Air Canada fined over £50,000 after disabled passenger forced to drag himself off plane

Airline failed to provide wheelchair assistance once the man landed in Las Vegas

The incident occurred on an Air Canada flight to Vegas (Getty Images)

Air Canada has been fined C$97,500 (£58,075) after a disabled passenger had to drag himself off a plane because wheelchair assistance had not been provided.

The incident occurred on 30 August, when Rodney Hodgins, who has spastic cerebral palsy, was flying with the airline from Vancouver in Canada to Las Vegas in the US.

Upon landing, Mr Hodgins, 49, was told by flight attendants that there was no narrow aisle chair to transport him from his seat to the front of the plane.

He was forced instead to drag himself forward 12 rows, with his wife Deanna behind for support.

Mr Hodgins, who had travelled to Las Vegas to celebrate he and his wife’s wedding anniversary, said he was left in “significant pain”, while Deanna called the lack of assistance “dehumanising”.

At the time, the pair were contacted by Air Canada customer service offering a $2,000 flight voucher for future travel. But Mr Hodgins said he wanted Air Canada to change its policy so that someone is always there to meet a person with a disability when the aircraft lands.

“It hurt my legs. For three days I felt terrible on my holiday,” he toldCBC News. “I thought, they don’t care about me, they just want me to get off this plane.”

Air Canada said in a statement at the time: “We use the services of a third-party wheelchair assistance specialist in Las Vegas. Following our investigation into how this serious service lapse occurred, we will be evaluating other Mobility Assistance service partners in Las Vegas.”

Now, the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) has issued a C$97,500 fine to the Canadian flag carrier for “several violations of the Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations (ATPDR) related to its obligations around providing services to a person with a disability”.

It stated: “On 30 August, 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”.