Woman left stranded in Montreal due to broken equipment at Charlottetown airport

THE CANADIAN PRESS/FILE PHOTO

An Air Canada plane landing at Pearson Airport.

The P.E.I. Council of People with Disabilities is crying foul over the treatment of an Air Canada passenger with mobility issues after she was left stranded at the Montreal airport.

The P.E.I. woman, who has muscular dystrophy, was not allowed to board her flight home to P.E.I. because a special chair Air Canada uses to disembark passengers with major mobility issues at the Charlottetown airport was out of order.

Marcia Carroll, executive director of the P.E.I. Council of People with Disabilities, says the woman, who did not want to be identified, had to call her daughter in Toronto to come and pick her up in Montreal.

I feel its negligible at the very least and criminal at the worst, Carroll said.

She was left, at 11:30 at night, in the Montreal airport. Its horrible. If you didnt have family or that kind of support, what would you do?

An official with Air Canada did confirm Monday the chair, known as a Washington chair, at the Charlottetown airport has been out of order for the last couple of weeks.

The Washington chair is used to transport passengers who require the use of a wheelchair to transition from the aircraft door to their seat on the plane.

Manon Stuart, manager of corporate communications and linguistic services with Air Canada Jazz, said arrangements are now being made to have a new Washington chair brought to Prince Edward Island.

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Woman left stranded in Montreal due to broken equipment at Charlottetown airport