Darby Young is a frequent flyer, but heading to the airport isn’t as simply as dropping off her bag and boarding the plane.
“I check in the same time you would,” she said, “but that process takes a little more time.”
Living with cerebral palsy, Young uses a motorized scooter to get around. When she checks her bags, she also relinquishes her ride, which flies with her in the cargo hold of the aircraft.
“The crew, for me, has been fantastic. They come up, greet me, they ask a million questions, which I’m all about,” Young smiled.
As an advocate for people living with disabilities, Young says her experience with her roughly 115-pound scooter has been positive for the most part.
But she’s baffled after learning of a WestJet policy limiting the weight of mobility aids like hers to 300 pounds or less.
“I think they’ve been misled,” Young said, estimating 75 per cent of power wheelchair users likely have equipment weighing more than that.
The Calgary-based airline says on its website that mobility aids are capped at that weight when loaded with other bulk baggage on all three of its mainline aircraft — the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Boeing 737, and De Havilland Dash-8. The maximum allowable height and width varies on each aircraft.
“We will do all we can to accommodate your mobility device, however, we may need to change your reservation to ensure your mobility aid can be accommodated,” the airline says on its website.
“If your mobility aid does not fit or is too heavy, we will work with you to identify alternative arrangements.”
It’s a situation a Saskatoon family recently found themselves in, when they learned part of their trip to Mexico this upcoming February had been cancelled due to a wheelchair weighing more than the 300-pound limit.
“(WestJet’s) never said no to us,” explained 14-year-old Georgia Nataraj, who uses a wheelchair.
“We’ve had no problems like this before, which is part of the big shock of all this,” said Georgia’s father, Richard. “(It’s) part of the big shock of all this… as recently as April we flew on WestJet.
The family said the airline told them the wheelchair poses a safety risk, but also said they were never provided any documentation supporting that claim.
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Former MP Steven Fletcher filed a regulatory complaint when he was denied access to a flight in February.
In its response to the complaint, WestJet says it landed on the 300-pound limit last year after an engineering analysis and that accessibility regulations allow it to refuse transport of heavier mobility aids.
But documents obtained by Global News show the cargo specifications on all three airplanes would allow for greater floor load than a 300-pound wheelchair would represent.
In the case of the Boeing 737 — representing the vast majority of WestJet’s fleet — the maximum allowable floor load on all variants of the aircraft is more than twice the amount a wheelchair of that size generates.
Height and width limits vary by aircraft type, and Young believes issues could arise during the loading and unloading process — especially at smaller airports.
“Flying out of (YYC Calgary International Airport) is pretty seamless, but when we land or take off from a different airport across the country, I don’t know what I’m getting.”
Global News reached out to WestJet for comment on the policy but has not received a response.
Advocates say the decision lacks common sense, noting WestJet is the only Canadian airline with such a restriction at this time.
“There’s one bottom line,” explained Gabor Lukacs, president of Air Passenger Rights.
“If it was working so well until now, what happened? That needs to be explained.”
“A wheelchair, for a lot of people, is an extension of their body,” said Devin Glim, a lawyer with ARCH Disability Law Centre. “It’s not like you can just go without it — it has to come with you.”
“Every wheelchair is specific to that person, so any outright policy with limits such as this one will always exclude someone. It has to be a one-size-fits-all approach.”
In 2016, ARCH filed an application to the Canadian Transportation Agency, arguing the right to accessible transportation on behalf of Tim Rose, who was denied access to an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Cleveland because the aircraft could not accommodate his power wheelchair.
This March, the Federal Court of Appeal upheld the upheld the Agency’s decision that it would not cause Air Canada undue hardship to substitute accessible aircraft when provided with 21 days’ notice and when it cannot book a passenger on any other accessible flight.
Lukacs believes the same thought process should apply in this situation, arguing WestJet’s policy may be unlawful.
“I would say a class action (lawsuit) would be a great step forward, because the rights of these passengers are being violated. First and foremost, the Canadian Transportation Agency should be taking a very firm action, issuing fines and a clear decision requiring WestJet to accommodate its passengers.”
“This is just absurd, what (WestJet) is doing — I cannot believe it’s impossible to transport those mobility aids when other airlines are doing so.”
The Canadian Transportation Agency didn’t immediately respond to Global News’ request for comment.
Until the policy is changed, Young says people like her will have to work around it, waiting for common sense to prevail.
“There’s got to be a way, when it’s said and done, for people to travel.”
— with files from Ashley Beherns & The Canadian Press
