On September 28, 2023, PVA and three other disability organizations issued a joint statement in response to a settlement agreement between the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and United Airlines following a complaint from the late disability rights advocate Engracia Figueroa. 

In July 2021, Figueroa returned home to Los Angeles after speaking at a rally in Washington, D.C., and discovered the airline had severely damaged her custom wheelchair. Stuck in a low-quality manual wheelchair for five hours at the airport, the airline sent her home in an ill-fitting loaner chair. After spending weeks in an improper chair fighting for the airline to fix her wheelchair, Figueroa developed pressure ulcers that became infected and spread to her bones. Despite emergency surgeries, she passed away on October 31, 2021.

The DOT settlement with United requires the airline to undertake a number of efforts to improve the air travel experience of wheelchair users. Specifically, the settlement requires the airline to: 

• Roll out a flight filter on its booking engine to make it easier for passengers who use wheelchairs to find flights where their wheelchairs can fit and be safely transported.   
• Refund the fare difference for passengers with wheelchairs that use the flight filter when the passenger’s preferred flight cannot accommodate their wheelchair and the flight that they travel on with their wheelchair is more expensive. 
• Conduct a pilot program to explore whether additional equipment, such as a medical wheelchair or other form of moveable or non-moveable chair, can be utilized to safely accommodate passengers waiting for loaner wheelchairs because of damage or delay to their personal wheelchairs during a flight. 
• Provide passengers whose wheelchairs were damaged or delayed accommodation options, including United ensuring the timely delivery of the loaner wheelchair to the passenger, as part of the pilot program. 
• Seek feedback from each passenger who checks a wheelchair for transport in the aircraft cargo compartment. United will take the feedback into consideration when developing and enhancing its practices and procedures for handling wheelchairs.   

The joint statement released by PVA says that, "While nothing can erase the pain and suffering Engracia endured, nor bring her back to her family and community, we recognize the actions that United Airlines will be required to take as part of the settlement with the [DOT] and see it as an important first step forward in acknowledging the challenges and real dangers that many people with disabilities encounter when they travel by air.” It further states, however, that “much more needs to be done to increase air travel accessibility and prevent injury and loss of life.”