Ontario man frustrated after airline puts his custom wheel chair on plane to wrong country
An Ontario man said traveling during a pandemic is difficult enough without an airline sending his wheelchair to the wrong country.
“I waited for about a half hour and they said your wheelchair is not here, either we ship it tonight or tomorrow and ‘I thought here we go again,’” said Anthony Tompros of Toronto.
Tompros said he was returning from Greece after undergoing fours months of therapy in the salt waters and sunshine of the Greek islands to improve his health.
When his Air Canada flight touched down in Toronto, he was told his wheelchair didn’t make the trip with him.
Tompros says his custom-made wheelchair had gone missing before on flights and said if it is ever lost it would take him eight months to get a new one.
“I need my chair. It’s my legs, like I was trapped stuck on the bed. I just wanted my chair back so I can sit in it and move around,” said Tompros.
Air Canada was able to track down his wheelchair, which ended up on a flight to Germany. It was sent back to Toronto five days later, but had been damaged.
“They delivered it and it came damaged. My backrest was broken completely, the seat was missing the cushion part and the front wheel was also damaged,” said Tompros.
Tompros was told to file a claim, but he said he would rather the wheelchair be repaired right away.
“I would like my chair to be fixed immediately, for sure, start from there. Just take care of it more, like I mean its a wheelchair and they just, I assume they just throw it in there and load things on top of it,” said Tompros.
CTV News Toronto reached out to Air Canada and a spokesperson said in a statement “The customer was travelling on a connection flight involving another carrier that stopped in Munich, where the chair misconnected and it took additional time as it had to be sent on another flight to Toronto.”
“Nonetheless, it is a regrettable situation that we recognize caused inconvenience and we are dealing with the customer directly, including ensuring the proper repair of his mobility device. We successfully carry tens of thousands of customers with disabilities every year, and we know how vital mobility devices are, so we do our utmost to avoid events such as this.”
Unfortunately wheelchairs are often damaged during flights. In the United States an "Air Travel Consumer Report" found that 29 wheelchairs are lost or damaged by airlines every day and that about 15,000 have been damaged over the past three years.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Drive one of these vehicles? You may pay 37 per cent more than average insurance costs due to thefts
As the number of auto theft incidents rises in Canada, so have insurance premiums for drivers, even the ones whose vehicles aren't stolen.
'I'm not wealthy': Ontario senior shocked she owes $40,000 in capital gains after gifting land
An Ontario senior who wanted to help her daughter and grandson eventually own homes one day decided to give them two lots on her property as a gift—but she didn’t know it would eventually cost her tens of thousands of dollars.
NDP want Liberals to scrap proposed election date change that could secure pensions for many MPs
The federal New Democrats want to amend the Liberal government's electoral reform legislation to scrap the proposal to push back the vote by a week and consequently secure pensions for dozens of MPs, CTV News has learned.
These are the world's 20 best cities for foodies, according to Time Out
Some travellers pick a city break based on the destination’s cultural offerings. Others eye up cities with buzzy nightlife or opt for a destination hosting a festival or event. But for many vacationers, the most exciting part of any trip is the food.
Video shows driver in Toronto frantically getting out of car being pushed by truck
A CP24 camera caught the moment a driver frantically got out of her car as it was being dragged by a truck on Avenue Road Wednesday afternoon.
Israel's war cabinet minister moves to dissolve parliament: statement
Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz's centrist party has proposed holding a vote to dissolve parliament in a bid to bring about an early election, his party said in a statement on Thursday.
BMO services restored following outage from data centre fire alarm, the bank says
Bank of Montreal clients saw services restored Thursday morning after an overnight, false fire alarm caused outages, the bank says.
Exorbitant fees get Gazans out with no help from Ottawa
The comforting sound of giggling grandchildren has chased away the cloud of anxiety that has loomed over Mohammed and Intisar Nofal's home for the past seven months.
Largest vaccine production plant in Canada opens in Toronto
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is announcing the opening of a major vaccine production plant in Toronto today — part of Canada's efforts to build up the domestic biomanufacturing sector in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.