Darby Young is a frequent flyer, but heading to the airport isn't as simple as leaving your bag and boarding a plane.
“I register at the same time as you,” she said, “but the process takes a little longer.”
Living with cerebral palsy, Young gets around on a motorized scooter. When she checks her bags, she also refuses the ride that travels with her in the cargo hold of the plane.
“The team, I think, has been fantastic. They come up and greet me and ask me a million questions and I'm really interested in it,” Young smiled.
How defender As for people with disabilities, Young says her experience with the roughly 115-pound scooter has been mostly positive.
But she is confused to learn about WestJet Policy limiting the weight of vehicles like hers to 300 pounds or less.
“I think they've been misled,” Young said, estimating that 75 percent of power wheelchair users likely have equipment that weighs more than that.
The Calgary-based airline says on its website that the travel items are limited to this weight when loaded with other oversized baggage on all three of its main aircraft – the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Boeing 737 and De Havilland Dash-8. The maximum allowable height and width vary for each aircraft.
“We will do our best to accommodate your mobility device, however we may need to change your booking to accommodate your mobility aid,” the airline says on its website.
“If your vehicle is not suitable or is too heavy, we will work with you to find alternative options.”
That's the situation a Saskatoon family found themselves in recently when they learned that part of their trip to Mexico this past February was canceled because the wheelchair weighed more than 300 pounds.
“(WestJet) never said no to us,” explained Georgia Nataraj, 14, who uses a wheelchair.
“We haven't had problems like this before and that's part of the big shock of it all,” Georgia's father Richard said. “(It's) part of the big shock of it all… just recently in April we flew on WestJet.
The family said the airline told them the wheelchair posed a safety risk, but also said they were never given any documentation to back up that claim.
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Former MP Stephen Fletcher lodged a complaint with regulators when he was denied access to a flight in February.
In its response to the complaint, WestJet says it reached the 300-pound limit after an engineering review last year and that accessibility rules allow it to refuse to carry heavier vehicles.
But documents obtained by Global News show that the cargo characteristics on all three planes allow for more load on the floor than a 300-pound wheelchair can handle.
In the case of the Boeing 737, which makes up the vast majority of WestJet's fleet, the maximum permissible floor load of all variants of the aircraft is more than twice that of a wheelchair of that size.
Height and width restrictions vary depending on the type of aircraft, and Young believes problems can arise during the loading and unloading process, especially at smaller airports.
“Taking off from (YYC Calgary International Airport) is pretty smooth, but when we land or take off from other airports across the country, I don't know what I'm getting.”
Global News reached out to WestJet for comment on the policy but did not receive a response.
Advocates say the decision lacks common sense, noting that WestJet is currently the only Canadian airline with such a restriction.
“There is one result,” explained Gabor Lukács, President Air passenger rights.
“If everything has worked so well so far, then what happened? It needs to be explained.”
“For many people, a wheelchair is an extension of their body,” said Devin Glim, an attorney with Legal Center for Disabled People ARCH. “That doesn’t mean you can just do without it—it has to go with you.”
“Each wheelchair is different for that person, so any direct restrictive policy like this is always going to exclude someone. It has to be a one-size-fits-all approach.”
In 2016, ARCH filed an application with the Canadian Transportation Agency arguing for the right to accessible transportation on behalf of Tim Rose, who was denied access to an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Cleveland because the plane could not accommodate his electric wheelchair.
In March this year, the Federal Court of Appeal supported supported the Agency's decision that it would not cause Air Canada undue hardship to change available aircraft, provided 21 days' notice is given and it is unable to book the passenger on any other available flight.
Lukács believes the same thought process should be applied to this situation, arguing that WestJet's policy may be illegal.
“I would say a class action (lawsuit) would be a big step forward because the rights of these passengers are being violated. First and foremost, the Canadian Transportation Agency needs to take very strong action by imposing fines and making a clear decision requiring WestJet to accommodate its passengers.”
“What (WestJet) is doing is just absurd – I can't believe it's impossible to carry these mobility aids when other airlines are doing it.”
The Canada Transportation Agency did not immediately respond to Global News' request for comment.
Until the policy changes, Young says, people like her will have to work around it and wait for common sense to prevail.
“There has to be a way, when all is said and done, for people to travel.”
— with files from Ashley Beherns and The Canadian Press
