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Unlike many in Saskatchewan this winter, Saskatoon’s 14-year-old Georgia Nataraj and her family won’t be heading for a vacation to Mexico due to safety issues WestJet says it has with transporting her power chair.
Georgia was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) when she was a toddler and began using a wheelchair shortly thereafter. Now she has a power chair, which can raise and lower her body in different positions for comfort and practicality in everyday life.
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Georgia’s father, Richard, said the family considers the chair an extension of her body.
“I think people often underestimate the value and the importance of certain features of a wheelchair … If you dive a little bit deeper even into the physical health and psychological health benefits of her wheelchair, you’ll know how important it is to her, to us, that she has it,” he explained.
In the fall, Richard was planning a family vacation to Mexico with another family. It was all booked and he called WestJet to give them notice about the power chair, but when he told them its weight was 400 lbs he was told it wasn’t allowed on the flight.
He was confused because the family had flown with WestJet, on the same model plane, twice in the last 14 months. Richard said he inquired with WestJet and got a generic email back.
“It was basically saying, due to the safety of the airline itself and safety of the crew, that the wheelchair could not be taken on these particular airplanes that leave Saskatoon,” he said.
He sent a number of subsequent emails, but never got any replies.
WestJet said the family could drive to Calgary to catch a flight to the same destination on a bigger plane — according to WestJet’s website, the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner is the only one of its planes with a weight limit for mobility aids over 300 lbs.
But Richard said with four kids, driving six hours on winter roads to try to catch a flight that only runs once a week, wasn’t feasible for the family.
Instead, the family cancelled the trip.
Different planes and different airlines
“We know it can be done, we know it has been safe flying with it, they can fit on the plane,” said Richard.
“We know that the weight of the chair — it’s a roughly 400 lb chair — but we also know that they don’t assess the weight of each individual passenger.”
Around two-thirds of flights out of the Saskatoon airport are operated by WestJet, and Richard said the restriction is going to have a big effect on their travel.
“Now we’re limited to really one airline, we’re limited to the routes that that airline takes, the times that it takes it, the fees or the ticket prices isolated to a single airline,” said Richard, talking about Air Canada.
WestJet flies Boeing 787s, Boeing 737s and DeHavilland Dash 8 Q400s out of Saskatoon, which all have a maximum weight for mobility aids of 300 lbs.
“I hope that they can see this as an unnecessary barrier to people that already have so many barriers set up in this world for them.” — Richard Nataraj, about WestJet
Air Canada’s weight limit for its planes, according to its website, is 866 lbs because that’s the limit for its ramps and lifts.
Delta’s information line for disability accommodations said there is no weight limit for mobility aids on their planes. Porter Airlines’ website said its weight limits are between 500-648 lbs. And United said it would depend on the plane whether it could accommodate mobility aids over 250 lbs.
Richard said it’s limiting for the family now, but he’s worried about Georgia’s ability to travel when she’s an adult in a few years as well.
“It would be disheartening to know that she’s prevented from travelling on an airline because of the weight of her chair, even though her chair can physically be accommodated by that plane,” he said. “I hope that they can see this as an unnecessary barrier to people that already have so many barriers set up in this world for them.”
What the regulations say
Richard believes WestJet is trying to get out of having to deal with complex or heavier wheelchairs because they’re likely more expensive to manoeuvre.
“I think that this is a way that they, unfortunately, can find a loophole to say that it’s a safety issue for the plane,” but he said there’s no physical limitation because that model plane has carried Georgia’s chair before.
In the legal view of this, Richard believes denying Georgia the ability to bring her chair is discriminatory and illegal.
Canada has Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations, which lay out how an airline must transport and treat people with disabilities and their aids . It says, among other things, that mobility aids must be treated as priority cargo.
The regulations also lay out why an airline could refuse to transport mobility aids — if the size of the baggage compartment or its door isn’t large enough, carrying it would jeopardize the plane’s airworthiness, or the weight or size of the aid exceeds the capacity of the lift or ramp.
WestJet told 14-year-old Georgia Nataraj’s father that her 400lb power chair was too heavy to be accommodated on flights out of Saskatoon. (Marija Robinson/650 CKOM)
If an airline refuses to transport the aid, it must inform the person of the reasons and, within 10 days, provide a written notice. It also needs to advise the person of the availability of alternative trips provided by the carrier to the same place which won’t refuse the aid, and offer to book it for the same or a lower price.
The Canadian Transportation Agency didn’t make anyone available for an interview, but did provide a statement on the issue.
It said that even when a mobility aid meets one of the exceptions in the regulations “airlines may still have a duty to accommodate accessibility-related needs requiring them to go beyond their obligations under the applicable regulations provided they have sufficient time to explore other options.”
But, it also says the airline’s duty to accommodate an aid is only there to the point of “undue hardship,” which depends on the airline and the circumstances of the case.
The agency recommends airlines endeavour to avoid potential systemic barriers by considering accessibility when planning which planes to buy and choosing aircraft for routes.
Richard said he’s filed a complaint with the Canadian Transportation Agency and with the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. In explaining his position, Richard pointed to a decision out of the Federal Court of Appeal last year.
It was on a case that started in 2016, when a traveller was told by Air Canada his power wheelchair wouldn’t fit on a plane, which prevented him from travelling. The Federal Court of Appeal upheld a finding from the Canadian Transportation Agency in 2023, that Air Canada would need to find passengers with disabilities a comparable flight or swap in a plane capable of carrying the mobility device.
Air Canada had argued the swapping provision constituted undue hardship. But the federal court sided with the transportation agency, saying the company deploys spare planes daily in response to all kinds of things like weather to mechanical issues, and so should be able to do the same for accessibility.
Richard admitted these things can take a long time to resolve, and he hoped that WestJet would instead change its mind.
“I hope that they can see this as an unnecessary barrier to people that already have so many barriers set up in this world for them,” said Richard.
He said he wants the airline to treat Georgia like any other person.
In speaking out about it, Richard hopes other people – not just those in wheelchairs or in the disability community – will get behind Georgia and other people with disabilities in this.
“We want people to stand up to companies like this and say, you know, it’s not okay that you do this to people,” said Richard.
What WestJet says
WestJet didn’t provide someone to answer questions in an interview, sending a statement to address the matter instead.
It said the company’s services for persons with disabilities comply with the regulations, its maximum weight and dimensions for mobility aids were published in 2020, “and our weight limits are not new.”
It said some of the weight limits were increased in 2024, but none of them were reduced.
“When we surveyed other large North American airlines, we found many have similar maximum cargo hold weights for their comparable narrowbody fleet types,” read the WestJet statement.
Jason Kelln, President of International Registry of Rehabilitation Technology Suppliers, wrote to WestJet regarding the Nataraj situation and heard back from Todd Peterson, Director Regulatory Affairs and Accessibility with WestJet.
Peterson said maximums are based on the plane manufacturer’s engineering specifications, and for weight the limiting factor is the capacity of the cargo hold floor.
For guests who might have travelled previously with overweight aids, WestJet said in its statement to 980 CJME that the case would need to be reviewed to understand the specific circumstances, such as if the booking was made online.
“With respect to application of the maximums, the emphasis needs to be on consistency to ensure safe operations, for the safety of our people as they lift and handle these very heavy items, and importantly for our guests so they can rely on the safe handling and return-in-good-order of the devices they depend on for their mobility.”
—with files from 650 CKOM’s Marija Robinson
