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)

382.13 Do carriers have to modify policies, practices, and facilities to ensure nondiscrimination? These sections are very similar to section 382.7 of the current regulation. One difference is that the new rule specifies that carriers may require preboarding as a condition of receiving certain seating or in-cabin stowage accommodations. The requirement to make modifications of policies, practices, and facilities has been broken out into a separate section. This requirement recognizes that there can be times when, in order to provide nondiscriminatory service to a particular individual, carriers must change or make an exception to an otherwise acceptable general policy or practice for that individual. It should be emphasized that this provision is not intended to require carriers to make generally applicable changes in policies for all passengers, or all passengers with disabilities. The provision focuses on the carrier doing what it needs to do – short of incurring an undue burden or making a fundamental alteration in its services – to make sure that a passenger with a disability can take the trip for which he or she is ticketed.