United Fined in Screening of the Disabled

UAL Corp.’s United Airlines agreed to pay a $50,000 fine because of the way the airline did security checks of passengers in wheelchairs, the Transportation Department said. The fine settles a complaint filed by a passenger who uses a wheelchair. Security workers under contract to United at Washington’s Dulles International Airport insisted on checking the passenger in a private room after the wheelchair activated a metal detector, the complaint said. After that January 1999 incident, Transportation investigators made follow-up visits to Dulles with individuals in wheelchairs. They found that United’s security workers regularly required private screenings of passengers in wheelchairs. Federal rules require that security searches of disabled passengers whose wheelchairs or other aids activate metal detectors be conducted publicly, as is done with other passengers who trigger the detectors. Shares of Chicago-based UAL fell $2.56 to close at $73.75 on the New York Stock Exchange.