Saskatoon family confused after WestJet cancels tickets due to wheelchair's weight

You tin try the swinging of pianissimo euphony echo throughout the church where 14-year-old Georgia Nataraj takes piano lessons.

She loves playing, but is even more interested in travelling, she says.

She was looking forward to a trip to Mexico with her family in February. Their plane tickets were booked. But then the airline cancelled them, saying Georgia’s wheelchair is too heavy.

Georgia has flown with WestJet from Saskatoon before, using the same wheelchair.

She was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy at just 18 months old and uses a 440-lb wheelchair with special features designed to help ease tension in her muscles and spine. The chair allows her legs to stretch out, and can lift her into a standing position or lay her down. 

They took a WestJet flight from Saskatoon with her and the chair earlier this year with no problems, they said.

Family frustrated after WestJet cancels tickets over size of daughter's electric wheelchair

Her parents said the airline told them over the phone that handling such a large wheelchair is unsafe for the chair and the staff handling it, and that Saskatoon’s smaller aircraft don’t have the capacity to handle it. The airline's weight limit is 300 pounds.

Their only options are to catch a flight to Mexico out of Calgary or Toronto with WestJet, or switch to another airline.

They said they like that WestJet has discounts for travellers with disabilities, and confused about why the rules seem to have changed.

“As recently as eight months ago we were flying out of WestJet Saskatoon with Georgia’s chair,” said her father, Richard Nataraj. “ And so to hear that they’re now refusing to take her chair on was disheartening.”

Georgia has travelled in her chair on a WestJet flight as recently as April.

“It was really weird 'cause I feel like that rule, it's not really, like, true. I don’t know,” Georgia said. “They just [allowed] it a couple of months ago, so why is it too heavy now?”

The family has decided to make the eight-hour drive to Calgary to catch a bigger WestJet plane that can accommodate Georgia’s chair. They want to stick with the airline because of its more affordable prices and direct destination routes.

Richard Nataraj said disabilities come in different sizes and wheelchair accessibility policies that limit people’s freedoms should be reviewed.

“I think one of the frustrating points of this is that we identify this as a restriction to the fundamental rights of all people with disabilities and those travelling with wheelchairs,” he said. “So we take it very seriously.”

They said they hope their story opens a wider conversation about accessibility on airlines and would like Transport Canada to look into the issue.

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