Just Plane Stupid
Every year The National Ataxia Foundation hosts a conference with speakers and meetings regarding new developments and information on all forms of Ataxia. One year the conference was held in Los Angeles so I decided to attend with my parents. My dad booked our flights with Air Canada, he emphasized to the airline the importance of both my manual and power chair traveling along with us. Thankfully both of my chairs, and all our belongings made it to Los Angeles and the conference was great. I especially loved the open bar as I was 16 at the time, and who IDs someone in a wheelchair!
When the time came to go back home we were flying Air Canada again. We had boarded the plane and we thought we were all set for our flight home until the flight attendant asked my dad if he would exit the plane. What could this be about? It turns out that even with my dad checking to make sure everything was organized for the flight, there wasn’t enough room under the plane for my wheelchair and we wouldn’t be able to go on our original flight home. My dad had already exited the plane and it was time for my mom and me to get off. The flight attendant gave me a funny look when I didn’t get up to get off after we were told to exit. But after being informed that these boots weren’t made for walking, they kindly brought me an aisle chair to get off the plane. As we made our way to the exit, other passengers looked at us like we were terrorists.
When we left the terminal we were met by an Air Canada rep and were placed in a small room while they tried to get us a flight to Vancouver during Spring Break. We sat there for 8-9 hours without any food or drinks. The Air Canada rep constantly reassured me how he understood how difficult this was for me and my family, and after countless times of this being said to me I stated, “Stop telling me you understand until you are the one in the wheelchair trying to travel.”
Finally after a long wait they found us a flight with American airlines to Vancouver, but it wasn’t direct as it had a stop in San Francisco. The Air Canada Rep brought us to our new terminal and proceeded to explain how we needed to repay our baggage fee, like we hadn’t already paid for our baggage on the previous flight that we were supposed to be on. I looked at my mom during this conversation and she looked about ready to punch this rep out. When we got on the plane we were all seated separately. Which would have been fine if I had any trunk control whatsoever to hold myself up in the seat. We had to get people to switch seats with us so I wouldn’t end up in some strangers lap during the flight.
Once boarding was done, we sat on the runway for about 45 minutes until the pilot's voice came over the intercom. The pilot informed us that they had mechanics investigating a hole in the plane to see if we were okay to fly. Where was this hole? Was it the wing? A hole in the plane seemed pretty major, and yet we never got an explanation. A while later the intercom comes on again saying that the hole is fixed and we are going to “see what happens”… we made it safely to San Francisco, amen. We were asked to deboard even though we were getting right back onto this plane to go to Vancouver. My dad negotiated with the crew and they agreed we could stay seated as planes aren’t the most accessible places to maneuver me on and off. When we finally made it to Vancouver and got off the plane I was happy to see my manual chair, minus the arms and footrests, but who needs those anyways… We then headed to baggage claim and waited there until not another soul remained. That was when another Air Canada rep approached us and told us that none of our baggage, or my power chair left San Francisco when we did. At this point it was 1am and now we had to wait for our baggage and my chair to arrive, kindly enough after the hell we had been through they got us a hotel at the airport. To add to their appreciation for my dad not telling them what he really thought, they gave us meal vouchers for breakfast. A whole $25, which could get you as far as an orange and a muffin at the Fairmont.
There has got to be a light at the end of the tunnel, and there was. Our baggage arrived the next day along with my wheelchair and homeward bound we were at last. Air Canada ended up breaking 17 ADA regulations but because it was an international flight, ending in Canada, no action could be taken. Even though the fines that could have been faced were upwards of 50,000 dollars. The compensation my dad asked Air Canada for was for a rep to come speak at the conference the next year and discuss traveling with a disability, but frankly he was shut down and no compensation was given. Moral of the story, you win some, you lose some, and I lost badly on this one and there is a high chance we are on their no fly list.
