by Jen Mallia
Last updated: 10:35 AM ET, Thu March 27, 2025
The Court of Appeals has ruled against Air Canada on an accessibility issue it has been fighting for almost 10 years.
The Canadian Transportation Agency ruled in 2023 that when a passenger uses a mobility device that is too big to fit through the aircraft cargo doors, the airline had two options. Either the airline could rebook the passenger on another plane within a day of their desired date of travel, or it could swap out the aircraft for one that would fit.
Air Canada appealed the change in aircraft requirement. As the Canadian Press reports, Justice Wyman Webb rejected the airline’s arguments: “Air Canada did not establish that it would suffer undue hardship if it had to substitute an aircraft.”
The case launched in 2016 after passenger Tim Rose was told he would not be able to travel from Toronto to Cleveland because his power wheelchair was too big to be accommodated. Rose, who was travelling to Cleveland to give a presentation on disability in big business, pointed out the discriminatory nature of equating a mobility device — essentially a person’s legs — with luggage. “In this case, they didn’t even let my legs on the plane,” Rose told the CP.
The protracted legal battle was paused during the pandemic, and involved extended back and forth. In 2023, under mounting public pressure following complaints by disabled people of mistreatment by Air Canada, the airline announced it would speed up its planned accessibility strategy.
At the time, chief executive Michael Rousseau stated “Air Canada recognizes the challenges customers with disabilities encounter when they fly and accepts its responsibility to provide convenient and consistent service so that flying with us becomes easier. Sometimes we do not meet this commitment, for which we offer a sincere apology.”
According to the Canadian Press report, the measures in the airline’s plan include establishing a customer accessibility director, consistently boarding passengers who request lift assistance first, tracking mobility aids in the baggage tracking app, and annual training in accessibility — such as how to use an eagle lift — for its airport employees
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