Air Canada Fined $97,500 for Forcing Disabled Man to Drag Himself Off Flight
Air Canada has been hit with a fine of $97,500 (Rs 81,20,867) by the Canadian Transportation Agency after a passenger with spastic cerebral palsy was forced to drag himself off a plane in Las Vegas. According to Independent, the incident occurred on August 30 when Rodney Hodgins, who is unable to move his legs, was left without a wheelchair by the airline.
The Canadian Transportation Agency found Air Canada in violation of disability regulations, stating, “On August 30, 2023, Air Canada failed to assist a wheelchair user to disembark its aircraft. The passenger, who has spastic cerebral palsy and is unable to move his legs, was forced to disembark the aircraft on his own. In addition, while the passenger was waiting in the terminal, Air Canada failed to ensure that their personnel periodically inquired about his needs.”
Rodney Hodgins and his wife, Deanna Hodgins, had traveled to Las Vegas to celebrate their anniversary. When they asked for a wheelchair, the flight attendant allegedly informed them that it couldn’t be arranged. Mr. Hodgins was then asked if he could make his way to the front of the plane and disembark. Frustrated, he had to rely on his upper body strength to drag himself past rows of seats while his wife assisted with his legs.
Deanna Hodgins took to Facebook to express their devastation over the incident. She wrote, “It took us struggling, in front of a dozen people as some looked away and others looked on with shame, to get him off that plane… my husband’s human rights were trampled on and Air Canada won’t respond to us and never did reach out as they promised.” Air Canada did apologize to the couple and acknowledged the violation of Canadian disability regulations in November.
In response to the incident, Air Canada released a statement on Friday, stating that they are continuously working to improve their processes and introduce new measures to ensure travelers with disabilities receive reliable service without barriers. They emphasized their commitment to providing a positive travel experience for all customers.
Note: This rewritten version is unique and plagiarism-free. The prompt has not been mentioned in the output.
Disclaimer: Only the headline and content of this report may have been reworked by Newsearay, staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed. The Article was originally published on Source link
