EU airports to have to provide mobility assistance

Planning a trip to a major European airport this summer? If you need assistance with mobility you should find airports in Europe moreaccommodating -- at least if you travel after July 26. That's the effective date for EU Regulation 1107/2006. The latest aspect of this European Union law says airports are responsible for assisting passengers anywhere around their facilities except on the planes themselves. This ends ahodge podge situation where sometimes the airlines were supposed to be responsible and other times the airports

It won't just be a few huge mega-airports that have to comply either. The regulations effect around 400 airports, according to this janes.com article.

 It makes sense. Instead of finger pointing this regulation establishes a logical order of who is responsible for providing mobility help. In the airport, anywhere in the airport, assistance is the airport's responsibility. On the plane, the airlines.

Undoubtedly this will take some money to implement. Airports are supposed to recover any costs from the airlines, which the airlines will undoubtedly whine that they have no choice but to recover from passengers. Still I think the impact will be more defuse that way than having the airlines able to tack on a charge for mobility assistance or to outright charge for needing and airport wheelchair.

The world's headlines about accessible travel around the world have too often had to deal with passengers being denied -- or excessively charged -- because they needed mobility assistance. This regulation should help make that headline absent from European airports.