When level-entry boarding and deplaning assistance is not required to be provided under this subpart, you must, as a carrier, provide or ensure the provision of boarding and deplaning assistance by any available means to which the passenger consents. However, you must never use hand-carrying (i.e., directly picking up the passenger's body in the arms of one or more carrier personnel to effect a level change the passenger needs to enter or leave the aircraft), even if the passenger consents, unless this is the only way of evacuating the individual in the event of an emergency. The situations in which level-entry boarding is not required but in which you must provide this boarding and deplaning assistance include, but are not limited to, the following:

(a) The boarding or deplaning process occurs at a U.S. airport that is not a commercial service airport that has 10,000 or more enplanements per year;

(b) The boarding or deplaning process occurs at a foreign airport;

(c) You are using an aircraft subject to an exception from the lift boarding and deplaning assistance requirements under § 382.97 (a)-(c) of this subpart;

(d) The deadlines established in § 382.99(c) have not yet passed; and

(e) Circumstances beyond your control (e.g., unusually severe weather; unexpected mechanical problems) prevent the use of a lift.