Air Canada apparently has had a habit of losing passengers wheelchairs, but this time it happened to the wrong person, Canada’s Chief Accessibility Officer.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s CBC News reports Stephanie Cadieux was flying from Toronto to Vancouver Friday, when the airline forgot to put her wheelchair on the plane for her cross-country trip.
Cadieux says, “airlines have to take responsibility and they have to do better.”
She tweeted about her experience and her posting received overwhelming support — almost 650 retweets and more than 2,500 likes.
Cadieux said, “I’ve heard and continue to hear countless stories about lost or severely damaged chairs and enough is enough.”
According to CBC News, she said airlines do not provide appropriate care and attention to essential equipment like wheelchairs, and leave disabled travelers to fight alone when things go wrong. She said, “I want everyone to understand that when a person’s wheelchair is lost, so is their independence, safety, mobility and dignity.”
An Air Canada statement emailed to CBC News said the airline has apologized to Cadieux and the company recognizes “mobility devices are vital to their users.”
Air Canada says it’s working to improve accessibility: “As part of our investigation into how this serious service lapse occurred, we are also looking for additional measures we can implement to prevent such situations in the future,” the statement said.
The statement said the airline carries more than 700,000 travelers requiring wheelchairs or mobility devices in a normal year and “the vast, vast majority…traveled without issue.”