Accessible passenger journeys, from search to check-in and travel updates
Digital accessibility for airlines and passenger transport
Wawsome helps airlines and passenger transport operators find, prioritize, fix and continuously monitor accessibility barriers across search, booking, seat selection, payments, check-in, timetables, ticketing and travel alerts.
- Checks for booking, check-in, tickets and alerts
- Third-party booking engines reported for your vendors
23.9%
of people aged 16 and over in the EU have a disability.
Source: Eurostat, 2024
23 million
disabled people in the EU report a barrier in transport.
Source: Eurostat, European Health and Social Integration Survey, 2012
50%
of respondents to a European survey on air travel name booking and admin steps as a barrier when planning a trip. 27% name airline websites and apps.
Source: European Disability Forum, Human Rights Report 2025 (survey of 251 people)
The trip is physical. The journey starts online.
Passengers search, book, pay, check in, find routes and follow travel updates online. When one of these steps doesn't work with a keyboard, a screen reader or adapted settings, people lose time, need help from staff or can't finish the journey on their own.
Search, timetables and routes
Where passengers get stuck
Date pickers that only work with a mouse, route maps with no text alternative and search results a screen reader can't follow.
How Wawsome helps
The scanner flags date pickers, maps and result lists that keyboards and screen readers can't use, ranked by severity. Keyboard-only navigation helps passengers reach every field.
Fares and passes
Where passengers get stuck
Fare tables and fare comparisons built as images or custom components, with prices and conditions that are hard to compare.
How Wawsome helps
Structure and labeling issues in fare tables are reported with the WCAG criterion. Widget settings for text size, spacing and contrast make dense tables easier to read.
Passenger details and account
Where passengers get stuck
Forms without labels, vague errors like “invalid data” and sessions that time out before a passenger can finish.
How Wawsome helps
Missing labels, error messages and focus order are listed in plain language and prioritized, because they decide if the booking goes through.
Seats, baggage and extras
Where passengers get stuck
Seat maps a keyboard can't reach, and baggage or extra service options hidden in pop-ups a screen reader doesn't announce.
How Wawsome helps
Seat maps, baggage and extras are part of the scan scope, not left out as optional. AI-assisted ARIA improvements cover selected cases, and the rest goes into the technical backlog.
Payment and e-tickets
Where passengers get stuck
Payment steps run by an external provider, and e-tickets or boarding passes sent as PDFs or images.
How Wawsome helps
Issues on third-party payment pages are reported separately for the vendor. E-ticket and document issues go into their own backlog, and our manual audits cover documents too.
Check-in and manage booking
Where passengers get stuck
Online check-in with tight time limits, CAPTCHAs with no alternative and booking changes that only work by phone.
How Wawsome helps
Check-in and manage-booking pages are scanned on a schedule, so a release that breaks them is caught before passengers run into it.
Live alerts, changes and support
Where passengers get stuck
Delay, gate or platform changes shown only visually, and help pages that are hard to use when passengers already need help.
How Wawsome helps
Recurring scans check alert, status and help pages after every change. Third-party chat widgets are reported separately for the vendor.
What does the EAA cover in passenger transport?
Since 28 June 2025, the European Accessibility Act covers the digital channels of air, bus, coach, rail and ferry services: websites, apps, e-tickets, real-time travel information and self-service terminals. For city and regional transport, only self-service terminals are in scope. Microenterprises are exempt from the service requirements.
| Type of service | Website | Apps | E-tickets | Real-time info | Self-service terminals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air | In scope | In scope | In scope | In scope | In scope |
| Long-distance rail | In scope | In scope | In scope | In scope | In scope |
| Long-distance bus and coach | In scope | In scope | In scope | In scope | In scope |
| Ferry and waterborne | In scope | In scope | In scope | In scope | In scope |
| City and regional transport | Not in scope | Not in scope | Not in scope | Not in scope | In scope |
Source: Directive (EU) 2019/882, Article 2(2)(c). Microenterprises are exempt. Public sector operators also follow the Web Accessibility Directive (EU) 2016/2102 for their websites and apps. Wawsome works on websites and web portals.
Protect the passenger journey, not just individual pages.
Eight risks for airlines and transport operators, each with how Wawsome responds and the KPI it touches.
Legal scope
The European Accessibility Act applies since 28 June 2025. For air, long-distance rail, coach and ferry services, it covers websites, apps, e-tickets and real-time travel information. For city and regional transport, it covers self-service terminals, and public operators also follow the Web Accessibility Directive.
How Wawsome helps
Wawsome Scanner shows issues and their severity, mapped to WCAG criteria. Your digital, legal and customer teams get one shared baseline.
- Compliance evidence
Complex booking interfaces
Date pickers, seat maps, fare families and add-ons are some of the hardest interfaces to use with a keyboard, a screen reader or adapted settings.
How Wawsome helps
We recommend checking search, booking, seat selection, payment, manage booking and check-in first, so the journeys with the most impact get fixed first.
- Booking completion
Lost bookings and extras
Barriers can stop a booking or make it harder to add bags, seats and other paid services. That affects both booking completion and ancillary revenue.
How Wawsome helps
Baggage, seats and extra services are part of the scan scope, not treated as optional content.
- Ancillary attach rate
Access to the service
If timetables, routes, tickets or travel information don't work for everyone, some people can't use the transport service on their own.
How Wawsome helps
Timetables, routes, ticketing, accounts, payments and alerts come first, because they are the way into the service.
- Digital ticket sales
Live alerts and constant change
Fares, timetables, incidents and alerts change all the time. Each change can bring a barrier back, right when passengers need the information most.
How Wawsome helps
Recurring scans check your pages after releases, timetable changes, fare updates and campaigns, and alerts show what changed.
- Self-service adoption
Support pressure
Passengers blocked online move to call centers, ticket offices or airport staff. Assisted service takes more time than a finished digital booking.
How Wawsome helps
Reports show where self-service breaks, so your team can fix the steps that create the most calls first.
- Support contacts
Third-party components
Booking engines, payment, loyalty and check-in often come from external vendors. One inaccessible component can break the whole journey.
How Wawsome helps
Issues in external components are reported separately and documented for technical or contractual escalation.
- Check-in self-service
Reputation and loyalty
Problems that hit disabled passengers can spread fast on social media, especially at stressful moments. On routes with alternatives, travelers can also switch provider.
How Wawsome helps
A more predictable journey and documented progress lower the risk that one bad experience becomes a public incident.
- Complaint volume
See the difference on a flight search
Turn on a few widget settings and watch this sample search form change. It's a small preview of what the Wawsome widget lets passengers do on your website.
Try it on this form
Search flights
From: Bucharest. To: Munich. Date: 14 March. 1 passenger.
You can check the fare and the baggage rules before you pay.
See baggage rulesShow flights
One platform. Every angle covered.
Automatic fixes
AI scans and patches selected issues such as missing image descriptions, broken ARIA and navigation structure.
Ongoing tracking
Your site is checked continuously, with accessibility score, issue trends and full history available in one place.
Easy setup
Deploy through one JS line or a GTM tag. Wawsome works at the browser layer, without server-side codebase changes.
Accessibility Statement
An individual Accessibility Statement, mapped in Wawsome documentation to the EAA, WCAG 2.1 AA, EN 301 549 and national laws.
Accessibility Widget
Predefined accessibility profiles, controls for text size, spacing, typeface, contrast and color scheme, keyboard-only navigation, screen-reader support, AI-assisted ALT and ARIA improvements, brand configuration and multi-language support.
Accessibility Scanner
WCAG 2.1 and 2.2 AA checks, prioritized plain-language reporting, Low, Medium and High severity, visibility across WCAG A, AA and AAA and an overall risk score.
- WCAG 2.1 and 2.2 AA
- EN 301 549
- European Accessibility Act
Continuous monitoring
Recurring scans check changes, alerts highlight areas that need attention and reports provide step-by-step remediation guidance.
A change goes live
A new fare, a timetable change, an alert or a release.
A recurring scan checks it
Wawsome scans your pages again on schedule.
An alert flags what changed
New issues are highlighted by severity.
The right team fixes it
Reports give step-by-step guidance.
Booking engines, payment pages, kiosks and apps need their own plan
Many travel journeys run through external booking engines, payment providers, loyalty platforms or check-in systems. The widget works where its script is installed. Kiosks and native apps are outside Wawsome's scope, so they need their own plan with the vendor or your app team.
Needs the vendor or the source
- Booking engines on another domain, if the script can't be added there
- Payment pages hosted by a payment provider
- Self-service kiosks and native mobile apps
- E-tickets, boarding passes and timetables in PDF
- Free or self-hosted widgets often need your own server or API, plus security updates you maintain
- No clear answer on where visitor data is processed, or a data processing agreement
What Wawsome does
- Runs on your website and booking pages, and on vendor pages that allow the script
- Scans the passenger journey and flags issues by severity
- Reports third-party issues separately, for technical or contractual escalation
- Moves issues it can't fix in the browser into a prioritized technical backlog
- Hosted and updated by Wawsome, with no server or API to run on your side
- ISO 27001 certified information security and GDPR-aligned data processing
More independent journeys. Fewer digital blockers. Better operational control.
More bookings completed
More passengers can go from search to payment without a barrier stopping them.
- Booking completion
- Check-in self-service
Independent travel planning
More passengers can plan, buy and manage their journeys on their own.
- Digital ticket sales
- Self-service adoption
Fewer support contacts
Fewer calls and desk visits happen only because a digital step failed.
- Support contacts
- Complaint volume
Easier extras
Fewer barriers when passengers add bags, seats and other services.
- Ancillary attach rate
Loyalty and reputation
A predictable journey supports repeat travel and lowers the risk that one bad experience becomes a public incident.
- Repeat purchase
- Repeat usage
Governance across channels
Management sees accessibility risk, progress and recurring problem areas over time, not in a one-off check.
- Issue trend
- Progress history
Trusted by Leaders and Industry Innovators
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See where accessibility barriers may interrupt your passenger journey.
Start with your website or booking portal. Find barriers across booking, check-in, ticketing, routes, payments and live travel information. Then build a prioritized plan to fix and monitor them.
Need a manual audit of your website and documents? See our audits
Digital accessibility is not a niche requirement. It decides who can travel on their own.
The Valuable 500 argues that leaving out 16% of the world's population should be treated as a material risk. Its members include travel organizations such as Japan Airlines, ANA and Heathrow Airport (industry context, not Wawsome clients). Yet the research it cites shows most websites are still not fully accessible.
16%
of the world's population experience significant disability
Upwards of 90%
of the world's websites are not fully accessible to the disability community
Source: The Valuable 500
When mobility depends on digital self-service, accessibility decides whether a passenger can finish the journey on their own.
Airline and passenger transport digital accessibility FAQ
What is digital accessibility for airlines and passenger transport?
It means building and maintaining travel websites, booking portals and digital journeys so people with different visual, motor, cognitive and other needs can search, book, pay, check in, buy tickets, plan routes and get travel information on their own.
Why is digital accessibility important for airlines and transport operators?
Airline journeys depend on complex steps like date pickers, fare choice, seat maps, baggage, payment and check-in. For rail, bus and ferry passengers, timetables, routes, tickets and alerts are the way into the service. Barriers in these steps affect bookings, self-service, support demand, reputation and repeat travel.
Which airline and transport journeys should be prioritized?
For airlines, we recommend starting with search, booking, seat selection, baggage, payment, manage booking and check-in. For rail, bus and ferry operators, start with timetables, routes, ticketing, accounts, payments and alerts. These steps decide whether a passenger can travel without help.
Does the European Accessibility Act apply to airlines and passenger transport?
Yes, for air, bus, coach, rail and ferry services. Since 28 June 2025, the EAA covers their websites, mobile services, e-tickets and ticketing services, real-time travel information and self-service terminals. Microenterprises are exempt from the service requirements, and each country applies the EAA through its own national law.
Does the EAA cover city bus, metro and tram websites?
For urban, suburban and regional transport, the EAA only covers interactive self-service terminals, like ticket machines. If the operator is a public sector body, its website and apps fall under the Web Accessibility Directive and national law. Wawsome works on websites and web portals, not on terminals.
How can accessibility affect airline ancillary revenue?
If passengers can't select baggage, seats or other paid services on their own, barriers can stop those sales. That is why ancillary attach rate is one of the KPIs accessibility can influence. Wawsome includes these steps in the scan scope.
How can accessibility reduce support pressure?
When a digital barrier blocks a passenger, the request moves to a call center, ticket office, customer care team or airport staff. Fixing those barriers can reduce the requests that only happen because self-service failed.
What does the Wawsome Accessibility Widget do?
The Widget provides accessibility profiles and controls for text size, spacing, typography, contrast and color, along with keyboard-only navigation, screen-reader support and AI-assisted improvements for selected ALT, ARIA and structural issues.
What does the Wawsome Scanner do?
The Wawsome Scanner supports WCAG 2.1 and 2.2 AA checks, severity-based prioritization, risk scoring, recurring monitoring, alerts and reporting, so teams can see which issues need attention.
Why is continuous accessibility monitoring important in travel and transport?
Travel websites change all the time. Fare updates, new extras, timetable changes, service alerts, campaigns and releases can bring barriers back after a one-time audit. Recurring scans catch those regressions.
How should airlines and operators manage third-party accessibility risk?
Booking engines, payment systems, loyalty platforms and check-in often come from external vendors. Wawsome reports issues in those components separately and documents them, so you can escalate them technically or in your vendor contracts.
Which KPIs can accessibility influence for airlines and passenger transport?
For airlines: booking completion, ancillary attach rate, check-in self-service, call center contacts, repeat purchase and complaint volume. For rail, bus and ferry operators: digital ticket sales, self-service adoption, support contacts, completion rate, repeat usage and complaint volume.
Does Wawsome require a complete website rebuild?
No. Wawsome deploys through a JavaScript tag or Google Tag Manager and works at the browser layer, without server-side codebase changes. Structural issues and third-party components that need source-level work are identified and prioritized separately.
Make accessibility part of every passenger journey you run online.
You already track booking completion, self-service, ticket sales, support contacts and complaints. Add accessibility to the same measurement and find the barriers that stop passengers from finishing key steps on their own.
- Accessibility Widget
- Scanner
- Continuous Monitoring
- Accessibility Statement
- Third-party issue reports
- Multi-language support