A traveller checks the status of his flight during a layover in Charlotte, N.C., on May 5. U.S. airlines damage or destroy an average of 29 mobility devices every day.Scott McIntyre/The New York Times News Service
In early September, Maayan Ziv travelled aboard an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Tel Aviv to attend an accessibility conference.
The young entrepreneur arrived at Pearson airport almost five hours before the scheduled departure time to ensure her wheelchair would be properly bubbled-wrapped and loaded onto the plane. But at her destination, she found the chair had been badly damaged.
“Imagine someone basically chopping off your legs,” Ms. Ziv said in an interview. “That’s how I felt, because the wheelchair is an extension of my body.”
That was only the beginning of the nightmare odyssey.
As compensation for trashing the $30,000 custom-built mobility device, Air Canada offered a laughable $300 travel voucher.
Then, on the return trip to Toronto a few days later, the airline lost the broken chair, first telling Ms. Ziv it had not been loaded on the plane and then later locating it on the tarmac in Toronto – thanks to it being equipped with a tracking device.
Ms. Ziv’s exasperated Instagram post about the incident touched a nerve, garnering more than five million views.
Yet, despite all the bad publicity, Air Canada (the “best airline in North America,” according to the U.K.-based firm Skytrax) has yet to apologize. The airline has committed to paying for repairs, but Ms. Ziv is still waiting for approval so the work can begin.
While the whole saga has been a mess, from beginning to end, it speaks volumes about the way travellers with disabilities, and wheelchair users in particular, are treated.
The chair Air Canada mangled was actually purchased by American Airlines to replace one it had completely destroyed during a trip Ms. Ziv made to New York a few years back.
U.S. airlines damage or destroy an average of 29 mobility devices daily – that’s 15,425 since reporting became mandatory in late 2018.
In Canada, the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA), the federal regulator, says it has received 247 wheelchair-related complaints over the past five years. But it only counts complaints made directly to the CTA, not those made to airlines, so there is little transparency.
“Wheelchairs are treated like regular cargo,” Ms. Ziv said. “Airlines would rather deal with the aftermath – pay us few bucks – than be pro-active.”
Last week, Airlines for America, an industry trade organization, along with all the big U.S. airlines, made a commitment to strengthen accessibility for passengers with disabilities.
They were responding to pressure from regulators and legislators in that country.
This past summer, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced the new Airline Passengers with Disabilities Bill of Rights. He also announced that plans are under way to allow people with mobility devices to ride them onto many planes. Current laws require everyone to sit in regular airplane seats while their wheelchairs go to cargo.
A U.S. Transport Research Board study showed this is technically feasible and that the most commonly used planes, such as the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737, could be easily modified at little cost.
“Staying in my chair would eliminate most problems,” Ms. Ziv said, noting that she can remain in her wheelchair when travelling in accessible taxis, buses, trains, subways and cruise ships.
“Only when I board a plane am I transferred to a seat and stripped of my mobility and independence,” she said.
Realistically, this change will not occur quickly, or apply to all planes. So, in the meantime, airlines need to better train workers on how to transport mobility devices without damaging them, and how to treat passengers with disabilities without harming them.
Transfers are often painful and humiliating. It is not unusual for people with disabilities to be dropped and injured during these transfers.
“It’s undignified. People with disabilities are treated as second-class citizens,” Ms. Ziv said.
This is not a marginal issue. There are 6.2 million people with disabilities in Canada, including 300,000 users of wheeled-mobility devices.
Ms. Ziv, who developed the popular AccessNow app, is a skilled communicator and advocate. She is giving voice to many mistreated travellers who are not being heard.
She notes there are two issues here. The first is technical: how airlines transport fragile, essential medical equipment. The second is how they treat people with disabilities with an utter lack of respect.
“The advocating people with disabilities have to do just to live their daily lives is exhausting,” Ms. Ziv said. “We should not have to endure having our independence smashed to pieces every time we get on a plane.”