Toronto woman with disability says flying Air Canada made her feel like an 'unwanted burden'

A Toronto woman is speaking out about the experience of flying with a disability, saying her most recent flight with Air Canada left her feeling like an "unwanted burden."

Georgia Pike, a graduate student at York University, says she has traveled in and out of Toronto Pearson Airport many times, but her latest experience was so bad that it prompted her to come forward about "a system that discriminates against people with disabilities."

"I paid the same amount for my flight as my able-bodied counterparts, yet I and other people with disabilities were treated as unwanted burdens by the Air Canada ground crew," said Pike, who described herself as visually impaired.

Air Canada says it is reviewing Pike's case and is committed to providing accessible transportation, but Pike says her trip never should have been so difficult.

"I'm a blind person trying to get from the airport from my home and the amount of barriers that I encountered … it's degrading."

Pike was traveling to Toronto from Phoenix, AZ on Jan. 31 with her seeing eye dog, Maggie. She says she informed Air Canada staff several times that she needed an escort to follow so that she and her dog could make their way through customs and to her departure gate.

After multiple waits and having to tag along with airport workers pushing other passengers in wheelchairs, she says she was taken part of the way to security. Then, she says, she was left by an airport worker who couldn't take her any further because she didn't have priority boarding status and told her the screening area was "over there."

Pike says she repeated that she is visually impaired and another worker pushing someone in a wheelchair "begrudgingly" allowed her to follow him.

She finally arrived at her gate an hour and half after first checking in.

But when she landed in Toronto, things only got worse, she says.

Pike says she was made to wait until all the able-bodied passengers had gotten off the plane before she could make her way to the front. 

She followed one airline employee for about 20 steps before the worker turned around and said the plane crew had to first deboard so she could lock the doors, Pike said.

Once again, Pike found herself waiting. She says she was the last passenger to leave the plane.

Eventually, she says, she was passed off to another worker who took her to a large open space where several people in wheelchairs were also waiting.