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Delta Air Lines recently hosted Thomas Panek, President and CEO of Lighthouse Guild, at its Delta One Lounge in JFK Airport to discuss accessibility for travelers who are blind or visually impaired. The visit was part of Delta’s ongoing collaboration with its Advisory Board on Disability and Accessible Travel, which has been active for 25 years and includes leaders from various disability communities.
Panek described his experience in the lounge: “I’m feeling the comfort of the chair I’m sitting in, the smoothness of the floor, the texture of the tables, so everything architecturally related but in a different way. The texture of the fabric, the way the cushion is. So all of these things I pay a little bit more attention to because of course I can’t see the colors – they mean nothing to me – and I can’t see the design or the art of the walls.” He added that he was there “to sort of celebrate the accessibility of the Delta Lounge having given me an opportunity to experience it at its best.”
The event included members from Lighthouse Guild as well as Delta leaders from Clubs and Lounges and Corporate Accessibility Programs. Alison Lathrop, who leads Delta’s Accessibility team, explained: “Travel is for everybody, and really, at Delta, look at travel from all kinds of different perspectives. In my role, I work with Delta’s Advisory Board on Disability and Accessible Travel so we can really take the welcoming, elevated and caring perspective and think about that with all of our customers.”
