"The DOT implementing regulation for the ACAA (14 C.F.R. Part 382) requires air carriers to provide assistance in transporting a passenger with a disability from the terminal entrance through the airport to the aircraft and from the aircraft through the airport to the terminal entrance, including providing assistance in areas such as ticket counters and baggage claim. (§382.91(a)-(b))" (
http://www.aci-na.org/content/ninth-circuit-traveler-can-sue-damages-inadequate-airline-treatment)
QUOTE from 14 CFR Part 382:
§382.91 What assistance must carriers provide to passengers with a disability in moving within the terminal?
(a) As a carrier, you must provide or ensure the provision of assistance requested by or on behalf of a passenger with a disability, or offered by carrier or airport operator personnel and accepted by a passenger with a disability, in transportation between gates to make a connection to another flight. If the arriving flight and the departing connecting flight are operated by different carriers, the carrier that operated the arriving flight (i.e., the one that operates the first of the two flights that are connecting) is responsible for providing or ensuring the provision of this assistance, even if the passenger holds a separate ticket for the departing flight. It is permissible for the two carriers to mutually agree that the carrier operating the departing connecting flight (i.e., the second flight of the two) will provide this assistance, but the carrier operating the arriving flight remains responsible under this section for ensuring that the assistance is provided.
(b) You must also provide or ensure the provision of assistance requested by or on behalf of a passenger with a disability, or offered by carrier or airport operator personnel and accepted by a passenger with a disability, in moving from the terminal entrance (or a vehicle drop-off point adjacent to the entrance) through the airport to the gate for a departing flight, or from the gate to the terminal entrance (or a vehicle pick-up point adjacent to the entrance after an arriving flight).
(1) This requirement includes assistance in accessing key functional areas of the terminal, such as ticket counters and baggage claim.
(2) This requirement also includes a brief stop upon the passenger's request at the entrance to a rest room (including an accessible rest room when requested). As a carrier, you are required to make such a stop only if the rest room is available on the route to the destination of the enplaning, deplaning, or connecting assistance and you can make the stop without unreasonable delay. To receive such assistance, the passenger must self-identify as being an individual with a disability needing the assistance.
(c) As a carrier at a U.S. airport, you must, on request, in cooperation with the airport operator, provide for escorting a passenger with a service animal to an animal relief area provided under §382.51(a)(5) of this part.
(d) As part of your obligation to provide or ensure the provision of assistance to passengers with disabilities in moving through the terminal (e.g., between the terminal entrance and the gate, between gate and aircraft, from gate to a baggage claim area), you must assist passengers who are unable to carry their luggage because of a disability with transporting their gate-checked or carry-on luggage. You may request the credible verbal assurance that a passenger cannot carry the luggage in question. If a passenger is unable to provide credible assurance, you may require the passenger to provide documentation as a condition of providing this service.
(the section on boarding and deplaning an aircraft is very specific about what equipment must or may be used for boarding and deplaning; while the section above does not get specific as to what form the assistance in transportation must take)
