Tag: tourism

Accessible Train Travel in Canada & the U.S.

Cynthia A. Lockley on

Canada

See Visit Canada to find out what documents you need to travel, visit family and friends, do business, or transit through Canada.

  • Take Charge of Your Travel: A Guide for Persons with Disabilities by the Canadian Transportation Agency
  • Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) Accessible Transportation includes information about accessible transportation throughout Canada. [Select English or French]  Updated

    Access to Travel, your special needs information source, will provide you with facts on accessible transportation and travel across Canada with the aim of making accessible travel easy and enjoyable! This site, created by Transport Canada, has a wealth of information on adapted tourism in Canada as well as a detailed list of Canadian transportation companies offering accessible local, intercity, and national service.

  • Allergies, special meals, and medication

    Get the information you need on the range of special meals offered on VIA trains, medication transportation and storage, and the policy on oxygen bottles:

    • Allergies and special meals
    • Medication
    • Oxygen bottles

Crossing the Border

Traveling by Train

VIA Rail in Canada and Amtrak in the U.S. have excellent services for special needs. To be sure you receive the service you need, purchase your tickets over the telephone and let them know what you need. Services vary from train to train and station to station but if they know in advance what you need, they will be able to help you.

Do the stations have wheelchair access? Can you bring a guide dog or get around in the trains by wheelchair?

Canada: VIA Rail Accessible Services

To find out what you need to know about the accessibility of VIA trains, consult the following links:

  • VIA Rail Canada Specific Needs Overview
  • Special Needs accessibility, adapted services, unaccompanied minors, occupy two seats.
  • In order to travel with VIA, passengers should be able to attend to their personal needs (eating, medical, personal hygiene) throughout the trip. If you are not able to do so, you must be accompanied by an escort. VIA will be pleased to carry your escort in the same class free of charge. See Additional Seating and the One Person, One Fare Requirement for Domestic Travel: A Guide.
  • VIA Rail Canada Accessibility. Priority boarding and additional assistance
  • Reduced Mobility information about booking, traveling with a companion, wheelchairs, electrical scooters, sleeping cars, meal service.
  • Canadian Transportation Agency Accessibility
  • Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations: SOR/2019-244 passed 22 June 2019.
  • VIA Rail Canada AccessRail VIA Rail Canada offers an extensive network for travel throughout its popular Quebec City – Montreal – Ottawa – Toronto – Windsor corridor. For passengers travelling from Toronto Pearson Airport (YYZ), they can book an interoperable ticket, which includes an UP Airport Express ticket to enable passengers to travel between Pearson Airport (YYZ) and Toronto Union train station.
    • The passenger must change trains at Toronto Union train station. Passengers travelling from Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport can also book an interoperable ticket which includes travel between Trudeau Airport (YUL) and Dorval train station using Indigo shuttles.
    • Now you can combine airlines' flight segments with VIA Rail Canada's train segments in a single PNR. For our interline partners offering a through-fare, you can issue an e-ticket for the air-rail itinerary on that airlines' plate. For add-on rail fares to other airlines' air fares, you can issue a separate e-ticket plated on 9B (AccesRail) for the rail segment.

U.S.A.

U.S.: Amtrak Accessible Services

To make reservations for accessible space on Amtrak, purchase your tickets over the phone or in person at an Amtrak ticket counter.

  • By telephone: Please call 1-800-USA-RAIL (1-800-872-7245). Agents are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
  • By TDD/TTY: Please call 1-800-523-6590. Agents are available from 5 am to 1 am EST, seven days a week.
  • At an Amtrak ticket counter: Ticket agents at staffed stations can sell tickets during regular ticket office hours. Please call 1-800-USA-RAIL (1-800-872-7245) for details.

Up until 14 days before the departure of each train from its origin city, reservations for accessible bedrooms may be made only for passengers who are mobility impaired. After this period, and if all other Deluxe and Family bedrooms have been reserved, accessible bedrooms are made available to all passengers on a first-come, first-served basis. For this reason, you are urged to make your reservations as far in advance of travel as possible. On the Accessible Travel Services page, information about special needs and accessibility is available about:

Accessible Travel

Cynthia A. Lockley on

Don't be Afraid to Step out of Your Comfort Zone and Travel

Crossing the Border

TSA Tips for Traveling with Visible and Invisible Disabilities

Those of us with invisible disabilities know how humiliating the TSA checkpoint can be and a long wait in line can build your pain level to much higher levels. I can identify with the terrible experience had by Brittany Quinn that she documents in her post TSA Agent Kruze: "Was the surgery worth the pain?". Hopefully her formal complaint to the TSA and the DoHS succeeded in getting better training for the TSA agents. Since then some improvements have been made that can help you. Before your trip:

  1. Apply for a TSA PreCheck™ membership: good for 5 years and is renewable, fee is $85, spend less time in line, you do not have to remove your shoes, light jackets, belts, 3-1-1 liquids, or laptops. You can apply online and get an appointment at your local airport or a TSA enrollment center to have a 10-minute background check and be fingerprinted.
  2. Download and print out the Disability Notification Card, fill in your disability, and present it to the TSA agent at the checkpoint.
  3. Contact TSA 72 hours in advance: TSA Cares hotline at 1-855-787-2227 or email hidden; JavaScript is required The TSA Cares program can provide a TSA agent to escort the traveler through the airport and assist in the screening process. You can also ask them for advice if you will be travelling with medical supplies.
  4. Contact the airline 72 hours in advance about your disability needs. Some airports can provide you with an advocate when you check in who will go through security with you.

Tips about Air Travel if you are Blind

Another frequent traveler is Tom Babinszki, who was born blind. Tom has a passion for travel and blogs on his website Even Grounds about traveling the world. It is not so easy when you are blind but it is not impossible. In his blog he shares his experiences and provides some tips for blind travelers. His latest post in February 2020 is "Air Travel", in which he describes getting around the airport, going through security checkpoints, waiting at the gate, and entertaining yourself during the flight.

TSA Tips for Traveling with Medical Supplies

Air Travel and the TSA

  • TSA Disability Notification Card: Individuals with Disabilities and Medical Conditions (.pdf) Fill in your disability, print the card, and present it to the TSA agent before going through a security checkpoint
  • Tips from the Feeding Tube Awareness Foundation for disabled passengers at TSA checkpoints:
    • Get a travel letter from your doctor explaining your medical condition. Also make sure to document all the medical supplies and equipment you will be traveling with. This can assist you through security and act as a form of advocacy. See the Sample Travel Letter for Feeding Tube and IV Consumers page for sample letter.  Updated
    • Talk to your homecare company. It's possible they can deliver supplies right to your destination so you don't need to travel with it. This save you the hassle of lugging heavy equipment and avoids the difficulty of getting through security.
  • Aviation Consumer Protection U.S. Department of Transportation
  • U.S. Department of Transportation Toll-Free Hotline for air travelers with disabilities:
    • TSA Cares hotline: 1-855-787-2227
    • Voice: 1-800-778-4838
    • TTY: 1-800-455-9880

    The Hotline is available from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, seven days a week. It serves two main purposes: (1) education and (2) assistance in resolving disability-related air travel problems.

  • Air travelers who have a disability-related issue must submit their complaint in writing using the
    Air Travel Complaint – Comment Form of the U.S. Department of Transportation, or

    By postal mail to:

    Aviation Consumer Protection Division
    U.S. Department of Transportation
    400 7th Street, S.W.
    Washington, D.C. 20590

    By email to: by e-mail at email hidden; JavaScript is required

  • Wheelchair Users' Guide to Air Travel
  • New Guidelines Debunk ‘Economy Class Syndrome’

Lost Luggage

Train Travel

Car Travel

Emergency Evacuation and Traveler's Services

  • Traveler’s Emergency Network (TEN) an international membership organization dedicated to providing the best travel assistance services for a low annual membership fee: 24 hour access to medical experts, emergency evacuation, repatriation home after stabilization, transportation home for dependents, return of mortal remains, Seven Corners International, and many other travel benefits.
  • Fire Safety for Wheelchair Users (.pdf)

Travel Destinations

Encouragement and Guides