Braille on United Airlines seats

Recently I found that more and more flights have braille numbers above the seats. The first time I came across this in 2023 on an Air Canada flight. But I also read that United Airlines will outfit all their flights with braille seat numbers by the end of 2026.

Since then, I found these more often, last time a week ago when I was flying to Washington DC.

Why is this important?

When a blind person boards a flight, it is practically impossible to find the right row or sometimes even the right seat. You can’t just count the rows because some row numbers are missing depending on the airplane’s configuration. Thus, blind people will have to ask for assistance to find their seats. This means extra time for the airport staff to assist a blind person, or for the flight attendants who are already busy with turning the plane around. But most importantly, for a blind person it is yet another place where they cannot navigate their environment independently even though there would be an easy solution.

Hopefully this will all change soon. While United Airlines is only promising to fix it in the United States, in practice it also applies to their international flights which I have found a couple of times already, and other airlines are also adding it to their fleets.

Last week when I boarded the flight, I took a picture of it for you, which may not be the best quality but you will see what it is.

I am so delighted that soon I will be able to find my seat without assistance from the boarding area.

However, for those of you who don’t read braille, let me explain what is on the sign:

The sign says “seat row 23 ced”. Thus, it has all the information you need, but there is a little issue with it. As I am quickly trying to read the numbers as I walk the isle, on each sign it takes just a moment longer to locate the number as it is practically the third word of the sign, this slows me down unnecessarily. The other thing I found was that it feels like a plastic sheet or a heavy duty tape was posted there, and their corners are coming off, probably as people grab their suitcases a few times a day and if it catches on it. This could easily scratch your finger if you are walking fast while trying to read.

It would be easier to read if the numbers would somehow be integrated into the plastic of the overhead bin and each sign would start with the numbers, after all, you know it is a seat row, and the letters are only secondary until you find the right row. It would be great if this was improved, but overall this is a huge change, this will save serious time for staff, and will make blind people much more independent.

And why is United my favorite airline? Because when it comes to accessibility, they deliver. When it comes to accessible booking, resolving accessibility issues on the spot, etc. They saved my day so many times when I needed to count on them. Previously I wrote about the fact that being blind is expensive, and this maybe one of those cases, because I only buy a flight somewhere else if United doesn’t fly it, sometimes it is not the cheapest. But I will know that I paid for quality and accessibility.