"I had to crawl": Amputee claims damages after United Airlines and airport security seized scooter batteries

Stearn Hodge says that he will never forget the humiliation of having to drag his body against the floor of a hotel room during what was to be a holiday to celebrate his 43rd birthday wedding – because a security guard at the Calgary International Airport and United Airlines confiscated the batteries. necessary to operate a portable scooter.

"Having to crawl on the floor in front of my wife is the most humiliating thing I can think of," Hodge said. "It shows how true my disability is … I have not been the same since."

The retired 68-year-old contractor Kelowna, BC, lost his left arm and right leg in a work accident in 1984. He now relies on a portable scooter powered by lithium batteries.

But during a trip to Tulsa, Oklahoma, on February 26, 2017, an agent from the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) and a United Airlines official asked Hodge to remove the $ 2,000 battery from his scooter and get by, as well as his spare battery.

In making this request, both employees raised security concerns.

Stearn Hodge shows how he had to crawl without his mobility scooter:

Lithium-ion batteries pose a fire risk, but global standards set by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) allow people with disabilities to travel with compact lithium batteries for medical devices in luggage cabin.

Hodge stated that no one from CATSA or United Airlines would listen to it or read the IATA documents that it had printed, showing that its batteries are allowed on board if an airline gives its prior approval. Hodge had received this permission.

"They take my legs – not just that, my dignity," said Hodge.

He can only wear a prosthetic leg for a short time because of his discomfort and risk of infection, he said.

A few months earlier, Hodge almost had his batteries seized on a WestJet flight. But "seconds" before takeoff – and after a panic attack – Hodge was allowed to take them on board.

He has now hired a lawyer and is fighting to have his case heard by the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

A spokeswoman for an Ottawa-based disability rights organization said it was "frustrating" that the Canadian air transport sector seems to ignore the hard-won protections for people with disabilities.

"It has been a long struggle to ensure that mobility assistive devices – or any device used to accommodate a disabled person – can be used. [a plane], "said Terrance Green, Council of Canadians with Disabilities.

"When security can, even with the regulations in force, seize what should normally be on board the plane, disabled people remain very vulnerable."

Get a wheelchair & # 39;

When the CATSA officer seized his batteries in Calgary, the employee suggested that it was not a big problem, Hodge said.

"I still remember that the CATSA officer had said," Well, you could have a wheelchair. "How's a guy with one arm going to run a wheelchair?" Hodge asked. "How am I going down a ramp and braking with one hand, but it should not even be necessary."

Hodge's wife had recently been treated for cancer, which affected her spine, and she could not push a wheelchair for her husband.

Hodge said it had asked a United Airlines agent to go to the security checkpoint because he had called the airline earlier and was assured that the presence of his battery and his onboard reserve was acceptable.

But the United Airlines employee who has arrived sits on the side of the security officer.

As a result, a three-week trip meant to be a party with his wife led Hodge to spend much of his vacation in bed.

To perform basic personal hygiene, he was forced to drag himself into the bathroom across the floor of the hotel room.

"A birthday is supposed to be all about remembering how we fell in love … and keep that magic alive," Hodge said. "And these things have been denied, I'm crawling on the ground and it's pathetic."

United's excuse

A spokesman for United Airlines told Go Public that he could not comment on Mr. Hodge's experience because he wanted his case heard by the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

In an email sent to Hodge by the airline, Tatricia Orija, who is responsible for resolving the complaints, wrote that "it seems we were violating the federal disability requirements," offering Hodge and his wife a $ 800 travel certificate.

She also apologized for the "inconvenience".

"The inconvenience is when it's raining during your vacation," Hodge said. "It was a … decisive moment for my wife and me."

WestJet offers a travel credit

Three months prior to United's incident on November 27, 2016, Hodge had also had battery problems during a trip to Cancun, Mexico.

In this case, a WestJet employee had first told him that he could take the batteries in hand luggage, but when he arrived at the security checkpoint, an officer of the WestJet CATSA stated that the batteries had to be in checked baggage.

"According to the federal law on airlines, it's the worst place you want to place them," Hodge said. "Because if a problem arises with these batteries, they do not know where they are and will only find out when it's too late."

A few minutes before his departure, a WestJet employee was able to confirm that the batteries could be used in the aircraft.

In an email to Hodge, WestJet spokesperson Morgan Bell wrote, "Although I can not change your past experience, I would like to offer you a $ 350 travel credit for goodwill. "

WestJet said it could not answer Go Public's questions, as Hodge named the airline in the case it wants to hear.

CATSA also did not respond to Go Public's questions, relying on Hodge's complaint.

The agency provided Hodge with a transcript of a recorded call with the customer service agent, Justine Drouin, who apologized to Hodge and told him that "all screening officers will be briefed".

"It's like playing Russian roulette"

Hodge and his wife travel at least once or twice a year and say the only place they have problems with their scooter batteries is in Canada.

"I have flown over Europe, the United States and Mexico with these batteries since 2015 and I have never been stopped or harassed because of them. It's only in Canada that I've been detained relentlessly, "Hodge said.

He estimates that this has happened more than a dozen times in the past two years, claiming that it now triggers serious anxiety.

"When I pass the checkpoint, I start to vibrate now.I do not know what I'm going to get.It's like playing Russian roulette."

& # 39; An attack on the dignity of a person & # 39;

Green, from the Council of Canadians with Disabilities, said he was pleased that there are protections in place for people with disabilities who travel, but these protections must be implemented.

"It's an attack on the dignity of a person," Green said, noting that his organization has been fighting transportation problems for four decades.

"In 1979, the government of the day said," Yes, we will make our transportation system accessible, "he said. "Here we are … 40 years later and the same barriers exist for transportation for Canadians with disabilities."

Green, who has a visual impairment, said security agents had questioned his laptop's battery, which allowed him to "talk" when he was on. He added that he was receiving "a lot of emails and phone calls" from people with disabilities who were harassed at the airport.

"It happens very, very frequently," said Green. "You file complaints, the first thing that happens, it's the airlines that deny it."

Complaints to the transport agency

Go Public asked the Canadian Transportation Agency, which regulates air, rail and marine travel, how often people have filed disability-related complaints in the last three years.

A spokesman said the agency had received 583 accessibility complaints related to air travel during this period, of which less than 1% were battery-related. And these figures have steadily increased since 2016.

The majority of complaints involve passengers who have had expensive mobility devices – scooters and wheelchairs – damaged during loading and unloading.

Federal Court Hearing

Last September, the Canadian Human Rights Commission referred Hodge's complaint to the Canadian Transportation Agency. However, the agency does not have the power to award general damages beyond the non-reimbursable expenses.

On May 9, Hodge's lawyer, John Burns, will ask a Federal Court judge to compel the commission to hear the case.

"It's a failure of the Canadian Human Rights Commission to provide access to the remedy provided by law," Burns said.

The Canadian Human Rights Act provides up to $ 20,000 in damages for each head of pain and suffering, and up to $ 20,000 if the discrimination is "willful or reckless".

"It sends a very clear message to the airlines and all the other people involved," Burns said. "People with disabilities should be taken seriously.Do not remove someone's legs and do not describe it as a disadvantage.No, it's an injury."

"Human rights violations can not remain without appeal"

Hodge is optimistic, he will eventually have his day before the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

It is an expensive undertaking. In order to cover legal costs, he had to sell a cherished corvette on which he has been working for years. But it's a fight he says he must lead – not just for himself, but for so many other people with disabilities.

"What I would like more than compensation," said Hodge, "is the [legal] Decide that someone can go and say: You've done it here, you can do it for me. & # 39; "