Summary
- WestJet CEO apologizes for failures in accessibility services and expresses commitment to improvement.
- The airline has created a task force to address accessibility concerns and prevent service failures.
- High-profile incidents involving wheelchair-bound passengers prompt action and a focus on enhancing accessibility services.
WestJet Chief Executive Officer Alexis von Hoensbroech issued an apology during a meeting of the Canadian Parliament’s Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities (TRAN) on Thursday. In the two-hour meeting, von Hoensbroech shared his apology and told members that his airline had created a task force to ensure improvements to its accessibility services.
In his statement to the committee, von Hoensbroech praised WestJet staff members for their reliability in addressing accessibility concerns, noting that the carrier was able to meet the needs of nearly 700 passengers a day who he claimed requested service from the airline on mobility issues.
“No organization operates with zero failures, and there have been a few very unfortunate cases where things went wrong,” von Hoensbroech said. “We deeply apologize to the impacted guests, we don’t want anyone of our guests with disabilities to arrive at their destination without their mobility device or their device being broken or to experience any other kind of service failure.”
WestJet’s incident
The meeting had been called after a few high-profile incidents involving both Air Canada and WestJet, where wheelchair-bound passengers were forced to board and deplane their respective aircraft without the assistance of their wheelchairs. In WestJet’s case, paralympian Sarah Morris-Probert was forced to climb up the stairs herself before being met by an aisle-chair to take her to her seat.
Photo: WestJet
In that incident, there was no accessible way to board the aircraft due to inoperative equipment, and carrying her wheelchair up the stairs with her was deemed unsafe. Sarah Morris-Probert told local media that despite the inaccessibility concerns, she thought, “WestJet crew on both flights were fabulous, as always.”
Von Hoensbroech told the transportation committee that the airline was taking action from lessons learned.
“Every failure is one too many, and every failure is also an opportunity for us to learn and improve,” von Hoensbroech said. adding that the airline had created a task force to improve accessibility services. “Be it to establish a firm process that our guests never depart without positive confirmation that their mobility device is onboard the aircraft, be it by improving our handling and protection procedures to prevent devices from being damaged, and be it by enhanced clarity on what capabilities we actually can offer on a particular aircraft type or airport.”
Other High-Profile Incidents
Von Hoenbroech’s first proposal to establish a firm process that guests never depart their destinations without knowing their mobility device is onboard echoes a high-profile Air Canada incident that had occurred in October 2023. On that flight, Canada’s Chief Accessibility Officer Stephanie Cadieux was stuck in Vancouver without her wheelchair after it was left behind in Montreal.
Photo: Air Canada
Wheelchairs have also been damaged, which was the experience of para-athlete Suvarna Raj. Raj also says she was mistreated and met with indifference by the crew on her IndiGo flight, adding that the experience was similar often when she traveled.
In the United States, the Department of Transportation (DOT) began an investigation in November 2023 about airline mistreatment of a wheelchair by American Airlines staffers, which appeared in a video on social media.
