[Article] EU to prevent airlines charging for wheelchairs

Victor

It really isn't Ryanair's week

http://home.eircom.net/content/irelandcom/breaking/2437949?view=Eircomnet

EU to prevent airlines charging for wheelchairs
From:ireland.com
Thursday, 29th January, 2004

Airlines will be prevented from charging elderly or disabled passengers for wheelchairs under European Commission rules to be proposed at the end of March.

Ryanair has come in for repeated criticism for charging customers for use of wheelchairs at certain airports. The airline has also been brought to court by the Disability Rights Commission in England for charging a passenger with cerebral palsy for use of a wheelchair at Stansted Airport. Ryanair argued it was the service provider at the airport who charged rent of £18 for the wheelchair and the airline merely passed on the cost.

The new rules will mean airlines can no longer charge passengers who seek wheelchair assistance at airports. Passengers who used their own wheelchairs are not charged any fee.

The proposed rules came to light in an answer to a priority parliamentary question tabled put by Labour MEP, Mr Proinsias De Rossa.

Mr De Rossa said: "It is disgraceful that any airline should discriminate against people with disabilities or mobility difficulties by charging them to use wheelchairs. In some cases I am aware of the cost of 'renting' wheelchairs to get to the departure gate is almost equal to the cost of the actual flight."

He added: "This legislation was originally promised by the Commission in 2003 and Minister [for Transport] Brennan should now make its adoption a priority of the Irish Presidency before its term in office ends on June 30th".

Victor

What rip off merchants. Charging everyone 50p (about €0.65) means that they are actually going to make moeny from this.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0130/disability.html

Man wins case on airport wheelchair charges
January 30, 2004

(11:25) A disabled man who was forced to pay for the use of a wheelchair at Stansted Airport near London has won a landmark case against the airport and budget airline Ryanair.

Mr Bob Ross, a community worker from north London, was charged £18 for using a wheelchair to get from the check-in desk to the plane when he travelled to France two years ago.

His claim was that the fee was unfair and discriminatory. In a landmark decision, a London court upheld his claim, and awarded him a little over £1,300, a £1,000 of which was for injury to his feelings.

Ryanair says it will now charge all passengers a levy of 50p to meet the cost of providing wheelchairs.

K2

I've no sympathy for Ryanair, I do think that the provision of mobility aids should be the responsibility of the company running the airport and not the individual airlines?

Victor

http://home.eircom.net/content/unison/national/2446291?view=Eircomnet

Ryanair to make €17m profit on passenger wheelchair levy
From:The Irish Independent
Saturday, 31st January, 2004
Martha Kearns

RYANAIR is set to make millions in profit from a 73c charge it slapped on all its passengers yesterday which it claims is to provide wheelchairs for a small number of people at four airports.

The airline is facing a major backlash over its decision to introduce the levy which, it said, comes as a direct result of losing a court case in London yesterday taken by a man who was forced to pay £18 (€26) for the use of a wheelchair at Stansted.

Industry sources put the number of wheelchairs used by Ryanair at Dublin, Shannon, Stansted and Gatwick - the only main airports where charges for the service apply - at under 100 a day.

With an average price of €20 charged by the private operators who provide the chairs, that works out at less than €730,000 a year.

Yet Ryanair will rake in €17.5m - based on annual passenger numbers of 24m. The company claims it regrets the levy but insists it had no alternative.

The airline says the court decision was "defective" and said it would "regrettably be levying a charge of 50p (73c) on every passenger carried to meet the cost of wheelchair assistance at Stansted, Gatwick, Dublin and Shannon airports".

"Ryanair regrets this small levy but this defective County Court decision leaves us with no alternative," said the airline spokesperson who added that the levy would be withdrawn if an appeal was successful.

Ryanair is the only airline operating out of Ireland which does not pay for wheelchair hire but instead charges the passenger directly. Its argument is that the airports should pay the fee as happens in most of the airports in which it operates.

However, an Aer Rianta spokesperson said the passenger was the responsibility of the airline and not the airport and all other airlines paid the fee.

In 1999, Aer Rianta introduced a bye-law requiring all airlines, service providers and other agencies conducting business at its airports to provide reasonable facilities for all passengers with disabilities.

At the time, Aer Rianta said the decision was made following numerous complaints in this area about one airline - Ryanair.

After yesterday's decision, the airline was severely criticised by politicians and disability groups in Britain. Here, Labour MEP Proinsias de Rossa said Ryanair was arguably using the reason for the hike as "a smokescreen" which was probably driven by a desire to raise profits.

People with Disabilities in Ireland has called on the airline to reconsider its decision. Its chief executive, Michael Ringrose, said that while it appeared that Aer Rianta should provide wheelchairs to passengers as a matter of courtesy, many airlines carried the burden of costs which did not appear to be of undue proportion.

"It is totally unfair to charge a vulnerable section of society for the use of wheelchairs, particularly in the immediate wake of the European Year of People with Disability.

"I am calling on Ryanair to rethink their decision and provide courtesy wheelchairs in advance of an EU directive which will make it compulsory to do so in a very short time," said Mr Ringrose.

Equality Authority ceo Niall Crowley said it was up to Ryanair how it managed its costs but the 73c charge seemed to be "quite an exaggeration of what the cost would be".

"I'm quite lost as to how they would estimate the cost. Providing wheelchairs is not a high-cost business."

K2

It looks like they played into O'Learys hands, that's a nice little earner! I still think that Aer Rinta ducked the issue with that bye-law, rather than take responsibily themselves they have put the onus on other companies, but maybe they had a good reason.

ZENER

There is a company called Green Caps operating at Dublin Airport which was set up several years ago to provide jobs for unemployed people at the time. One of the services they provide is that of wheelchairs for infirm/disabled passangers.

Ryanair offer this service for their passangers at a cost to the passanger.

Airlines such as Aer Lingus provide their own wheelchairs with porter if required at no extra cost. British Midland etc avail of the Green Caps service for their passangers at no extra cost I believe.

Considering Ryanair have held back airport charges and tax from passangers who fail to turn up for their flight, an amount approaching 14 Million I think, why could they not do themselves a big favour and provide wheelchairs FOC as a PR excercise ?

There was also a case recently where a passanger, on arriving at a UK airport, was physically carried off a plane because Ryanair would not avail of a lift service at that airport.

Aer Rianta provide Air Bridges or Jetways on the B & C piers at Dublin which give easier access to and from the terminal for all passangers but Ryanair refuse to avail of these.

Tinky