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<div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>This may help our fight! Somehow, money penalties can make a
company change their minds!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Michelle<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=abs><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:#333333'>New regulations require airline ticket agents to disclose
— and offer — web-based discount fares to customers unable to use
their sites due to a disability.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'><a
href="http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?form=MSNNDL&q=Washington,%20District%20of%20Columbia,%20United%20States"
target="_blank">WASHINGTON</a> — Disabled travelers should find it easier
to access airline websites under a new set of rules the government issued on
Monday.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Airline
website pages that have core travel information and services must be accessible
to the disabled within two years, the Department of Transportation said, and
all pages on airline websites must within three years be readily available to
people with disabilities.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>The
new regulations also require airline ticket agents to disclose — and
offer — web-based discount fares to customers unable to use their sites
due to a disability. Airlines already are required to provide equivalent service
for consumers who are unable to use inaccessible websites</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Airlines
and airports will also have to make accessible to the disabled automated kiosks
providing boarding passes and baggage, as they purchase new equipment. If no
kiosks are installed, 25 percent of the kiosks currently at each airport
location must be accessible within 10 years.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Another
new rule gives airlines more flexibility in how they transport manual, folding
wheelchairs onboard, making it possible for them to carry up to two wheelchairs
in the cabin, the department said. In addition to being able to stow a
wheelchair in a closet, airlines will also be allowed to strap a second chair
across a row of seats.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Closets
also must have signs saying wheelchairs have priority over other baggage.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><strong><span style='font-size:7.5pt;color:#333333'>Related: <a
href="http://news.msn.com/us/airlines-offer-a-return-to-civility-for-a-fee?ocid=msnnws"
target="_blank"><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Airlines offer a
return to civility ... for a fee</span></a></span></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>At
the same time, the department announced that it has fined US Airways $1.2
million for failing to provide adequate wheelchair access to passengers in
Philadelphia and Charlotte, N.C. It's one of the largest penalties of its kind
ever assessed by the agency in a disability case.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>Under
the department's rules, airlines are required to provide free, prompt
wheelchair assistance, upon request, to passengers with disabilities. The
department said this includes helping passengers to move between gates and make
connections to other flights.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>The
department said that US Airways' use of a combination of electric carts and
wheelchairs to transport passengers between gates required frequent transfers
and led to long delays. It said that some passengers missed connections because
of the delays, or were left unattended for long periods of time.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>The
department examined some 300 complaints that passengers filed with the US
Airways and the government relating to alleged hardship incidents in 2011 and
2012 at Philadelphia International Airport and at Charlotte-Douglas
International Airport. That was only a sample of the total number of
complaints.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>This
should help our fight!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Michelle<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#333333'>US
Airways may allocate up to $500,000 of the fine for improvements that go beyond
the DOT's requirements, the department said.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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