14 CFR Part 382 Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Air Travel (Air Carrier Access Act): Preamble and Section-by-Section Analysis (with amendments issued through July 2010)

382.101 What other boarding and deplaning assistance must carriers provide? When level-entry boarding is not required, carriers must still take whatever actions are necessary to assist people with disabilities to get on and off aircraft. For example, boarding and deplaning assistance using lifts is not required at smaller U.S. airports and foreign airports, or when severe weather or unexpected mechanical breakdowns prevent the use of a lift. In those circumstances, airlines must still provide enplaning and deplaning assistance by other available means, such as by placing the passenger in a boarding chair and carrying him or her up the boarding stairs unless the design of the aircraft (e.g., the Fairchild Metro, the Jetstream 31 and 32, the Beech 1900 (C and D models) and the Embraer EMB-120) makes this impossible. The only limitation on the means of providing this assistance is that hand-carrying by carrier personnel as defined in that section is prohibited, except in situations of an emergency evacuation where no other timely means of assistance is available.