When Desi Forte and Marley Robinson arrived at the Copenhagen airport last week to fly back to Boston after an adaptive sports tournament, they felt prepared. Both power wheelchair users, they had no issues on their flight to Europe and had been reassured by airport staff and Scandinavian Airlines throughout the boarding process that their wheelchairs would be fine on their flight home.
But after they boarded and were in their seats, a staff member came on the plane and told them they had to leave. They were told their wheelchairs were too heavy.
“The engines of the plane were literally revving when someone came along and told us to get off,” Robinson said, and they were “carted” off the plane as all of the passengers watched.
It’s the type of experience that many people with disabilities fear while flying. Disability advocates have long voiced concerns about how they’re mistreated when flying, and pushed for changes. At the end of last year, the Biden administration announced
new regulations
to improve the experience for passengers with disabilities.
Now that could change. A group of major U.S. airlines are pushing back on parts of the new rule. On Tuesday, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines joined the lobbying group Airlines for America and
filed an appeal
to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. They argue that the new rule was a regulatory overreach, and that part of the new rule requiring them to pay fees in the case of discrimination is “unlawful.”
The new rule required airlines to increase training for airport workers who handle wheelchairs and required a faster process for replacements and repairs when a wheelchair or mobility device is damaged. It also included guidance for supporting people with disabilities in a “dignified” manner without injuring them during the boarding and deplaning process. Various regulations were effective starting January of this year, rolling out through 2026.
In a statement, Airlines for America said the airlines are “dedicated” to improving accessibility during air travel, and that it is not challenging the entire rule: “Certain provisions of the final rule go beyond the USDOT’s statutory authority, violate the Administrative Procedure Act and represent regulatory overreach by the Biden Administration.”
The new regulations were welcomed by disability advocates. Airlines damage thousands of wheelchairs and mobility devices each year, at a rate of about 1 of every 100 devices, according to the Department of Transportation. Last fall the DOT fined American Airlines $50 million for damaging mobility devices.
“When I heard about these regulations in December, I was overjoyed in hopes that the airlines were starting to move in the right direction,” Forte said. “So hearing about this lawsuit, it’s disheartening.”
Forte said that the improvements for dignified treatment are especially important, since she says her experience flying with a wheelchair can be “dehumanizing.”
“Every wheelchair user sort of faces the same barriers of the inaccessibility of air travel: Having to be taken out of your wheelchair that’s custom designed for your needs. And not being able to use the bathroom while flying and then not knowing how your chair is going to be handled,” Forte said.
She recalled an experience in New Jersey a few years ago. “I wasn’t even treated like a human. I was just kind of a piece of luggage being shipped through the airport.”
Forte says the burden often falls on the disabled person to navigate a “complicated” system. Before flights, Robinson said she usually looks up the model and dimensions of the plane to make sure her wheelchair will fit, and if it doesn’t, she tries to make it more compact. She says that flying is “the most uncomfortable experience ever.”
After being forced off the plane in Copenhagen last week, airline staff eventually booked Forte and Robinson on the same flight to Boston the next day and gave them an explanation: The computer program hadn’t flagged their chairs while booking, and the weight problem was specific to the plane they were meant to travel on. Staff said the worry was that the wheelchairs could get loose while in cargo and hit the fuel tanks.

Courtesy of United States Volt Hockey Association
The “frustrating” mixup is a problem for the future of
volt hockey,
the adaptive sport they were playing in Sweden, Robinson said. Wheelchair users already try to avoid connecting flights because it increases the chance of wheelchairs being damaged, and there is only one direct flight from Boston to Copenhagen, which is driving distance to Sweden.
“Our sport is getting bigger and the sport is mainly played over in Scandinavia. And a lot of those players want to come here to the U.S. to play,” she said. “And now, since they’ve heard of this story and everything, they’re not so sure that they feel comfortable coming, because they’re not really sure that they’d be allowed on the plane.”
Forte said without the airline industry making improvements, she takes a chance every time she travels.
“Now being in a post-pandemic era, like everyone else, I want to travel,” she said. “But now it seems like I’m being restricted or limited … or I have to take a full-on gamble every time I fly.”