End Bias on Disabled Now, Airlines Told

Commercial and charter airlines can wait no longer to take steps to end discrimination against passengers who are handicapped, under a federal court order issued here.

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday night turned down a plea by the Air Transport Assn., the airlines’ trade group, for up to six more months of time to retrain airline staffs, buy new equipment and change procedures to accommodate handicapped travelers--as federal law now requires.

R. Jack Powell, executive director of the Paralyzed Veterans of America, which has been fighting for years for equal air travel rights for the handicapped, said: “Members of PVA and the entire disability community now are afforded legal protection against discrimination in air travel, because the courts have ruled against ATA’s attempts to stall.”

A spokesman for the airlines said that they are doing what they can to implement new federal regulations protecting handicapped travelers but that many of the major airlines continue to believe that it is a “simple impossibility” to obey the rules immediately.

The Air Transport Assn., after learning that the Circuit Court here had ruled against delay, promptly filed a new request for postponement in a federal appeals court in Denver, where another lawsuit involving the regulations is pending. There was no action on that request.

In the meantime, the majority of the most significant regulations protecting the handicapped are fully in effect.

For four years, it has been illegal under a federal law for airlines--commercial or charter--to single out passengers for different treatment just because they are handicapped. But, until this month, there were no federal regulations for enforcing the law. The Department of Transportation wrote regulations when the industry and handicapped persons’ groups could not reach a negotiated agreement on rules.

Under the new regulations, carriers:

--May not turn away a passenger merely because the passenger’s appearance or behavior would offend others.

--May not, except in unusual circumstances, require handicapped people to have companions travel with them, unless the airline is willing to let such attendants travel free.

--Must not discriminate against handicapped passengers regarding where they may sit, unless there is a safety problem, such as physical inability to help open an escape door.