[nfbmi-talk] Federal Court and Airlines Stiff the Blind

[evelyn weckerly]

Hi,

Jell, United Airlines scores last among major carriers for being 
on time and luggage handling.  Unfortunately, if I want to fly 
from Muskegon, I have to take that airline-at list as far as 
Chicago.  It's the only game in tin.  I think they were rated 
last in some other areas too but I have forgotten.  This was a 
recent oews report.

Evelyn

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Christine Boone via nfbmi-talk <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org
To: Terry Eagle <terrydeagle at yahoo.com>,NFB of Michigan Internet 
Mailing List <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Tue, 26 Jan 2016 22:09:29 -0500
Subject: Re: [nfbmi-talk] Federal Court and Airlines Stiff the 
Blind

This is rotten.  I have detested United Airlines for a long time.  
Now I see that they are still the same old United.  Not that the 
rest of the airlines are the greatest of neighbors, but I will 
continue to fly Delta, Southwest, American…in that order, 
rather than United.


 On Jan 25, 2016, at 2:37 PM, Terry D.  Eagle via nfbmi-talk 
<nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:



 United Ducks Appeal Over Kiosks for the Blind

 By MARIA DINZEO

 SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - United Airlines need not face a class 
action over its
 limited number of kiosks accessible to blind travelers at 
California
 airports,

 the Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday.

     Issuing its decision 38 months after hearing

 oral arguments,

 the three-judge panel said federal statutes pre-empt the 
National Federation
 for the Blind's claims for violation of California's Unruh Civil 
Rights Act.

     Such claims furthermore do not relate to a "service" 
provided by
 United, as outlined by the Airline Deregulation Act, according 
to the
 ruling.

     The National Federation of the Blind sued United Airlines 
back in
 October 2010, joined by three individuals - Michael May, Michael 
Hingson and
 Christina

 Thomas.

     Rather than offering audio output or other blind-friendly 
alternatives,
 United's machines operated exclusively by video and touch-screen 
navigation,

 according to the complaint

     U.S.  District Judge William Alsup dismissed the action, 
finding the
 claims pre-empted by both the Airline Deregulation Act and the 
Air Carrier
 Access

 Act.

     Affirming on Tuesday, the Ninth Circuit pointed to its en 
banc opinion
 in the 1998 case Charas v.  Trans World Airlines, which 
determined that the
 term

 "service" in the Americans with Disabilities Act refers to the 
provision of
 air transportation - such as "the prices, schedules, origins and
 destinations

 of the point-to-point transportation of passengers, cargo or 
mail," not
 airline-provided amenities like drinks and luggage handling.

     Though the Federal Aviation Act contains a broad savings 
clause, it did
 not result in a reversal today.

     "According to the federation, any state-law claims that fall 
outside
 the scope of the ADA express preemption provision are 
necessarily preserved
 by

 the FAA's savings clause.  Not so," Judge Marsha Berzon wrote 
for a
 three-judge panel.

     Under the federation's interpretation, "a passenger could 
sue an
 airline for violating any state standard of care not expressly 
preempted by
 the ADA,

 notwithstanding federal regulations covering in depth the 
particular field
 at issue," Berzon noted.

     "The result would be chaotic."

     New Department of Transportations regulations on 
accessibility of
 airport kiosks furthermore speak "directly to the concerns 
raised by the
 federation's

 suit," the ruling states.

     "Given its great detail and pervasive extent, the new 
regulation
 preempts any state regulation of that same field," Berzon wrote.

 Document

 Source:

 
http://www.courthousenews.com/2016/01/19/united-ducks-appeal-over
-kiosks-for
 -the-blind.htm

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