Decision No. 235-AT-A-1999

May 12, 1999

May 12, 1999

APPLICATION by Nora Bednarski pursuant to subsection 172(1) of the Canada Transportation Act, S.C., 1996, c. 10, regarding the late delivery of her manual wheelchair to the door of the aircraft upon her arrival in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Air Canada's Flight No. AC182 operated from Montréal, Quebec, on December 22, 1998.

File No. U3570/99-2


APPLICATION

Nora Bednarski filed an application with the Canadian Transportation Agency (hereinafter the Agency) with respect to the matter set out in the title. The application was received on January 4, 1999.

Air Canada filed its answer to the application on February 22, 1999 and Ms. Bednarski filed her reply to the answer on March 25, 1999. Additional comments were filed by both parties.

Pursuant to subsection 29(1) of the Canada Transportation Act, the Agency is required to make its decision no later than 120 days after the application is received unless the parties agree to an extension. In this case, the parties have agreed to an extension of the deadline to May 14, 1999.

ISSUE

The issue to be addressed is whether the late delivery of Ms. Bednarski's manual wheelchair at the door of the aircraft constituted an undue obstacle to her mobility and, if so, what corrective measures should be taken.

FACTS

Ms. Bednarski uses a manual wheelchair and crutches as means to facilitate her mobility.

When boarding in Montréal, Ms. Bednarski used her own manual wheelchair to get to the door of the aircraft and walked to her seat using her crutches. The wheelchair was then taken away to be placed in the cargo hold of the aircraft and was to be delivered to her at the door of the aircraft upon arrival in Halifax.

In Halifax, despite the numerous attempts made by personnel on board the aircraft, Ms. Bednarski's personal wheelchair was only delivered to her at the door of the aircraft by the Air Canada Customer Service Manager after a wait of approximately 55 minutes. During this wait, and after some considerable time had elapsed, she was offered the alternative of proceeding to the baggage area with an airport wheelchair. However, Ms. Bednarski refused this assistance. She was inconvenienced by cold air in the cabin as the cleaning staff had started carrying out their duties, which necessitated leaving the doors of the aircraft open.

In response to her request for an explanation for the delay, the Customer Service Manager told Ms. Bednarski that it was just as well that her wheelchair had not been brought to her sooner as she would have found it very difficult to circulate within the congested airport terminal.

POSITIONS OF THE PARTIES

Ms. Bednarski submits that her personal wheelchair is like an extension of her body and that she feels helpless and incapacitated without it. She adds that her independence and dignity are denied when her wheelchair is not available. Upon being notified of a request to have a wheelchair delivered to the door of an aircraft, Ms. Bednarski maintains that the air carrier involved should, as an absolute priority, ensure that this service is coordinated and overseen in a most efficient and courteous manner.

Ms. Bednarski also finds the remark made by the carrier's Customer Service Manager in response to her request for an explanation for the delay to be extremely offensive, and his attitude condescending, disrespectful and unacceptable. She does not think that it is appropriate for other people to make judgements about what is or is not good for a person with a disability. She emphasizes that, primarily, services provided to customers with disabilities should be just like the services extended to any other customer. Ms. Bednarski submits that as a passenger paying the same fare as any other passenger, she is entitled to an equal quality of service and display of respect.

Ms. Bednarski advises that the same incident had occurred to her in Halifax about two years ago and, subsequent to a complaint resolution process, she was assured that it would never happen again on an Air Canada flight.

Air Canada extends its apologies to Ms. Bednarski for the late delivery of her wheelchair and for the discomfort and inconvenience that she experienced.

Air Canada advises that the incident was thoroughly reviewed with the Customer Service Manager who dealt with Ms. Bednarski at the time of the incident and the Manager readily recognized that his comments might not have been appropriate under the circumstances and he also offers his apologies to Ms. Bednarski.

Air Canada explains that in accordance with the procedures currently in place, wheelchairs that are to be delivered to the aircraft door upon arrival of a flight must be identified with a blue tag at check-in. Upon completion of the baggage loading, the load agent is then responsible to advise the off-load station, through the centralized computer system, of the location of the wheelchair in the cargo hold. On arrival, the wheelchair is retrieved from the cargo hold and promptly delivered to the gate.

Air Canada indicates that these procedures are communicated to its Airport and Customer Service employees as part of their initial training and are also recorded in its computerized reservation system. Module 3 of its Serving Customers with Disabilities training program (Description, Handling and Loading of Wheelchairs) intended for ramp and load agents also refers to the blue tag and to the importance of ensuring that wheelchairs identified with that tag be given priority handling for prompt delivery at destination. Moreover, its Customer Service agents were reminded of these procedures through a Customer Service Update Bulletin published on July 24, 1997, through the InterAction Newsletter issued on August 22, 1997 and through the special issue of the InterAction Newsletter issued on June 26, 1998. Air Canada provided extracts of the documents referred to above to substantiate these claims.

Upon completion of Air Canada's inquiry, it was determined that Ms. Bednarski's wheelchair was brought to the baggage area because the personnel in Halifax was not made aware of the request to have it delivered to the gate. Unfortunately, Air Canada's attempts to determine why the message was not conveyed to Halifax were unsuccessful. Air Canada was also unable to identify the load agent who handled the wheelchair in Montréal nor could it retrieve a message sent to Halifax that would have contained special instructions for Ms. Bednarski's wheelchair.

Air Canada adds that the flight cancellations and delays which arose as a result of a severe snow storm in Montréal, Ottawa and Toronto on the night of December 22 also played a role in the late delivery of Ms. Bednarski's wheelchair. Heavy airport congestion in Halifax and an internal communication problem, i.e. a radio failure, inhibited the air carrier's ability to promptly assign an agent to deliver the wheelchair despite the very best efforts of the Station Operation Control Coordinator on duty. After some considerable time had elapsed, Ms. Bednarski was offered the use of an airport wheelchair from the aircraft to the baggage area but Ms. Bednarski declined the offer. When he was made aware of the incident, the Customer Service Manager immediately went to pick up Ms. Bednarski's wheelchair in the baggage area and personally brought it to the aircraft door.

As a result of the complaint, Air Canada has provided the Agency with a copy of an Operational Bulletin which was issued on March 23, 1999 to the Airport and Customer Service employees reminding them of its procedures for ensuring the prompt delivery of strollers and wheelchairs to the aircraft door upon arrival.

ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

In making its findings, the Agency has considered all of the evidence submitted by the parties during the pleadings.

Pursuant to subsection 148(3) of the Air Transportation Regulations, SOR/88-58, as amended (hereinafter the ATR), air carriers must permit a person in a manually operated wheelchair to remain in the wheelchair

  1. until the person reaches the boarding gate from which the person's flight is to depart;
  2. where the facilities permit, while the person is moving between the terminal and the door of the aircraft; or
  3. where space and facilities permit, while the person is moving between the terminal and the passenger seat.

Paragraph 148(4)(d) of the ATR provides that an air carrier that has accepted for carriage a person's aid shall return the aid to the person promptly on arrival at the person's destination.

The Agency notes that in accordance with paragraph 148(3)(b) of the ATR, Air Canada did allow Ms. Bednarski the option of using her personal mobility aid to and from the aircraft door. However, upon arrival in Halifax, Ms. Bednarski's wheelchair was only returned to her at the door of the aircraft approximately 55 minutes later.

Considering the size and configuration of the airport terminal building and nature of the operations, and given that the carrier was made aware of Ms. Bednarski's needs, the Agency finds that a wait of 55 minutes for the delivery of her wheelchair is not acceptable. Consequently, the Agency finds that Air Canada has contravened the provision of paragraph 148(4)(d) of the ATR in failing to promptly return Ms. Bednarski's wheelchair at the door of the aircraft on arrival in Halifax.

The Agency recognizes that Air Canada has assumed responsibility for the unfortunate situation experienced by Ms. Bednarski as a result of its employees' non-adherence to the carrier's established procedures coupled with irregular operations caused by adverse weather conditions. Accordingly, the Agency finds that Air Canada's failure to provide Ms. Bednarski with her wheelchair in a timely fashion on arrival in Halifax on December 22, 1998 did constitute an obstacle to her mobility which was intensified by the discomfort experienced due to the cold air in the open aircraft while she waited. The Agency further finds that this obstacle is undue in that it could have been easily avoided had the procedures in place been adhered to and respected by the personnel of the air carrier.

The Agency has reviewed Air Canada's established procedures for ensuring the prompt delivery of mobility aids to their owners on arrival at destination and is satisfied that, if followed and adhered to, they should prevent the recurrence of situations similar to the one experienced by Ms. Bednarski. Moreover, while not dismissing the fact that there was a breach of the carrier's procedures and that, in this instance, the passenger did not accept the assistance offered, the Agency is pleased to note that the carrier's personnel did attempt to alleviate the discomfort and inconvenience experienced by the passenger by offering to transfer her to the baggage area with the use of an airport wheelchair. This offer, however, was made after Ms. Bednarski had waited for quite some time in the aircraft and expected her own wheelchair to arrive at any moment.

Furthermore, the Agency notes that the incident with the Customer Service Manager who dealt with Ms. Bednarski on board the aircraft has been reviewed by the air carrier and that, as a result of the complaint, Air Canada has issued an operational bulletin to remind its Airport and Customer Service employees of the procedures in place and the importance of adhering to them. After consideration of the corrective measures undertaken by the air carrier, the Agency is satisfied that they should also assist in preventing the recurrence of similar incidents.

CONCLUSION

Based on the above findings, the Agency determines that the delay in the delivery of Ms. Bednarski's manual wheelchair at the door of the aircraft in Halifax on December 22, 1998 constituted an undue obstacle to her mobility while she travelled. However, in light of the procedures currently in place and the measures undertaken by Air Canada since the incident, the Agency contemplates no further action to be taken in this matter.

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