{"id":33475,"date":"2025-11-24T23:01:55","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T23:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/?p=33475"},"modified":"2025-11-24T23:03:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T23:03:14","slug":"mia-delta-air-lines-and-latam-airlines-host-tour-for-children-with-disabilities-before-the-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/state-news\/florida\/mia-delta-air-lines-and-latam-airlines-host-tour-for-children-with-disabilities-before-the-holidays\/%20","title":{"rendered":"MIA, Delta Air Lines, and LATAM Airlines Host Tour for Children with Disabilities Before the Holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Photo – Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and MIA Director and CEO Ralph Cuti\u00e9 (center) with more than 150 children at the MIAair tour on November 19.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A week before the Thanksgiving travel season begins, Miami International Airport (MIA), Delta Air Lines, and LATAM Airlines hosted the airport\u2019s latest MIA Airport Instruction and Readiness<\/a> (MIAair) tour for more than 150 children with disabilities from local schools, along with their parents, teachers, and guardians. The tour allowed participants to rehearse the air travel experience from start to finish, all the way to an airplane seat, in a safe and controlled environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe strive to make Miami-Dade County services as accessible as possible to all of our residents, which is why I am so proud of MIA\u2019s successful efforts to empower travelers with disabilities through its award-winning MIAair tour program,\u201d Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. \u201cWith this month\u2019s MIAair tour, even more children and their families gained the confidence and comfort they need to experience the joy of air travel without barriers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The children practiced entering the airport, getting boarding passes, going through security, and boarding a LATAM Airlines plane with the airline\u2019s gate agents and flight crew. The program also served as a learning experience for airline and airport workers at MIA. The goal of the MIAair program is for anyone, regardless of their disability, to experience the magic and wonder of flight. Since launching the MIAair tours in 2015, in partnership with the UM-NSU Center for Autism and Related Disabilities (CARD), MIA has now hosted tours for nearly 400 children with disabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThank you to our partners at Miami International Airport and LATAM for investing their facilities and their hearts in accessible travel,\u201d said Alison Lathrop, Delta\u2019s Managing Director of Accessibility Programs. \u201cTravel is for everyone, and we\u2019re delighted to spread a little cheer and make the travel experience more familiar and accessible for to these kids and their families this holiday season.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are delighted to take part in this event that brings together so many children and their families,\u201d said Cristina De Melo, VP North America & Caribbean at LATAM Airlines. \u201cAt LATAM, we are committed to building an inclusive and accessible travel industry. As part of this commitment, we have been enhancing the travel experience for people with disabilities\u2014through initiatives such as practice boarding across our South American subsidiaries and partnerships with Autism Double-Checked and Hidden Disabilities Sunflower. These collaborations help us create a more accessible journey for passengers on the autism spectrum and those with hidden disabilities. Today\u2019s event has been a meaningful opportunity to further our mission of promoting accessibility and inclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo – Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and MIA Director and CEO Ralph Cuti\u00e9 (center) with more than 150 children at the MIAair tour on November 19. A week before the Thanksgiving travel season begins, Miami International Airport (MIA), Delta Air Lines, and LATAM Airlines hosted the airport\u2019s latest MIA Airport Instruction and Readiness […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":33476,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[143,116,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-airlines","category-front-page-slider","category-florida"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/miaairtourgroupdelta-latam-easterseals1-edit.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33475"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33479,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33475\/revisions\/33479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}