[unhappy camper]

My family wanted to make reservations to Roswell, NM. They were told that because my grandmother is wheelchair bound, the plane into Roswell could not accommodate her needs and help her off the plane. They had to accept reservations to Alberque, NM instead and were going to rent a car to drive to Roswell. My cousin in Roswell says that due to federal regulations, they cannot do that and that they have to accommodate her needs and help her off the plane. My mother called AA BACK and was told that they would take care of it, not charge her a fee and could fix the problem immediately.

We got on the Internet today to print the itinerary and the reciept and low and behold, not only did they charge, they charged an extra $288 PER PERSON!!!!!! We called and tried, (in vain), to explain this to a customer service representative who sounds like she needs an anger management course. Since the person who originally made the reservations was not aware of, or was just completely ignoring the fact that federal regulations require that they help the disabled disembark from a plane, did not tell us of this fact and just simply said it could not be done and made the reservations to a completely different city and told them to rent a car, we felt they should honor the ticket price quoted for the day we made the reservations. She says this is impossible and would not even give us any contact info for the complaint department. All we have is a physical mailing address. Can anyone give me anyone's e-mail address or phone number who we can take this to? Or a complaint department for the FAA?

TIA!

[abutterfinger25]

The US Department of Transportation enforces the Air Carrier Access Act which is the airline's version of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Carriers are required to assist passengers with disabilities in getting on or off the aircraft. You can file a complaint directly with DOT on their website at airconsumer.ost.dot.gov and we will investigate the allegations for possible violations of the ACAA. Carriers are also not required to charge for any accomodations required under the act and its implementing rule, 14 CFR Part 382.

The only way that AA would not be able to accomodate your mother directly to Roswell is if she was traveling with her own wheelchair and that the wheelchair itself could not be securly secured in the cargo hold of the aircraft, due to the limitations of the aircraft.