
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 14, 1990                   TAG: 9004140222
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

AIRLINES DENIED EXTRA TIME ON COMPLIANCE

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

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals turned down a plea by the Air Transport Association, 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.

A spokesman for the airlines said that they were doing what they could to implement new federal regulations protecting handicapped travelers, but that many of the major airlines continued to believe that it was a "simple impossibility" to obey the rules immediately.

The ATA, 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 immediate action on that request. In the meantime, however, 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:

Cannot turn away a passenger merely because the passenger's appearance or behavior would offend other fliers.

Cannot, 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.

Cannot require handicapped people, in most cases, to give advance notice before they want to fly.

by CNB