Disability Law United filed a lawsuit against the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, JetBlue, and Airway LLC on behalf of Michael Dino Forzano and Katrina Ann Albert, after airport security staff at JFK Airport’s Terminal 5 blocked Mr. Forzano, who is blind and hard of hearing and travels with a guide dog, from the TSA Precheck line because his boarding pass didn’t specifically note that he was traveling with a service animal. The suit argues that requiring disabled travelers to produce special documentation before they can access an airport security line, even when their disability and their service animal are plainly apparent, violates the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and New York disability rights law.
Mr. Forzano and Ms. Albert, his partner and travel companion, are frequent flyers who both held Known Traveler Numbers for TSA Precheck. On February 18, 2024, they arrived at JFK Terminal 5 for a JetBlue flight to Fort Lauderdale with plenty of time to spare, checked in online, and went straight to the Precheck line. The security contractor’s “Gatekeeper” turned them away, saying airport policy required Mr. Forzano’s boarding pass to specifically indicate he was traveling with a service animal. Mr. Forzano showed the Gatekeeper his approval receipt confirming he’d completed the airline’s required advance-notice process for his guide dog, but was told he’d have to track down a JetBlue agent to reissue his boarding pass before he could be let through. No one offered to help him find one. By the time he located an agent and got a corrected paper boarding pass, more than 45 minutes had passed, and the couple had to rush to their gate instead of the relaxed layover they’d planned for. Turning away service-animal users without special documentation violates Title II of the ADA, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, Title V of the ADA, the New York State Human Rights Law, the New York Civil Rights Law, and the New York City Human Rights Law. Notably, the suit also presents a novel theory: while airlines have generally been shielded from Section 504 liability when acting as air carriers, DLU argues JetBlue can still be held liable under that law when it’s acting in its separate capacity as a terminal manager.
The disabled ‘time tax’ forces disabled people to constantly jump through additional hoops to participate in public life. Over the lifespan, disabled people will spend hundreds of hours obtaining needed accommodations, and experiencing stress, lost opportunities due to lost time, and many other harms as a result. This lawsuit asks the court to bar the defendants from continuing to require special documentation from travelers who are clearly and apparently disabled, and to award declaratory relief and nominal, compensatory, and punitive damages.
The case was filed in federal court in New York.