Despite prebooking special assistance for his flight, Lorch was denied boarding assistance by ground staff at Greater Rochester International airport and told that they could not help him board the aircraft because of his being wheelchair-bound and unable to walk. He is subsequently filing charges against the airline for violating the Air Carrier Access Act.
Lorch, who was left at the gate, unable to board his flight, described the exchange, commenting: "The supervisor told me they could think of four other times they had dealt with people in a wheelchair before and they were able to help in those situations because those people were able to walk. I'm not able to walk at all. I felt like I was being blamed."
A spokesperson for Air Canada has since issued the following apology: "I can confirm we have been in contact with the customer to apologise and refund his ticket and conference expenses. Moreover, we are reviewing the matter with our ground handler in Rochester to prevent this recurring."
However Lorch, who was due to attend a conference on eighteenth century literature in Vancouver, is unhappy with this response. "I was completely discriminated against… I have been on planes before. I've been on little planes before. It's never been a problem, at least not to this extent and I couldn't believe that it wasn't going to happen."
According to the data published in the Air Travel Consumer Report by the Department of Transportation, last year Air Canada ranked second (only to British Airways) in the number of disability-related complaints filed by disabled passengers against foreign carriers, receiving 18 in total (compared to BA's 25).
