Airlines Suing For Right To Trash Wheelchairs Without Punishment

Donald Trump's return to the Oval Office has many of the country's largest corporations pushing for deregulation, and airlines are certainly included in that group. Every major U.S. airline has partnered to file an appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday against a recently imposed USDOT regulation protecting the rights of wheelchair-using passengers. American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue, and industry lobby Airlines for America are all members of this deregulatory hydra.

The USDOT's final rule protecting wheelchair users took effect on January 16, four days before Joe Biden's presidency ended. The regulation required annual hands-on training for airline employees who handle mobility devices or physically assist passengers with disabilities. The rule also presumed that airlines are responsible if wheelchairs are returned damaged after flights. The airlines are legally disputing a key section that defines discrimination, USA Today reports. The section reads:

"The Department considers the mishandling of wheelchairs, scooters, and assistive devices, and unsafe, undignified, and untimely wheelchair assistance, to constitute discrimination on the basis of disability."

The section in question is the foundation for the entire set of regulations, especially where violations would result in increased expenses or hefty fines. Airlines are obligated to pay for replacement wheelchairs and reimburse ground transportation costs when the passenger's wheelchair is lost or damaged. If the rule didn't carry any punishment, it would simply be a set of recommendations, and the carriers wouldn't obey them.

There are countless incidents that highlight how airlines mistreated wheelchair users in the very recent past. In March 2023, Frontier Airlines damaged the wheelchair of a pro tennis player flying to a tournament in Atlanta. He was forced to play his qualifying match with a borrowed chair. Frontier supplied a replacement weeks later.

After Southwest's holiday meltdown in December 2022, the Biden administration made massive strides to enact a plethora of consumer rights protections for airline passengers. Passengers with disabilities could be the first to face the Trump administration's rollback of those protections.