more awareness around the DPNA (Disabled Passenger with Intellectual or Developmental Disability Needing Assistance) Special Service Request (SSR) code. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) introduced the DPNA SSR code to help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to travel with more ease, by allowing travel agents to use the code to alert airlines on how their clients may need assistance.
And each client has different needs according to Emma Hawkins, Director of Education at Jigsaw Trust, a charity for people with autism. Her stepson has autism and the DPNA SSR code can be used to notify airlines of his specific needs.
"Not all intellectually disabled people need to get on a flight first with noisy or crying children, and not all need to get on last," said Hawkins in a statement. "In my stepson's case, once he's with an established group, he wants the group to stay together. We are a big family and can often arrive at the airport in a group of six or eight. If that's the case, he wants us all to stay together. So, when the airline says my stepson plus one can get on the plane, can go through security and passport control without queueing, that is no good to us."
"There is no 'one-size-fits-all' solution that airports and airlines can apply that is going to improve the travel experience for people like my stepson. This is why the ability to enter specific details of both the passenger's intellectual disability and the assistance needed when booking a flight goes a long way to setting expectations upfront," said Hawkins.
Despite this amazing program, Travelport discovered that the use of the DPNA SSR code was "exceptionally low" on bookings made through its global distribution system (GDS). For instance, last year, the code was only used 4,309 times out of the 250 million flight booked through Travelport's GDS.
Travelport polled 136 agents and only 24 percent were aware of the code's existence, showing that there's a gap in travel agents' knowledge in the offerings available to clients with developmental disabilities. Travelport wants to fix it.
"Travel can be a particularly challenging time for people who require special assistance, so once we discovered such low use of the DPNA SSR code, we decided to take action," Gordon Wilson, president and chief executive officer of Travelport, explained.
"We hope this campaign will not only make a difference in the travel industry but act as a catalyst for other organisations to investigate how their industry or the industry they serve can better support people with intellectual disabilities and make improvements where needed."
Linda Ristagno, external affairs manager at IATA, said: "We introduced the DPNA SSR code to assist persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We are delighted that Travelport has launched this awareness campaign and encourage all our member airlines and travel agents to properly use this and all the other IATA disability codes to ensure that the appropriate support to our valued passengers is provided."
Travelport wants to target 100,000 travel agents in 30 countries about this code. The campaign involves electronic direct mails, 'sign on alerts' and 'prompts' delivered through Travelport's Smartpoint tool. They've created a campaign webpage which will help travel agents speak with clients about intellectual disabilities and the assistance available to them.
Asim Arshad, Group Chief Executive Officer at Orient Travel and Tourism Agency explained the importance of travel agents discussing the DPNA SSR code with clients: "We fully support Travelport's campaign. SSR codes play an important role in ensuring that our customers receive the best possible flight experience and all need to be considered in the booking process. We are happy to act on this initiative and ensure that all of our consultants, as a standard part of the booking discussion, ask customers if any of the traveling party has an intellectual or physical disability and needs special assistance from the airline. Asking the question is the first step to ensuring appropriate support is provided. We encourage all travel agents across the world to follow suit."
Travelport has also allocated $100,000 worth of advertising slots for the DPNA SSR code awareness campaign which will run until August 31, 2019, displaying the campaign to travel agents more than 3.5 million times.
This six-month-long campaign to promote the DPNA SSR code is connected to the Special Olympics World Summer Games 2019 in Abu Dhabi which will feature 7,000 athletes from 170 countries.
Linda Celestino, vice president, guest service and delivery of Etihad Airways, the official airline partner of the Special Olympics World Summer Games 2019, said that Etihad Airways is doing their part to train their employees on what to do when the DPNA SSR code is used.
"In preparation for Special Olympics team travel across the Etihad network, our teams have received additional training on how to best support guests with intellectual disabilities," she said.
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