Medical Oxygen and Airlines
Canadian Regulator to Hold Oral Hearing on October 29, 2007
The Canadian Transportation Agency will hear oral submissions from Air Canada and WestJet on October 29, 2007 concerning medical oxygen. The public may attend.
An August 2007 notice from CTA, the Canadian Transportation Agency says,
"The Canadian Transportation Agency will hold a public hearing in Ottawa beginning October 29, 2007 to continue its investigation into 25 complaints against Air Canada and one against WestJet regarding persons with disabilities who require that medical oxygen be available to them when travelling by air."
Participation in the hearing is limited to the two airlines, and an independent expert the Agency has appointed. The public are free to attend and observe. Those who need particular facilities or services at the hearing are asked to contact the Agency by October 5, 2007.
Time and Place of Hearing
- Begins Monday, October 29, 2007
- 9 a.m. (Eastern Time)
- Freeman / Guiges Room
- Old City Hall
- 111 Sussex Drive
- Ottawa, Ontario
- CANADA
Contact for Information, and For Making Special Arrangements to Attend the Hearing
- Phone: 1-888-222-2592
- TTY: 1-800-669-5575
- Fax: 819-953-6019
- Email: cta.comment@cta-otc.gc.ca
Background
The hearing on October 29, 2007 will continue a process dealing with complaints filed between March 2000 and June 2005. Twenty-four complaints against Air Canada and one against WestJet have been combined into one proceeding.
The Canadian Transport Agency has the job of applying the Canadian Transportation Act and related regulations, to the facts of the complaints before it. To do this, the Agency first determined whether the complaints and the complainants fit within the scope of what the legislation covers.
On December 13, 2005, the Agency issued its Decision No. 720-AT-A-2005 which is a detailed explanation of the facts and arguments to date. The main conclusions of that decision are:
- "persons who require that medical oxygen be available to them when travelling by air are persons with disabilities for the purpose of [the legislation]... regardless of where a person falls within the spectrum of persons who require medical oxygen (from a continuous basis to an as-needed basis)..." This conclusion had been reached and announced a year earlier. It was repeated in the current decision as background information to establish the Agency's jurisdiction in this matter.
- various practices by Air Canada, and one by WestJet constitute obstacles to the mobility of persons with disabilities. (Emphasis added).
Having found that there are such obstacles, the Agency now must decide whether the particular obstacles are "undue". To do this, they will hear oral submissions from the two airlines, and will use the services of the independent expert to test the evidence of the two airlines.
Attending the Hearing
At the time of writing this article, there is no suggestion in the notice that this hearing might be postponed. However, in legal proceedings there is always a chance, even if it's a very improbable one, that one of the parties will ask for a delay. While it seems unlikely that there would be a delay in this case, it would be prudent to check with the Agency before setting out for Ottawa to attend this hearing.
Related Articles:
- Canadian Transport Complaints: Canadian Transportation Agency handles accessible travel complaints
- Canadian Air Travel Accessibility: A summary of the Canadian regulations for accessible air travel
- Checklists for Air Travel: Two useful checklists from the Canadian Transportation Agency
- Air Travel Guide - Disabled Travel: Canadian government brochure is detailed and helpful
