United Airlines begins adding Braille signage to its planes

United Airlines announced that it has started adding Braille markings to the interior of its planes, with plans to outfit its full fleet over the next three years.

The carrier said it is the first U.S. airline to add Braille to plane interiors. Two advocacy groups said they were not aware of any other carrier making similar moves. Many airlines offer safety information cards written in Braille, a system of writing that uses raised dots for blind people or those with low vision.

So far, about a dozen planes have been equipped with the signage, which conveys information about rows, seat numbers and lavatories. The rest of the United-operated fleet, which doesn't include regional jets, are expected to be updated by the end of 2026.

"What we want to do for all of our customers is allow them to navigate as much on their own as possible," Linda Jojo, United's chief customer officer, said in an interview. She said the airline's mobile app is optimized to work with screen readers that blind travelers might use, but the boarding process can present challenges. "Those last few feet on the plane they probably have to ask for assistance or be really good at counting — and know we don't have a row 13 on some of our planes."

The Braille additions come during a major expansion and retrofit of United's fleet that will add more customer-friendly elements such as larger overhead bins.

"We just realized that while there's those big things we can do, there's some small things that maybe don't impact as many customers," Jojo said.

For now, Braille is being added to planes that are being retrofitted. It will be included with new planes as the Federal Aviation Administration certifies the signage for those aircraft.

Jojo said the airline is also considering other ways to help those with vision loss who don't read Braille, such as adding raised lettering on different areas of the planes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 6 million Americans have vision loss and 1 million are blind.

Organizations that advocate for the blind applauded the move as an important step toward making travel more accessible, while pointing out there's still plenty of work to do.

"The flight experience is often frustrating for a number of reasons, one of which is the amount of information that is available exclusively through printed signs and other visual indicators," Mark Riccobono, president of the National Federation of the Blind, said in the United news announcement. "We hope to continue working with United to explore additional ways to make flying more accessible and less stressful for blind passengers."

Jojo acknowledged it was "incredible" that United will be the first U.S. airline to incorporate Braille on its planes — and said it would welcome competitors doing the same.