Scandinavian Airlines were fined $100,000 for accessibility bugs
They purchased a separate website thinking it would protect them — it didn’t
In February 2017 in the United States, the Department of Transport (DOT), found that Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) didn’t make their website accessible to people with disabilities.
Instead of building their main website so that it was accessible inline with WCAG 2.1, SAS purchased a separate website from a third-party company.
They created a separate “assistive” experience for people with disabilities. Creating a separate experience for people with disabilities might seem like a good idea, it’s not. Airlines operating in the U.S. have to make their main website accessible to people with disabilities, as per the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA).
Why did they create a different experience?
They were sold the wrong solution by a third party. They were told this new website would fix all of their accessibility issues and legally protect them — it didn’t.
Separate assistive websites have more issues
- They often don’t have all the same information as the main site.
- They can be hard to keep up to date, maintaining two codebases.
- Separate is not equal, this is continued discrimination not equality.
- They might not have all the features of the main site.
What happened next?
They reached an agreement in 2018, DOT fined SAS
- Scandinavian Airlines had to stop using this different website.
- They had to make their main website accessible.
- Scandinavian Airlines also had to pay a 100k fine.
- They then had 12 months to fix their website otherwise they would face another £100,000.
They were told user journeys have to be able to be used by all people, including:
- Booking or changing reservation (including all flight amenities)
- Checking in for a flight,
- Accessing a personal itinerary
- Accessing a personal frequent flyer account,
- Accessing flight schedules, and
- Accessing carrier contact information.
Companies should focus on making their main site accessible to everyone.
The European Accessibility Act (EAA), which will come into force in 2025, it is a law designed to create equal access for Europeans with disabilities by requiring a mix of products and services to be accessible. This will impact private companies should they wish to operate in the EU.
Read more about this case and why separate but equal is never OK by Sheri Byrne-Haber
