An Ontario mother who recently returned from a trip to Cuba, only to have her custom wheelchair lost along the way, says it has finally been returned to her but in “very poor condition.”

The wheelchair arrived by courier to Rose Finlay’s Bowmanville, Ont., home around 7:45 a.m. on Saturday morning. But after the mother of two inspected her custom chair, she quickly found that it was “not in usable condition.”

“It was absolutely mishandled,” Finlay said in a phone interview with CTVNews.ca, “I couldn’t safely use it right now.”

Finlay and her husband booked the trip via Sunwing Airlines, and travelled to Cuba last week. Finlay claims the vacation, which was supposed to be a romantic holiday for the couple, was a disaster from the start, saying she felt humiliated by Cuban airport staff and Sunwing representatives. 

She also says the couple was unable to arrange an earlier flight because there was “no way” of contacting their Sunwing representative and that they were put on an indirect flight – with a stopover in Manzanillo, Cuba – on the way home. 

But she says she was forced into tears at the airport when she was told she’d have to check her wheelchair as luggage, rather than at the boarding gate.

Now Finlay, who suffered a severe spinal cord injury in her teens, says that she will “probably have to get a new chair” as it was returned to her with the frame “completely bent.” 

A new chair will cost the family about $7,000, plus a trip down to California for the custom fitting. 

When the chair was delivered, Finlay says the brakes were no longer functioning and it was missing a pin that prevents the chair from tipping backward. 

In the meantime, Finlay says she will be using an old chair that she has at her home. She says it’s not an ideal situation as she’s grown out of it, but “at least it’s safe.”

“I hate that I’ve had to expose myself and my family to the public; it’s an uncomfortable feeling for me,” Finlay says of the whole ordeal. 

Finlay says that the miscommunication between the various Sunwing departments has been frustrating. She says she received a call this morning from Sunwing at 10 a.m., two hours after the damaged chair was returned to her house, saying the chair would be arriving shortly. 

Finlay says travelling with her disability has never been a problem in the past. 

CTVNews.ca reached out to Sunwing on Saturday to ask whether they would be covering the costs of a new chair. 

“We are pleased to confirm that the wheelchair was delivered to our customer’s home (and signed for) around 8 a.m. this morning … We inspected and photographed the wheelchair and there were no visible indications of any damage. At this point, we have been unable to confirm the receipt of any communication to the contrary,” Sunwing said in a statement. 

“We remain very apologetic for the two days that Ms. Finlay spent without her wheelchair and, in addition to having offered to pay for a replacement wheelchair at the airport when the incident occurred, we have also offered compensation in the form of a full refund,” the statement adds. 

“We have already started an investigation, which includes our partners and the Cuban Airport Authorities, to determine how this happened and what measures can be taken to prevent future occurrences.”