Air Canada under fire for failing disabled passengers; tenders apology, orders probe into service lapse

A disabled passenger was compelled to drag himself from an Air Canada flight in Las Vegas as the airlines could not provide him a wheelchair. In another incident, the airlines forgot the wheelchair of Canada's chief accessibility officer at Toronto airport leaving her waiting in a replacement wheelchair in Vancouver airport

Hyderabad:Two recent incidents revealed how Air Canada failed its disabled passengers thereby reflecting the need for improving accessibility. In the first instance, Air Canada has tendered an apology for failing to provide a wheelchair to a disabled passenger who was left with no choice but to drag himself off the airline in Las Vegas. In the second incident, the airlines lost the wheelchair of Canada's chief accessibility officer who termed the incident "frustrating and dehumanising".

In August, Rodney Hodgins, a 49-year-old disabled man from British Columbia, who uses a motorised wheelchair for movement went to Las Vegas with his wife Deanna to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Being a frequent traveler, Rodney is accustomed to the standard assistance procedure that he gets while exiting the plane. Normally, after the rest of the passengers have exited, an airline employee brings an aisle chair, which is an extremely narrow version of a wheelchair controlled by handles to get down.

But when the Hodgins couple landed in Las Vegas, an Air Canada flight attendant told them that there was no aisle seat and so Rodney would need to get to the front of the plane by himself. Deanna posted on Facebook that they thought the suggestion was so absurd that they laughed thinking it as a joke. However, when the flight assistant repeated, they had no choice but to manage by themselves.

Rodney lifted himself down to the floor and used his arms to drag himself past the 12 rows of seats at the front in excruciating pain while Deanna crawled in holding his legs. The couple said they were devastated by the experience that left Rodney both physically and emotionally in pain. Rodney later received a $2,000 flight voucher offer but he said that he did not aim a monetary compensation but wanted the airlines to change policy so that nobody else suffered like him.

Later in a statement, Air Canada said they use a third party wheelchair assistance specialist in Las Vegas and now was considering the other partners of Mobility Assistance. Also, the airlines ordered an investigation into the serious service lapse.

Again in October, Stephanie Cadieux, Canada's Chief Accessibility Officer, posted on 'X' that Air Canada had forgotten her wheelchair in Toronto. She posted a photo of herself waiting in front of Air Canada's service desk at Vancouver airport in a replacement wheelchair. Cadieux had left Toronto and arrived at the Vancouver airport without her wheelchair.

"I’m now without my essential equipment," Cadieux said. "Independence taken away. I’m furious. Unacceptable," Cadieux pointed out. She was appointed as Canada’s first chief accessibility officer in May 2022 and held several ministerial positions.

Air Canada responded to Cadieux on X saying it is “certainly not the level of service we strive to provide” and asked for more information. Both the incidents drew criticism from netizens on social media.