Minister hails new air travel laws

By Sunil Peck

The UK aviation industry will soon have no excuse for discriminating against disabled air passengers, a government minister has told Disability Now.

Transport minister Rosie Winterton was speaking at an event to mark the coming into effect of anti-discrimination legislation which covers air travel in the European Union, from 26 July.

The legislation covers assisted travel, compensation for damaged mobility equipment and disability equality training for airport and airline staff.

It gives disabled people the right to expect assistance from arrival at an airport to an aircraft, and then from the aircraft to departure from the airport, including getting on and getting off the plane.

Ms Winterton told us: "There should not be an excuse for not implementing these regulations. As the regulations come into force, it will be up to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to make sure that they are properly implemented."

Paralympian Rachel Morris told us that the legislation was a "big step forward".

She said she hoped it would put an end to instances of her wheelchair being buckled and broken during air travel and difficulties getting on and off planes.

Neil Crowther, director of disability programmes at the EHRC, said the commission would handle complaints from any disgruntled passengers in the UK.

He said: "Where customers fail to secure a satisfactory outcome from airlines' complaints procedures, we can offer two options. Where both parties agree, we can go to conciliation and try and agree a mutually satisfactory outcome. Alternatively, we may pursue civil litigation."

But despite the anti-discrimination legislation, the captain of a plane will still have the right to prevent disabled passengers boarding on safety grounds.

When Disability Now asked Ms Winterton if she had any concerns that this could lead to discrimination against disabled passengers, she said: "It is pretty obvious to people when something is just a bit spurious and is about a lack of willingness as opposed to genuinely saying ‘there is a huge problem here which means that the safety of other passengers is at risk’.”

She added: "I think that the task of organisations like the EHRC and the CAA is to distinguish between when someone has a genuine reason for saying 'this causes a safety problem' and when it is just being used as an excuse."
24 July, 2008