All airlines Latin America & Caribbean
TACA
Powered wheelchairs accepted · carried free · 48 h notice.
- Advance notice
- 48hours before departure
- Powered wheelchair
- Yes
- Lithium, battery installed
- Not published
- Cost to carry
- Free
Who to contact
Transcribed from the airline’s own pages, exactly as it labels them.
- PhoneEl Salvador — contact centre
- PhoneUnited States — Avianca group contact centre, published on avianca.com (Avianca El Salvador is the former TACA)
- PhoneCanada — Avianca group contact centre, published on avianca.com (Avianca El Salvador is the former TACA)
- PhoneGuatemala — contact centre
- PhoneCosta Rica — Avianca group contact centre, published on avianca.com
- PhoneColombia — Avianca group contact centre (Bogota / mobiles), published on avianca.com
- PhoneSpain — contact centre (national toll-free)
- PhoneUnited Kingdom — contact centre
- Online form
- Relay / textTDD service for people with hearing and speech limitations: +1 844 413 7044. Avianca also prints the US DOT disability hotline +1 800 778 4838 (voice) / +1 800 455 9880 (TTY) and the Air Consumer Protection Division +1 202 366 2220 (voice) / +1 202 366 0511 (TTY).TDD — United States
- Relay / text+57 311 400 6797 (chat), linked from the Accessible Avianca and Contact us pages.WhatsApp — "Vianca" virtual assistant
- Relay / textServiço TDD no Brasil: +55 0800 724 8754.TDD — Brazil
TACA has no separate customer-service network: taca.com redirects to avianca.com and every channel above is Avianca's. No dedicated disability desk line is published — accessibility requests go through the ordinary country contact centres, the Help Centre form or the Vianca WhatsApp assistant.
Read it from the source
Powered wheelchairs & batteries
The part that goes wrong. Battery chemistry and watt-hours decide whether your chair flies, and the rules differ depending on whether the battery can be removed.
Battery-powered wheelchairs are carried. The chair must be handed over switched off, with terminals protected against short circuit and the battery securely attached to the frame. Chairs with spillable (wet) batteries are carried only with the battery removed and packed — see wet_spillable.
Help Centre — Can I travel with my wheelchair? (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Lithium batteries are accepted and should stay attached to the chair unless removal is necessary for handling; terminals must be protected against short circuit.
Help Centre — Can I travel with my wheelchair? (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Avianca publishes no watt-hour cap for a lithium battery that stays installed in the chair — only for spares.
No watt-hour cap is published for a battery removed from the chair; Avianca's instruction is that lithium batteries should not be removed unless handling requires it.
TACA has no site of its own — taca.com 301-redirects to avianca.com — so the rule that governs a TA ticket is Avianca's: "You may carry only in the cabin one (1) spare lithium-ion battery not exceeding 300 Wh, or two (2) spare batteries not exceeding 160 Wh each."
Help Centre — Can I travel with my wheelchair? (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Maximum two spares: one spare lithium-ion battery up to 300 Wh OR two spares up to 160 Wh each, cabin only. Separately, up to two (2) spare dry / nickel-metal hydride batteries in the hold in rigid packaging, or a maximum of one (1) spare non-spillable wet battery in the hold in rigid packaging.
Help Centre — Can I travel with my wheelchair? (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
"You should not remove the battery if it is dry, nickel-metal hydride, or lithium, unless necessary for handling. It must remain properly secured to the wheelchair." The exception is a spillable (wet) battery, which must be removed.
Help Centre — Can I travel with my wheelchair? (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Dry, nickel-metal hydride and non-spillable batteries stay attached: "You should not remove the battery if it is dry, nickel-metal hydride, or lithium, unless necessary for handling. It must remain properly secured to the wheelchair."
Help Centre — Can I travel with my wheelchair? (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
"We do not transport mobility aids or wheelchairs with spillable (wet) batteries installed." The battery must be removed, packed in leak-proof packaging, protected against short circuits, secured upright, surrounded by absorbent material and labelled BATTERY, WET, WITH WHEELCHAIR plus corrosive and package-orientation labels.
Help Centre — Can I travel with my wheelchair? (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
"Deliver it turned off, with terminals protected against short circuits and the battery securely attached to the frame... Ensure that the electrical terminals (positive and negative) are protected against short circuits."
Help Centre — Can I travel with my wheelchair? (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
"When you arrive at the airport counter, inform us of the type of battery your wheelchair uses, as well as the manufacturer's instructions for disassembly and reassembly, and if any special recommendations are needed for the cargo hold and battery handling." No written spec sheet or MSDS is demanded.
Help Centre — Can I travel with my wheelchair? (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
No maximum powered-wheelchair dimensions are published.
No maximum powered-wheelchair weight is published.
Same as manual chairs: you may keep the chair until boarding, and return at the aircraft door on arrival can be requested but "may take up to 2 hours depending on the airport".
Help Centre — Can I travel with my wheelchair? (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Manual wheelchairs
"Yes! You can bring your wheelchair when traveling with us." The contract of carriage also lists wheelchairs and orthopaedic items as Special Baggage the carrier may accept (clause 7.4).
Help Centre — Can I travel with my wheelchair? (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29 Contract of carriage (names Taca International Airlines, S.A. as THE CARRIER) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Avianca does not say whether a folding manual chair may be stowed in the cabin.
No in-cabin stowage dimensions published.
No maximum wheelchair dimensions are published; Avianca instead asks for the chair's specifications when you book.
No maximum manual-wheelchair weight is published.
"You may remain in your wheelchair until the last moment before boarding" (some airports require earlier hand-over). Return at the aircraft door on arrival must be requested and "may take up to 2 hours depending on the airport".
Help Centre — Can I travel with my wheelchair? (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Booking & cost
"If you are traveling to or from Europe, please notify us at least 48 hours before your flight." 48 h is the only published deadline and it is Europe-specific; otherwise Avianca just says tell them when booking or before departure. Arrive 4 h before international / 3 h before domestic flights.
Help Centre — Can I travel with my wheelchair? (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
"When making your reservation or before the flight's departure, let us know that you will be traveling with a wheelchair... Provide us with the specifications to transport your wheelchair safely, such as the manufacturer's instructions to disassemble and assemble it, whether it requires any conditions to be placed in the cargo hold, and the type of batteries."
Help Centre — Can I travel with my wheelchair? (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29 Contact us — contact centres by country (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
"No additional charges: You can transport it free of charge if you use it due to a disability. If it is not for your personal use, it will be checked as additional baggage."
Help Centre — Can I travel with my wheelchair? (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
Avianca does not publish how many mobility devices are carried free per passenger.
Contract of carriage 13.1–13.2: liability is governed by local law or the Montreal/Warsaw Conventions; "With respect to destruction, loss or damage, or delay to Baggage, Passengers will have the right in most cases to a maximum of one-thousand five-hundred and nineteen (1,519) Special Deposit Rights." No separate full-value rule for mobility aids is published.
Contract of carriage (names Taca International Airlines, S.A. as THE CARRIER) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29
On board
Avianca does not publish whether an on-board aisle chair is carried.
Not published.
No transfer/lifting service is described. The contract of carriage instead says the carrier may require a passenger with a disability to travel with an assistant where that is essential to safety, including where the passenger cannot help themselves in an evacuation.
No movable-armrest or bulkhead seating rule for wheelchair users is published.
Fleet detail. Avianca: "Flights to and from the United States: On single-aisle aircraft, your wheelchair will be transported in the cargo hold, following U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations." No hold-door or hold-compartment dimensions are published.
Worth knowing
The TACA brand no longer sells tickets. http://www.taca.com/ returns HTTP 301 to https://www.avianca.com/, and Avianca's own contract of carriage on avianca.com states that it sets the terms for "Aerovías del Continente Americano S.A., Avianca, Taca International Airlines, S.A., Avianca Costa Rica, S.A., Avianca Ecuador S.A., Aviateca S.A. and Regional Express Américas S.A.S., hereinafter THE CARRIER". Every fact here therefore comes from avianca.com / ayuda.avianca.com and is TACA International Airlines' own published policy, not a group policy imported by inference. Watch-outs: carriage is free only where the chair is used because of a disability; gate return must be requested and can take up to 2 hours; the 48 h notice figure is published only for flights to/from Europe. The physical-disability page linked from Accessible Avianca (/en/my-booking/accesibility-and-assistance/avianca-accesible/physical-disability) currently returns 404, so nothing about aisle chairs, transfers or accessible lavatories could be sourced.
Sources
Every figure above traces to one of these.
- s1 taca.com homepage — HTTP 301 redirect to www.avianca.com (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29
- s2 Contract of carriage (names Taca International Airlines, S.A. as THE CARRIER) (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29
- s3 Help Centre — Can I travel with my wheelchair? (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29
- s4 Accessible Avianca (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29
- s5 Contact us — contact centres by country (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29
- s6 Help Centre — What items are restricted in my baggage? (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29
Record quality
Record status researched · confidence high · 6 official sources · 12 contacts · 63% of the fields this reference tracks are answered. Newest source read 29 July 2026, the day before this page was built. What these mean.