Air travellers who use a wheelchair or break a leg on holiday can no longer be turned away from flights.

The legislation announced today stipulates that from July 26 it will be illegal for airlines to refuse a booking from disabled passengers flying within Europe because of their disability.

Incidences involving disabled passengers in the past have included those who were refused boarding under Ryanair’s policy to allow only four disabled passengers per flight. Further to that, the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) has received calls from nine disabled passengers over the past year who have been refused a flight because of their disability.

Passengers covered under the regulation include those with permanently reduced mobility and those with temporary disabilities, such as holidaymakers who break a leg while abroad.

Airlines found by the CAA to be in breach of the regulation will be fined, and while no cap has been set on the fine, cases of this kind filed under the Disability Discrimination Act typically result in compensation of between £1,000 and £5,000.

A second stage of the regulation, which is introduced in July 2008, will make it illegal for airlines to charge passengers for assistance and use of a wheelchair when boarding and disembarking and to charge for the use of extra seats by disabled passengers.

The definition of disability according to the regulations is: “a disabled person or person with reduced mobility means any person whose mobility when using transport is reduced due to any physical disability (sensory or locomotor, permanent or temporary), intellectual disability or impairment, or any other cause of disability, or age, and whose situation needs appropriate attention and the adaptation to his or her particular needs of the service made available to all passengers”

The DRC welcomes the regulation but argues that loopholes in the definition mean some disabled people aren’t protected such as someone with Tourettes, a condition that has been discriminated against by airlines in the past, according to the DRC.

Further criticism of the treatment by airlines of disabled passengers concerns the provision of oxygen. A number of medical conditions, such as cystic fibrosis, can require the use of oxygen inflight, which at present is not provided free of charge by all airlines. Further to this, the power of pilots to refuse boarding on grounds of “health and safety” may also mean there is a loophole in the new regulation.

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