Can the flight booking API request wheelchair assistance for my customer at the airport?

Yes, in most cases you can send a request for wheelchair or other special assistance through the flight booking API when you make the booking. There is normally a field on each passenger for a service request, and the assistance codes sit in that list, so the need is passed to the airline together with the reservation and stays on the booking record your staff can see.

It is a request, not a confirmation. The airline has to accept it, and some airlines answer straight away while others hold the request until a person reviews it, which can take a day or more. A few carriers, low cost ones in particular, do not take assistance requests through a booking connection at all and expect you to arrange it on their own website or by calling them. The same applies when your customer travels with their own wheelchair or needs oxygen, because the airline usually wants extra details well before the flight.

What actually happens at the airport also depends on the airline and on the airports involved. Help from the check in desk to the gate, help with boarding, and a seat with a movable armrest are handled by different teams, so ask your customer exactly what they need and make sure the correct request goes onto the booking rather than a general note that nobody at the airport will read.

Check which of your connected suppliers accept assistance requests, and for anything beyond simple wheelchair help, contact the airline after booking and confirm the arrangement before the day of travel.