No clue as to who made the decision or the reason. United (at least at DEN) is responsible for ordering and coordinating wheelchairs for their passengers. I believe Progress is the contractor. You would think that essential service contractors *should* have a clause in their contracts to provide services during irrops.
I saw five to six wheelchair passengers in SEA, they were waiting at the gate in DEN and I overheard a conversation from the gate agent that services were not available due to the hour. From my walk to the train, I saw no chairs heading toward the gate.
SFO 1K may know more about the policies and procedures since he is an DEN Ambassador.
DEN
If that were actually the case it is a violation of federal regulation & UA is liable for the failure to provide the service regardless of if they contract it or the airport provides/contracts the service on their behalf (see the regulations implementing the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) at 14 CFR 382. E.g.
https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-1...ter-D/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.
§ 382.103 May a carrier leave a passenger unattended in a wheelchair or other device?
As a carrier, you must not leave a passenger who has requested assistance required by this subpart unattended by the personnel responsible for enplaning, deplaning, or connecting assistance in a ground wheelchair, boarding wheelchair, or other device, in which the passenger is not independently mobile, for more than 30 minutes. This requirement applies even if another person (e.g., family member, personal care attendant) is accompanying the passenger, unless the passenger explicitly waives the obligation.