unc81
Jul 31, 04, 9:50 pm
Hi,
We flew out of Montreal on Wednesday. We arrived almost 4 hours prior to our flight due to our rental car return. It turned out that we need all of this time to get on our flight.
My wife drives an electric scooter. She also had brought a travel scooter. We checked in at the ticket counter and went through all of the usual procedures in order to transport the scooters as carry-on baggage. We were informed about customs and security procedures.
When we reached security, we were told that power wheelchairs are not allowed to go through security. We were sent to a corner and allowed to call the airline, American Airlines. A representative from American arrived after a delay and started negotiating with security. A security supervisor also arrived and things got heated. The airline representative indicated that there had been no problems with a scooter the day before. She was informed that they had just changed the rules. It was not very believable.
After a long negotiation, we were allowed to go through security only if we were accompanied by 2 airline officials. Security at the gate was also to be involved. However, security didn't arrive at the gate, and all boarding was delayed. We finally got onto the plane.
We are still angry over the situation. The security guard was unpleasant. If the rules had really changed that day, the airline had apparently not been informed. Our carry-on items were subsequently incorrectly labelled and were not available when we arrived in Chicago. This was a long, painful process.
Has anyone else had any similar situations in Montreal or elsewhere in Canada? We are considering returning to Calgary or Eastern Canada for a September vacation. However, we may now reconsider flying to and from Canada.
Thanks
Seb
We flew out of Montreal on Wednesday. We arrived almost 4 hours prior to our flight due to our rental car return. It turned out that we need all of this time to get on our flight.
My wife drives an electric scooter. She also had brought a travel scooter. We checked in at the ticket counter and went through all of the usual procedures in order to transport the scooters as carry-on baggage. We were informed about customs and security procedures.
When we reached security, we were told that power wheelchairs are not allowed to go through security. We were sent to a corner and allowed to call the airline, American Airlines. A representative from American arrived after a delay and started negotiating with security. A security supervisor also arrived and things got heated. The airline representative indicated that there had been no problems with a scooter the day before. She was informed that they had just changed the rules. It was not very believable.
After a long negotiation, we were allowed to go through security only if we were accompanied by 2 airline officials. Security at the gate was also to be involved. However, security didn't arrive at the gate, and all boarding was delayed. We finally got onto the plane.
We are still angry over the situation. The security guard was unpleasant. If the rules had really changed that day, the airline had apparently not been informed. Our carry-on items were subsequently incorrectly labelled and were not available when we arrived in Chicago. This was a long, painful process.
Has anyone else had any similar situations in Montreal or elsewhere in Canada? We are considering returning to Calgary or Eastern Canada for a September vacation. However, we may now reconsider flying to and from Canada.
Thanks
Seb