Georgia Nataraj is a 14-year-old girl who enjoys competitive swimming, piano, and reading. She and her family of six had a vacation planned for next February to travel to Mexico, but her parents were surprised when they saw WestJet has asked them to cancel their tickets due to a policy change.
Richard Nataraj, Georgia’s dad, says they have never run into this issue. Georgia and her family usually go on a vacation once a year for the last six years, the last one as recent as April of this year.
The new policy doesn’t allow wheelchairs over 300 pounds on an airplane. Georgia’s is approximately 430 pounds. Richard Nataraj said WestJet’s reasoning as to why they are implementing this policy is because of safety risks, however they have not provided any documentation as to what the safety concerns are.
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A case similar to this one opened a few years ago when a man wanted to fly from Toronto to Cleveland with his wheelchair in 2016 on Air Canada Airlines, but was denied. Timothy Rose went on to make a complaint to the Canadian Transportation Agency which made it to the Federal Court of Appeal, resulting in Air Canada being required to make accommodations to allow mobility aids on flights.
Air Passengers Rights advocate, Gabor Lukacs, says he feels WestJet is violating accessible transportation laws as well as the human rights legislation. He went on, saying people have a right to accessible, barrier-free transportation and WestJet cannot hold out on its passengers for profit reasons.
Nataraj has been reaching out to WestJet through phone calls as well as several emails, but he has only received an apology. The Nataraj family still plan to go to Mexico in February, but they will have to fly out of Calgary, putting an extra obstacle for the family as they will have to drive through Alberta to be able to go on their vacation.
Nataraj says this doesn’t just bring a burden to his family but all Canadians with accessible wheelchairs or mobility aids.
Global News has reached out to WestJet for comment, but they have not yet responded.
Watch above for more on how the Nataraj family is feeling.
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