antiquity
05-18-2002, 02:28 PM
Disabled woman angry after agency ruling on her complaint against Air FranceĀ*
NANCY CARR
Canadian Press
Friday, May 17, 2002ADVERTISEMENT
TORONTO (CP) - A woman with muscular dystrophy who says she had a "horrendous" experience when flying Air France two years ago says she's disappointed a recent ruling doesn't address the treatment of disabled passengers and focuses instead on how their wheelchairs and scooters are handled. "(The ruling) falls short because the main problem was how they dealt with me," Gail Sullivan said Friday from her home in the southwestern Ontario town of Harriston.
"After I got off the plane in France they left me in the wrong terminal for two hours and didn't call my daughter - it was absolutely horrendous," Sullivan, 49, said of the ordeal in May 2000.
Air France apologized Friday for Sullivan's misfortunes, calling them a result of a "series of misunderstandings."
Sullivan booked a first-class ticket to France, paid for by her daughter, a fashion model living in Paris.
She's suffered from muscular dystrophy for 20 years, and the disease was increasingly ravaging her muscles. The voyage wasn't an easy one for her since she relied on a battery-operated scooter, but she considered the trip a now-or-never undertaking.
The fully reclining first-class seat was supposed to let Sullivan lie down on the seven-hour flight, as her condition keeps her from sitting for long periods of time.
But once she reached the Toronto airport - after a three-hour commute from her home - she learned she was to fly business class, without a fully reclining seat, and was left in a wheelchair in the airport lounge for two hours.
In its ruling, the Canadian Transportation Agency said Sullivan's seating in business class didn't pose an "undue obstacle to her mobililty," though agreed her physical condition was affected after the flight. The agency said Sullivan's travel agency was responsible for the mix-up, and had wrongly told her she'd purchased a first-class ticket.
When she arrived in Paris, Sullivan said, she was dumped in the wrong terminal for another two hours while Air France staff made no effort to contact her daughter, waiting in a different terminal. Sullivan didn't speak French.
Sullivan was "bedridden with swollen legs and feet for the first two weeks of her visit in Paris," according to the agency's ruling.
On her return trip, even after being assured she would be seated in first class by Air France personnel, Sullivan was again seated in business.
"That's what the complaint was about in the start, and they have reduced it to a complaint about my scooter," said Sullivan, who discovered the battery hood on her scooter had been cracked when she got it off the plane in Toronto and noted that Air France staff in Toronto originally refused to disassemble and ship the device.
Sullivan said when she and her daughter tried to lodge a complaint with Air France in Paris, it was refused. In her complaint the transportation agency, she asked for compensation for the ordeal.
Franck Simian, general manager for Air France in Canada, said Friday that what happened to Sullivan "was more than bad luck."
"I really feel personally sorry for Ms. Sullivan," Simian said from his Montreal office.
"It's a question of a series of misunderstandings and I do feel that hers was really a mishandled case."
But Simian said Air France staff are well trained in serving disabled passengers.
"It's not a question of knowing how to handle disabled clients. We know that and have been in a position to handle those clients for many years."
He said the ruling is simply "a matter of improving procedures rather than training staff."
Sullivan's story comes as no surprise to Pat Danforth, chairwoman of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities' transportation committee.
"The Canadian Transportation Agency's complaint process was never designed to penalize or fine air carriers or compensate individuals who encounter problems," said Danforth, a public servant in Victoria who has used a wheelchair since a spinal-cord injury more than 30 years ago.
"It is there to basically provide a complaint mechanism and to encourage airlines to change their practice so the impact will be less on folks with disabilities."
The agency ordered Air France to make it a regular part of staff services to disassemble, package, unpackage and assemble all mobility aids and provide training for staff at Canadian airports on how to do so.
The airline must also write a staff memo about Sullivan's experience and the importance of understanding a client's seating needs.
The Canadian Transportation Agency stands by its ruling as a preventative measure, said Normand Bergeron, agency spokesman in Gatineau, Que.
"This is something that is a concrete measure, so this doesn't happen again," he said.
Sullivan was considering Friday whether to contest the ruling and take her complaint to the federal court of appeal.
NANCY CARR
Canadian Press
Friday, May 17, 2002ADVERTISEMENT
TORONTO (CP) - A woman with muscular dystrophy who says she had a "horrendous" experience when flying Air France two years ago says she's disappointed a recent ruling doesn't address the treatment of disabled passengers and focuses instead on how their wheelchairs and scooters are handled. "(The ruling) falls short because the main problem was how they dealt with me," Gail Sullivan said Friday from her home in the southwestern Ontario town of Harriston.
"After I got off the plane in France they left me in the wrong terminal for two hours and didn't call my daughter - it was absolutely horrendous," Sullivan, 49, said of the ordeal in May 2000.
Air France apologized Friday for Sullivan's misfortunes, calling them a result of a "series of misunderstandings."
Sullivan booked a first-class ticket to France, paid for by her daughter, a fashion model living in Paris.
She's suffered from muscular dystrophy for 20 years, and the disease was increasingly ravaging her muscles. The voyage wasn't an easy one for her since she relied on a battery-operated scooter, but she considered the trip a now-or-never undertaking.
The fully reclining first-class seat was supposed to let Sullivan lie down on the seven-hour flight, as her condition keeps her from sitting for long periods of time.
But once she reached the Toronto airport - after a three-hour commute from her home - she learned she was to fly business class, without a fully reclining seat, and was left in a wheelchair in the airport lounge for two hours.
In its ruling, the Canadian Transportation Agency said Sullivan's seating in business class didn't pose an "undue obstacle to her mobililty," though agreed her physical condition was affected after the flight. The agency said Sullivan's travel agency was responsible for the mix-up, and had wrongly told her she'd purchased a first-class ticket.
When she arrived in Paris, Sullivan said, she was dumped in the wrong terminal for another two hours while Air France staff made no effort to contact her daughter, waiting in a different terminal. Sullivan didn't speak French.
Sullivan was "bedridden with swollen legs and feet for the first two weeks of her visit in Paris," according to the agency's ruling.
On her return trip, even after being assured she would be seated in first class by Air France personnel, Sullivan was again seated in business.
"That's what the complaint was about in the start, and they have reduced it to a complaint about my scooter," said Sullivan, who discovered the battery hood on her scooter had been cracked when she got it off the plane in Toronto and noted that Air France staff in Toronto originally refused to disassemble and ship the device.
Sullivan said when she and her daughter tried to lodge a complaint with Air France in Paris, it was refused. In her complaint the transportation agency, she asked for compensation for the ordeal.
Franck Simian, general manager for Air France in Canada, said Friday that what happened to Sullivan "was more than bad luck."
"I really feel personally sorry for Ms. Sullivan," Simian said from his Montreal office.
"It's a question of a series of misunderstandings and I do feel that hers was really a mishandled case."
But Simian said Air France staff are well trained in serving disabled passengers.
"It's not a question of knowing how to handle disabled clients. We know that and have been in a position to handle those clients for many years."
He said the ruling is simply "a matter of improving procedures rather than training staff."
Sullivan's story comes as no surprise to Pat Danforth, chairwoman of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities' transportation committee.
"The Canadian Transportation Agency's complaint process was never designed to penalize or fine air carriers or compensate individuals who encounter problems," said Danforth, a public servant in Victoria who has used a wheelchair since a spinal-cord injury more than 30 years ago.
"It is there to basically provide a complaint mechanism and to encourage airlines to change their practice so the impact will be less on folks with disabilities."
The agency ordered Air France to make it a regular part of staff services to disassemble, package, unpackage and assemble all mobility aids and provide training for staff at Canadian airports on how to do so.
The airline must also write a staff memo about Sullivan's experience and the importance of understanding a client's seating needs.
The Canadian Transportation Agency stands by its ruling as a preventative measure, said Normand Bergeron, agency spokesman in Gatineau, Que.
"This is something that is a concrete measure, so this doesn't happen again," he said.
Sullivan was considering Friday whether to contest the ruling and take her complaint to the federal court of appeal.