Following several high-profile incidents, including one where a passenger had to drag himself off a plane, and a meeting with federal ministers in Ottawa this week, Air Canada apologized and announced it was making several internal changes to better accommodate passengers with disabilities.
The airline said Thursday it was fast-tracking plans to update boarding procedures to help passengers with disabilities get on and off planes safely and change how it stores wheelchairs and other mobility aids, as well as updating training procedures for thousands of employees.
“Air Canada recognizes the challenges customers with disabilities face when flying and accepts our responsibility to provide convenient and consistent service to make it easier for them to fly with us. There are times when we fall short of this commitment and for those times, we sincerely apologize,” CEO Michael Rousseau said in a statement.
“As our customers with disabilities have told us, the most important thing is to continue to make continuous improvements.”
The change comes after four people with disabilities spoke out publicly this year about “dehumanizing” experiences they had on Air Canada flights – including being dragged off planes, being dropped by staff, having their wheelchairs left behind and having their ventilators knocked off while being transferred between wheelchairs – experiences that advocates say are all too common.
Rodney Hodgins, who has cerebral palsy, was forced to get off an Air Canada flight in Las Vegas in August on his own after being told he would not receive wheelchair assistance.
Ryan Lachance, a comedian from British Columbia who has quadriplegia and cerebral palsy, said he was injured when an Air Canada staff member dropped him as he was getting off a flight in Vancouver in May.
WATCH | Hodgins describes ordeal after Air Canada failed to provide wheelchair assistance. 
Couple describes ‘inhumane’ experience with Air Canada
Rodney Hodgins says he was forced to get off the plane on his own because Air Canada didn’t provide him with the wheelchair assistance he needed.
Last month, Canada’s chief accessibility officer, Stephanie Cadieux, said the airline left her wheelchair behind in Toronto on a flight back to Vancouver.
Alessia Di Virgilio, a Toronto resident who uses a power wheelchair, said her ventilator became dislodged and the lift fell on her head during a recent flight to Charlottetown as Air Canada staff struggled to transfer her between the plane and her wheelchair.
Air Canada CEO meets with minister
Federal Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez convened airline representatives at Parliament this week to “present their plans” for accommodating passengers with disabilities.
Rousseau attended Thursday’s meeting along with Air Canada’s vice presidents.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Rodriguez said he told Rousseau that the airline’s current plan “is not working.”
“We told Air Canada that what happened was unacceptable and they agreed with that,” he said.
“We made that very clear to the CEO,” said Kamal Khera, minister of diversity, inclusion and people with disabilities, who attended the meeting. “Not only do airlines need to be held accountable, they need to do better and they need to submit comprehensive plans for the short and long term.”
Rodriguez and Khera said they plan to meet again with Air Canada in December.
Ryan Lachance, who has quadriplegia due to cerebral palsy, was dropped and injured by an Air Canada employee after his caregiver, Emma Proulx, who was not authorized to directly assist Lachance on the flight, told the flight attendant that he needed an eagle lift to get out of his seat on the plane. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
In a later statement, Air Canada provided more details about an accessibility program first rolled out in June. The airline said it was accelerating plans to ensure that passengers who request elevator assistance always board first and are “proactively assigned to a seat” at the front of their booked cabin.
The airline also said mobility aids such as wheelchairs will be stowed on board “where possible.” If an aid needs to be stowed underneath the aircraft, the airline said it is developing a new tracking system that includes a process to verify the aid is actually on board before takeoff.
“Customers travelling within Canada can use the Air Canada app to track the route of their mobility aids,” the company said.
Employees will now receive annual training to improve services for people with disabilities, such as how to properly lift people who need assistance. The airline is also creating a senior position to ensure the plan is implemented properly.
VIDEO | A hidden camera captures the “shocking” moment an Air Canada flight chair fell on a passenger’s head as staff struggled to move him into a wheelchair. 
Hidden camera captures ‘shocking’ moment lift falls on passenger’s head as Air Canada staff struggle to transfer him to a wheelchair
Marketplace is sharing an exclusive sneak peek at a hidden camera investigation that captures rarely published first-hand accounts of the challenges faced by people with disabilities when flying.
Tom Stevens, Air Canada’s vice-president of customer experience, said more than 2,000 passengers who need mobility assistance fly with the airline every day, and most of them do so without any issues.
“We recognize the need to ensure accessible travel is done right at all times, and today’s announcement is the first step in this effort,” he said.
“We know that even one service failure is one too many.”
Stevens said Air Canada is “accelerating the first steps of what we believe will be sufficient for most situations.”
“This is just the beginning.”
Lachance, who was injured when dropped by an Air Canada employee earlier this year, said the changes are a “common sense” measure that should have been implemented years ago.
“This is a start,” he said.
“Not only are they putting me at risk, they’re putting their own staff at risk,” Lachance said, adding that while he welcomed the announcement, he would be waiting to see whether the policy would change the situation for travellers with disabilities.
“I would feel a lot better if I could get on a plane and not have to hold my breath or worry that I’m going to be dropped or that my wheelchair is going to break,” he said.
“It’s sad that something like this had to happen for people to have to go through such hurtful and traumatic experiences.”
Mayan Ziv, a Toronto-based disability advocate and founder of Access Now, a social enterprise that shares accessibility information, said her wheelchair was badly damaged on an Air Canada flight in September 2022. (CBC News)
Mayan Ziv, a Toronto-based disability advocate and founder of the accessibility information-sharing social enterprise Access Now, was also cautiously optimistic. In September 2022, Ziv’s wheelchair was badly damaged on an Air Canada flight to Tel Aviv, which prompted her to call for change.
“Today was the first time we’ve heard any sort of acknowledgement, explanation or apology. It’s vague, but this is the start of a lot more to come,” she said.
Despite these changes, Ziv fears that the onus will still remain on passengers to document, report and prove their experiences in order for airlines to pay compensation or be held liable.
“Until tougher penalties are put in place that reflect the harrowing and life-altering experiences that disabled people face, my story and that of countless other disabled people will continue to be heard,” she said.
“I believe Air Canada has violated the trust of its passengers with disabilities. It takes more than promises and statements to prove it can earn their loyalty as passengers.”
Transport Canada, which regulates air travel in Canada, received 197 complaints about accessibility during the 2022-2023 reporting period. Of those complaints, 54 were about mobility aids and 46 were about additional support issues, according to the data.
In total, the department has received 975 accessibility complaints since 2018, which amounts to roughly 200 each year.
According to Statistics Canada, of the 2.2 million people with disabilities who used federally regulated transportation in 2019-20, 63 per cent faced some kind of barrier.
In August, the airline was fined $50,000 for “failing to provide temporary alternative mobility aids to meet the mobility needs of individuals with disabilities who did not have their own mobility aids during the flight and failing to provide them with such aids upon arrival.”