https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/30/air-canada-wheelchair-disabled-man-drag-himself-off-flight
Airline was forced to apologize to Rodney Hodgins who flew to Las Vegas with his wife to celebrate their anniversary in August
Even if, for whatever reason, a wheelchair was absolutely impossible to obtain, this was handled like shit. If I found out I had to tell someone we couldn't secure a chair, you can bet your ass that I'm going to ask that person how I can best assist them off the plane. I'm not going to have his wife drag his legs as he crawls past 12 rows of seats like a sociopath.
“We use the services of a third party wheelchair assistance specialist
I wonder what that corporate bullshit speak title actually stands for.
We don't need to accommodate disabled clients on every flight so we outsourced the service to the lowest bidder. What could possibly go wrong?
It means we don’t want to pay for our own wheelchairs so we let someone else handle that.
Someone who hangs out in a hidden corner somewhere, vaping and watching Netflix, until they get paged to go to work. Who doesn't get paid overtime and doesn't stick around after their shift ends, so any flights that arrive late are SoL.
I guess I'm lucky (or they have a note on file that I tip) because the one at SFO hangs out if my flight is late.
I use a wheelchair sometimes and know the answer to this - airlines pay the airport to handle the special assistance. AFAIK they’re not specialists as such, more like hospital porters. Getting onto the plane is just a small part of it. Once you arrive at the airport you’re met by someone with a wheelchair (if you don’t have your own) who fast tracks you through check in and security and pushes you to the gate. Then they come back when the plane is boarding and push you onto the ambilift - a kind of cherry picker platform thingy that lifts people in wheelchairs up to the plane door on the other side. Once you’re on board the cabin crew take care of you.
Just recently Ryanair left a disabled passenger on the tarmac and the plane had to be turned around to pick them up. Ryanair blamed Toulouse(?) airport as it was technically up to their assistance staff to get the passenger on board, and Ryanair pay the airport to do that.
Last month the assistance I booked didn’t turn up so my partner had to push me while I guided the suitcases from the chair. It was a pain in the arse but thankfully we were met at the gate and assisted onto the plane properly.
The airlines don't own the airports. The rent out terminals and gates. Most of the time people need a wheelchair is throughout the airport, so the airport handles that. The times they are needed on the plane, the airline contracts out to the airport (or whatever service it uses) to extend service to the planes.
I don't understand, even if the airline doesn't maintain any wheelchairs of their own, under special circumstances like these, can't they simply borrow one from airport services or something? Surely the airport has some wheelchairs around? Rather than have the situation end up in the utterly humiliating way in did.
Does Canada have anything like the ADA in the US? Because if it does, the airline fucked up a lot more than just getting bad press. If Canada doesn't, this is a good reason why it should.
Well, I know Canada has a chief accessibility officer. The only reason I know this is because last month AirCanada lost her wheelchair.
My general understanding is that transport wheelchairs for airplanes are narrower, to fit down the aisles.
Yup, the airport provides the wheelchairs (and someone to push you) if you don’t travel with you own wheelchair. Even if you do travel with your own wheelchair, it’s always put in the hold, not the cabin. I’ve never needed to use a wheelchair ON the plane, just to get to it, but when you book special assistance in advance you’re asked if you can walk up the steps to the plane and whether you can walk through the cabin to your seat so arrangements can be made in advance.
If I had to guess I’d say the airport staff didn’t have the narrower “on board” wheelchair to hand and the pilot didn’t want to miss their take off slot.
The aisle is too narrow (usually) for a regular wheelchair.
In that case they need a special one that is much narrower (usually by removing hand-grips from the outside of the wheels etc).
It's not much use for anything but this purpose, so if they didn't have one, I expect they weren't able to magic one up.
However, they absolutely should have had one.
Man deserves an award for restraint and not diving into an endless volley of profanities until they called security to show up. That would have been an interesting scene for the airline crew to explain without looking like total assholes.
Unfortunately I get the feeling that they are accustomed to being treated like this to an extent.
I've had to deal with companies in the US that would spring right into action once you said the magic words "ADA violation."
Had a similar problem on Spirit just this month. I can get on and off the plane fine, but I need a wheelchair to get to and from the gate to the curb.
In Portland, got a chair from the counter to the gate, no problem. Was assured a chair would be waiting in Vegas... no chair.
I had to hang around the gate until they figured it out, but there was no way I was getting from the gate to the cab stand on my own.
My wife had booked this airport service for people with disabilities. Worked well on the first leg of the journey. On the way back though, she was informed at the destination that the service was unavailable...
Air Canada is a joke. I've promised myself never to use that company for travel if I can help it.
I once saw an Air Canada charge on my credit card. I called them right away and they asked me if I was sure that I didn't buy a ticket for a flight. I said I was sure I wasn't flying anywhere and I was doubly sure that I would never give money to Air Canada for any reason other than a death in the family.
That held true until last year when I had to buy an Air Canada ticket because of my dying sister.
Fuck Air Canada for their shitty service and dog killing.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Rodney Hodgins, 49, a hardware salesman from British Columbia who requires the use of a motorized wheelchair, flew to Las Vegas with his wife, Deanna, to celebrate their anniversary in August.
When the attendant said Hodgins would have to pull himself off the plane alone, the couple at first thought she was joking – but then she repeated the request.
Hodgins was forced to use his upper body strength to haul himself past 12 rows of seats, with his wife holding his legs.
In her Facebook post, Deanna Hodgins said the event left the couple devastated.
She said the couple had planned the trip for eight months and made sure they took care of all requirements on their end.
“We use the services of a third party wheelchair assistance specialist in Las Vegas to provide safe transport on and off aircraft,” the statement read.
The original article contains 435 words, the summary contains 144 words. Saved 67%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Something I don't understand, was there not some kind of wheelchair on the plane for the flight? What if he needed to go to the bathroom? What if there was an emergency and they needed to evacuate?