Obese Air Passengers Win
Canadian Transportation Agency Orders Airlines to Make Space
Canadian Air Carriers Will Have To Charge "One Person - One Fare"
The Canadian Transportation Agency released its Decision No. 6-AT-A-2008 on January 10, 2008. One result is that Air Canada, Westjet, and Air Canada Jazz will have to provide additional seating at no extra cost for any passengers who need extra room because of a disability.
Obesity has been found to be a disability in this context, provided it is severe enough to prevent the obese person's ability to fit into the airline seat comfortably.
The decision is also about the right of severely disabled persons to have a personal care attendant fly with them at no additional cost, provided the attendant's services are required during the flight, as discussed in the article One Person, One Fare Policy.
Obesity as a Disability
The Agency is not saying that obesity is a disability generally. They are repeating a finding from earlier, that for the purpose of access to transportation, being overweight can make it impossible for a person to reasonably fit into a standard airline seat, and is therefore a disability for this limited purpose.
Not all obese people are disabled by their obesity. The ruling does not automatically make every passenger entitled to extra wide seats.
Linda McKay-Panos
The person who brought forward the idea that obesity should be considered a disability for the purpose of deciding whether transportation is accessible or not is Linda McKay-Panos. A civil rights lawyer in Calgary, Ms. McKay-Panos told Air Canada when she booked a flight back on July 14, 1997, that she was obese and would need extra space. She asked Air Canada for advice, and offered to buy herself two economy seats or one business-class seat.
The full story boils down to this: Air Canada assigned McKay-Panos a bulkhead seat. These seats sometimes have a little more legroom but are actually narrower than regular seats because the dining trays fold down into the side of the seat. Her flight was extremely uncomfortable, and on her outbound trip from Calgary to Ottawa via Toronto, Air Canada gave her a business-class seat for the last leg of the trip.
On the way back to Calgary, McKay-Panos purchased a business-class seat for almost $1,000 extra, since Air Canada did not offer any other reasonable solution. McKay-Panos was sore and bruised from the first flight, and humiliated and embarassed by the way the airline had treated her. That is how her complaint ended up before the Canadian Transportation Agency.
The process has been long and complex, but McKay-Panos eventually did succeed in having the Federal Court of Appeal find that obesity can be a disability for the purpose of deciding whether transportation is accessible or not. That earlier decision was fundamental to this new one.
What Do the Airlines Have to Do and When?
The airlines have been given a year to put new practices in place. The Agency said that the need for an extra seat because of obesity may have to be established on a case-by-case basis. They said that SouthWest Airlines has what appears to be a workable rule: if the passenger cannot comfortably lower the arm rest on the seat, they will need extra room.
Copyright Jill Browne.
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