'Every single case is one case too many': Passengers with disabilities filed 200 complaints in 2023, WestJet CEO tells parliamentary committee

Passengers with disabilities filed approximately 200 complaints with WestJet last year, a figure the airline's CEO says he's "proud" to call a "small number."

WestJet's CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech told a parliamentary committee studying accessibility in the airline industry that 260,000 passengers with wheelchairs or other mobility devices flew on the airline in 2023. Though he says mistakes happen, von Hoensbroech told the Transport, Infrastructure and Communities committee that the number of complaints is low compared to the total number of flights taken.

"Every single case is a case we investigate in order to improve our service because it is our mission to provide a good service," he said. "The percentage is low, it's very very low. It's 99.9 per cent of the guests that actually have a good experience but having said that every case is a case too many."

von Hoensbroech apologized to passengers who "didn't have a good travel experience" and has committed to "doing better."

WestJet says it is introducing a number of changes that it hopes will make flying smoother from new ways to ensure a mobility device always travels with the passenger to wrapping every wheelchair to protect it while in the belly of the plane. The airline says 390 mobility devices were "fixed or repaired" last year.

"These guests are as valuable as any other guest to us and we want to be an accessible airline and that has been our ambition from the first day. That doesn't mean we are perfect; no organization is ever perfect," he said.

Stephanie Cadieux, Canada's first Chief Accessibility Officer, says the issues in the airline industry are a symptom of a much larger problem around accessibility.

"There is a lot of work to be done but it is not unique to the airline sector," Cadieux told CTV News.

Today Cadieux filed her first ever annual report entitled "Everyone's Business: Accessibility in Canada."  In it, Cadieux finds that while progress is being made, Canada still has a long way to go if it wants to be barrier free by 2040 - the goal of the government's Accessible Canada Act.

"Accessibility is no longer option. If it's not accessible it's not done," Cadieux told CTV News. "There is a lot of work to do in all areas of society if we are to remove the barriers so people with disabilities of all types can be included."

Last year Cadieux's wheelchair was left behind by Air Canada following a flight to Vancouver. After Cadieux went public, the airline apologized and her wheelchair was returned.

That situation is one former Paralympian and president of BC Adaptive Snow Sports Sarah Morris-Probert has also experienced. She says her wheelchair and athletic equipment has been repeatedly damaged or left behind on her travels around the world.

"It is extremely frustrating," she said. "On good days it works great, but consistency would be good."

Last fall, Morris-Probert says she had to drag herself up the stairs to her airplane in Cabo San Lucas after she says staff refused to pull a ramp up the airline's door.

"Barrier free access through ramps is the easiest way," she added. "In Cabo there were ramps but they did not deploy them."

NDP MP Taylor Bachrach highlighted Morris-Probert's case at committee today as an example of "mistreatment" of passengers with disabilities by WestJet. von Hoensbroech said on that day airplane congestion forced the arriving WestJet flight to park on the tarmac instead of at a gate, as usual. He says the Plan B was to carry Morris-Probert up the stairs but she refused, citing safety concerns.

"I understand this is not a great process," he told the committee. "I don't like that either, but it was the next best option or the last good option we had."

von Hoensbroech told the committee that many airports it flies to, including some in northern Canada, do not have the necessary equipment to ensure passengers with a disability have a smooth experience. He also called for international regulations to ensure a smooth transition for passenger flying internationally where airlines currently have different regulations relating to accessibility.

Passenger Rights Advocate Gábor Lukács says one thing legislators can do is strengthen the Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations, so compensation is automatically provided to passengers whose wheelchair or mobility device is damaged or left behind.

"The culprit is the perennial problem of inadequate enforcement and inadequate legislation," he told the committee.

He also says stiffer fines should be added for airlines, and that airlines should be required to track and hand over data to the Canadian Transportation Agency about complaints filed by passengers with disabilities.

"It codifies important principles, but was not written with enforcement in mind," he told the committee. "It does not stipulate clearly defined, predictable and significant financial consequences for violations nor does it offer automatic compensation for effected passengers."