Disabled passengers and the law

[hotmetal]

Scenario.
A passenger in a wheelchair is booked on a flight. They are unable to walk and require jetty access or a highlift vehicle to access the aircraft. Shortly before departure the aircraft dispatcher realises that as the aircraft is not on a jetty [or it is broken] and it will be a long wait for a high lift. The high lift vehicle will take at least an hour to arrive. He decides it will result in too long a delay for the flight so refuses to load the person on the flight and books them on a later flight.

Questions.
1. Is it legal to treat the passenger in this way. Surely they are being discriminated against solely due to their disability.

2. If so is it a criminal offence or does it just leave the airline open to civil action?

3. If I was the captain on the flight and I was made aware of the situation just prior to departure what is my legal situation?

[The SSK]

There is a voulntary code of conduct included in the Airlines Passenger Service Commitment (http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/air/rights/doc/commitment_airlines_en.pdf) signed-up to by almost all the major European airlines and many of the regionals (not the locos) and monitored by the EU and ECAC.

It includes the wording 'no carrier will refuse a PRM (Passenger with Reduced Mobility) except where he/she cannot safely be carried or cannot physically be accommodated'.

While not legally binding, if the airline has signed the Commitment, a letter of complaint to the EU or ECAC would probably result in a pretty stern admonishment to the airline, of the kind they would be unwise to ignore.

[hotmetal]

Interesting.. I wasn't aware of that. I wonder how the situation relates specifically to UK legislation on rights for people with disabilities though.

[Legal_Counsel]

Hi Hotmetal,

This link may be of some assistance. Presumably in any jurisdiction one would take note of what was occurring in other jurisdictions before one embarked on any sort of legislation development.

http://www.dot.gov/affairs/dot9001.htm

Looking at your scenario, I am more likely to see this as an inability by the airline rather than a mistreatment. There is a reasonable expectation the flight should be able to leave on time. Is the converse argument true for the passenger at the other end who must travel to see his dying mother?

In the case I have cited in the link, you can see the case with the airline involved was one of a duty of care. In your case a duty of reasonable care was exercised to accommodate the disabled passenger.

In the case of an aircraft accident, ambulatory passengers are given a priority to evacuate because the care required for a disabled passenger may consequently result in a greater risk to other evacuees.

Good point you raised.

[Pub User]

If a dispatcher refuses boardng to someone because the airport cannot provide facilities in a reasonable time, how on Earth is the airline at fault?

[Piltdown Man]

From a man on the Fokker Onimbus:

1) Probably yes. You'd have to prove that the administrative foul-up was done on purpose.

2) Neither. I'd be surprised if this was intentional. This where "Denied Boarding Compensation" may be appropriate unless the carrier's "conditions of carriage" would let them of the hook.

3) They are not a legal problem for a captain until they are on the plane (where they can be discriminated against on safety grounds).