A French appeals court today increased a fine imposed on budget airline easyJet tenfold to 50,000 euros (USD 68,000) for having forced a disabled woman off a flight.
The court rejected a prosecution request for the fine to be increased to 70,000 euros but went far beyond the 5,000 euro fine initially imposed on the carrier.
The British company had appealed the May 2012 verdict that found it had violated the rights of wheelchair-bound Marie-Patricia Hoarau by ordering her removed from flight.
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The airline insisted it was within its rights to remove Hoarau from a Paris-Nice flight in March 2010 because she was travelling unaccompanied.
Cabin crew told Hoarau, 39, that she could not travel alone because she could not reach an emergency exit without assistance.
She was ordered off the plane despite a pilot travelling on the same flight agreeing to assist her.
The appeals court also upheld an award of 5,000 euros in damages to Hoarau, who had flown alone the previous day without problem.
Another one euro in symbolic damages was awarded to France's APF association for the disabled, which was a civil plaintiff in the case.
The airline's lawyer, Philippe Van Der Meulen, denounced the ruling as the result of "emotional and militant considerations", saying it would not contribute to greater safety on flights for the disabled.
EasyJet is facing another discrimination case in France in June involving a wheelchair user who was refused access to a flight from Paris because she was travelling alone.
