For those of you passing through the European Union…new EU rules forbid airports or airlines to deny disabled or elderly passengers from flying.
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Under additional laws, which will come into effect on July 26 of next year, passengers with reduced mobility will no longer be charged for extra assistance such as wheelchairs or help with assistance dogs, which will be allowed on flights as part of the legislation.
The new laws are in response to issues with low-cost airlines in which passengers with disabilities had been refused boarding passes or charged for extra costs involved in helping them board a flight. Ryanair, the scourge of the skies, demanded a disabled passenger pay to use a wheelchair in the airport in 2002. Three years later it removed several blind passengers from a flight, claiming its could not allow more than four disabled people per flight.
Passengers will be required to file any complaints with the relevant airline or airport, but can take their complaint to the governments.
