Adam Smith

No, that was clear from the very first report. The CBC story that kicked off this discussion contained the following:


In a statement, Air Canada said "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.


That's somewhat misleading, given there's a guaranteed minimum paid hours per shift and per diem/meal allowance, and that being an FA comes with far more benefits (pension, health care, travel passes, etc) than what people typically think of as a "minimum wage" job like flipping burgers at McDonald's.

FAs aren't super highly paid, but they make enough that one would hope they'd care a bit more about customer service than this crew seems to have (let alone what basic human decency should have compelled them to do).

Davvidd

There are various kinds if codes for whee chairs and the departure control would send this information to the destination. This goes to airline to airline and not normally the 3rd part handler. The local AC agent would inform the handler of how many wheel chairs and what kind of wheel chairs are required.
All I know so far is that he crawled off the aircraft because there is no aisle chair provided to him.

What is the important question is what does his record show? Does it show that he needs a aisle chair or not? Was there a wheel chair for him and the top of the jetty? So far I cannot find any of this information on line.

zkzkz

Just because their pay is calculated a certain way under a negotiated union contract doesn't mean they're not working. You can't be taking customers on your plane and have no employees responsible for their safety and care. Someone was responsible for making sure this was handled correctly. Whether it was the FAs, the GAs or someone else there definitely had to be someone whose job included making sure any snafus that arose were handled. It's not like they just stand there saying we have to open the door to the plane ourselves because the brakes are set so their job's finished.

And just because it was contracted out doesn't really let AC off the hook either. It's their contractor that failed and they need to have someone responsible for supervising the contractor. If the fuel company delivers the wrong amount of fuel the pilots need to order more fuel. If the wheelchair they ordered doesn't turn up there has to be someone responsible for getting on the phone and ordering another wheelchair.

Fwiw the FAs I've seen on board when there was a disabled traveler seated near me in the past were very conscientious about making sure they handled everything they needed. I don't think this is typical of AC as much as we love to criticise them, at least not in the past.

eigenvector

Have any of the media reports stated what aircraft type this occurred on? YVR-LAS is typically operated by the 7M8, which AC lists as being equipped with an onboard wheelchair.

tracon

The entire fleet has onboard wheelchairs.

https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/...ty.html#/home:

RatherBeInYOW

The first sign of a vacuous argument is using "woke" in a sentence to deflect blame. People shouldn't be asking if the rate of these issues should be increasing, be should and are using the media to shame Air Canada into basic human decency and taking responsibility for their mistakes. AC has a PR problem.

Watched a crew use one of these for a pax on a flight mid-air just yesterday in fact (on a 787).

smes

Will be interesting to see if Air Canada sues the third party contractor its uses in Las Vegas. I'll keep an eye on PACER.

Davvidd

They might not be able to depending on the circumstances. This is why I asked about the code in the passenger's record and if he had a wheelchair outside the door?

tracon

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-46/clip/16021223

Disability advocate says it just isn't AC.
From the 3:00 mark.....

Edited to add another story with video.

DeafFlyer

I’m glad to read this. I would have to do the same. There’s no way to drag myself off the aircraft unless it crashed and it was the only way. On my recent flights on LH and UA, i had to wait awhile, but the flight crew was not pressuring me to try and get out by myself like AC was doing in this case. Go ahead and call the cops AC.

curiouspax

Happened to me also...in YQR. In my case was able to wrestle my bags off the stopped belt with wifey's assistance and carry on...carrying on...

I might add that YVR - NRT - KUL (both directions) ground staff were exceptional with their patiance and handling!

RatherBeInYOW

https://media.aircanada.com/2023-11-...h-Disabilities

I don't know enough to say if this will help much, but at least it sounds like they are trying to make proactive improvements.

DeafFlyer

It’s a step in the right direction at least.

expert7700

The seating location for those with the worst mobility issues have always been baffling. On several AC flights, late in the boarding process I have seen ground crews and flight attendants take aisle chairs (or in extreme situations, baggage handlers lift & carry a customer) way, way back.

I get that most passengers buy basic fares, and premium seats are kept for elite passengers & upsells.... but still!

There could be reasons at play why disabled pax pick seats further back (proximity to the lavs, seating with family or friends). Yet nobody involved ever seemed to question walking past many suitable non premium rows to get to row 44. Seems like extra work, risk of employee injury, and far less discrete (I'd imagine some might be self concious of their inability to board without assistance).

On the LAS flight that made the news, what are the chances that crews felt they were permitted to only use them if needed in flight or for emergency evacuation? Does their training state that ground service crews must provide all labor/equipment for general boarding/deplaning?

RangerNS

The press release says: "Customers at the gate who request lift assistance will be consistently boarded first before all other customers and proactively seated at the front of the cabin they booked"

So this weirdness may be coming to an end.