American Airlines has reversed a policy that effectively barred many power wheelchair users from flying on the carrier’s smaller, regional jets.

We first reported the policy — which put a 300-pound weight limit on wheelchairs being loaded in the cargo bays of Bombardier CRJ series aircraft — on October 23, after frequent traveler John Morris of wheelchairtravel.org was denied boarding at his home airport in Gainesville, Florida. These smaller jets are widely used at smaller airports and Morris later calculated the policy would prohibit many travelers who use complex power wheelchairs from flying to 130 U.S. airports on American.

After he was denied boarding due to this weight limit policy, Morris had to rebook tickets for his intended trip. “In order to fly under this policy, I was forced to remove essential components of my wheelchair, including the batteries. The result of that forced disassembly was a damaged wheelchair, 14 hours stuck in my Salt Lake City hotel room and an emergency wheelchair repair,” Morris wrote in a recent blog.

Morris’ experience garnered significant media attention, and a host of disability organizations including United Spinal Association lobbied American to remove these weight limits. On Monday, American announced that they would modify their policy:

After close consultation with our safety team and our aircraft manufacturer partners, we’ve eliminated the conservative weight limits that temporarily impacted our ability to carry some mobility devices and wheelchairs on our smaller, regional aircraft. Those limits have been replaced with guidelines, approved and reviewed by the FAA, that better reflect the ability of the cargo floor to support mobility devices and wheelchairs based on their distributed weight. We’re confident that the modifications we’ve made will allow us to safely accommodate customers’ wheelchairs and mobility devices on all of our aircraft.

The new policy sets weight limits on different planes that should accommodate the vast majority of power wheelchairs. For a detailed breakdown of the new limits, see Morris’ blog on the new policy.

American’s decision to modify their weight limit policy is a win for disabled travelers, but as Morris notes: “The hard truth is that American Airlines is no more accessible or welcoming to disabled customers today than it was prior to the institution of the discriminatory policy in June and, in fact, it is likely less accessible now that limits do exist where they did not before. Situations like this could be avoided if airlines would consult with accessible travel experts to evaluate the impact of new products, policies, programs and restrictions.”

For closer look at how airline policies and procedures impact disabled travelers, see our December 2017 cover story, “Flying the Unfriendly Skies.”