Northwest Accused of Disabilities Violations

The Transportation Department accused Northwest Airlines Corp. of mistreating passengers with disabilities and asked the airline to pay $3 million in fines. It is the largest civil penalty proposed by the department for such a violation.

The department charged Northwest with hundreds of violations of federal law and regulations prohibiting airlines from discriminating against the disabled. An airline can be fined as much as $10,000 for each violation.

Northwest said it will fight the charges.

The Transportation Department said that in investigating the original complaint filed in February 2000, it found passengers waiting an hour or more for a wheelchair, disabled family members being left aboard planes, passengers being wheeled to the wrong gate and therefore missing flights, and airline employees unavailable to push wheelchairs.