Travelling with a support person

Assistance while travelling

Services available from service providers

You can arrange to receive help throughout your journey, including:

• moving to/from a pick-up/drop-off area (curbside zone) of a terminal located in Canada;
• checking in;
• moving through the terminal, including through the security screening checkpoint;
• boarding, connecting, and disembarking;
• storing and retrieving baggage;
• moving to/from an on-board washroom;
• moving through the terminal's border clearance area; and
• obtaining accessible ground transportation from your destination terminal in Canada.

Travelling with a support person

Carriers are not required to provide assistance – or are only required to provide limited assistance – with:

• eating, taking medication, using the washroom;
• transferring to/from a passenger seat after departure and before arrival;
• orientation or communication; or
• physical assistance in the event of an emergency, including in the case of an evacuation or decompression.

If you need this help, ask your carrier about travelling with a support person. The assistance provided by a support person is in addition to the assistance that the carrier is already required to provide to passengers with disabilities, which includes, for example, assisting the passenger with meals served by the carrier by opening packages, identifying food items and their location and cutting large food portions; assistance with boarding/disembarking, storing and retrieving carry-on baggage, and describing the layout of an aircraft, train, ferry or bus and the location of onboard amenities; or transferring the passenger between a mobility aid and their passenger seat before departure and after arrival.

A Canadian carrier must provide the adjacent seating for a necessary support person without charging you an additional fare or any other charges if you are travelling within Canada, except if that travel is part of an itinerary which includes travel outside Canada (for example, domestic legs of international flights).

During your trip

Security screening

If you are travelling with a support person, the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) must make every reasonable effort to carry out the screening simultaneously with the screening of the support person. CATSA provides useful information for travellers with disabilities about the screening process on its website, including information for planning a trip and what to expect at screening checkpoints. You may want to consult the CATSA website prior to travel to familiarize yourself with the screening process.