An Ontario man is struggling to get around in Chile after Air Canada forgot his customized wheelchair in Toronto.
“Jim cannot move without the wheelchair,” his stepdaughter Wendy Elliott told CTV National News from Toronto. “I think this is just unacceptable.”
Jim Hamilton and Elliott’s mother Kathie Hamilton departed Toronto late Sunday for Santiago, Chile, for a month-long trip that includes a 16-day cruise. Avid travellers, the couple had been looking forward to their first vacation since Hamilton suffered a serious stroke in May 2021, which left him completely paralyzed on his right side. Elliott says the stroke “turned their whole world upside down in an instant.”
“My mom had put a lot of care and preparation into this trip,” Elliott explained. “She actually was working with someone who runs a travel agency that specializes for people with accessibility needs. So, she had really done all of her due diligence to ensure that everything was going to go smoothly.”
Hamilton was taken right to the door of the plane in his wheelchair, which was then supposed to be gate-checked, like when large carry-on luggage is put into the cargo hold right before a flight. But when the couple arrived in Santiago on Monday morning after the 10-and-a-half-hour flight, they learned that the wheelchair was still in Toronto.
“We were the last people off the plane,” Kathie Hamilton told CTV National News from Chile. “And when I stepped out that door and his chair was not there, you have no idea… I mean, it’s his legs.”
Elliott was shocked to hear what happened.
“It’s mindboggling to be perfectly honest,” Elliott added. “I do not understand how when it’s sitting right outside the plane door, and there’s a luggage tag on it, that it’s just left. I just do not understand how that happened.”
The couple is travelling from Santiago to Vina del Mar, a more than 120-kilometre drive, where their cruise departs on Friday. Elliott says her mother is struggling to help Hamilton in and out of the “uncomfortable” temporary wheelchair they were provided at the airport when they arrived. Costing more than $5,000, Hamilton’s wheelchair had been customized for his height, weight and particular mobility needs.
“He needs this chair to get out of bed in the morning, to function throughout the day, to go to the washroom, to have a shower, to get back into bed at night—he needs it for everything,” Kathie Hamilton said. “All I want is his chair. I don’t even want a rental. I want his chair because no rental is going to have all the specifications that his chair had.”
Without it, she says, “it’ll ruin the whole cruise.”
Air Canada has promised that Hamilton’s wheelchair will be on a Tuesday night flight, which will arrive in Santiago on Wednesday morning. Elliott hopes the airline will be able to get the wheelchair to her stepdad in time.
“So, the cruise ship leaves on Friday, which doesn’t give them much time to get this wheelchair from Toronto to Santiago, and then from Santiago to Vina del Mar to them,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s his chair. I don’t know if it’s damaged. I don’t know if it will make the flight, if the flight will arrive on time. I’m not certain.”
This is not the first time Air Canada has had issues delivering a wheelchair. In September 2022, a Toronto woman’s motorized wheelchair was badly damaged on a flight to Israel, and in late 2021, a Toronto man’s wheelchair was sent from Greece to Germany instead of Canada, only to arrive damaged in Toronto five days later. A B.C. woman was also forced to deplane in July 2022 after Air Canada said her motorized wheelchair was too big to put in the cargo hold. Passengers have meanwhile reported waiting for lost baggage for weeks or more, including luggage containing cancer medication. Similar issues have been reported with other airlines in Canada, like WestJet.
Maayan Ziv is a Toronto entrepreneur and disability activist whose $30,000 wheelchair was damaged by Air Canada in September as she travelled to Tel Aviv for an accessibility conference. Broken beyond repair, a replacement only arrived yesterday.
“I was stuck and it took months before any resolution actually resulted,” Ziv told CTV National News on Tuesday. “The reality is that today, people with disabilities and our mobility devices are treated like luggage. There is no distinction between someone losing a suitcase and someone’s health, mobility and independence being literally stripped from them. And that’s what happens when an airline is so negligent and loses or breaks a wheelchair or any other mobility device.”
Ziv says an average of 29 mobility devices are damaged or lost by airlines each day.
“This is happening every day to people everywhere and nothing has been done to make it so that this doesn’t happen anymore,” she said. “The airlines’ approach is to pay away the damage afterwards, and there is zero recognition of the impact that is being had on people’s lives. It’s devastating.”
In a statement to CTV National News, Air Canada confirmed that Hamilton’s wheelchair would be flown to Chile on Tuesday night.
“We fully appreciate the importance of mobility devices to their customers and have processes in place to ensure they travel safely with their owners, and we are reviewing why that did not occur in this case,” a spokesperson said. “We are following up with the customer directly to apologize and address their concerns and, as part of this process, we did immediately offer the customer a $300 goodwill gesture.”
To Elliott, $300 is no consolation for losing an essential mobility aid.
“I’m sorry but Air Canada giving my mother that $300 and just sending her on her way, it’s just not acceptable,” she said. “It’s not a piece of luggage. It’s not an optional accessory for him. It’s not a piece of sports equipment. He requires this for his mobility.”
HOUSTON (AP) — Brian White scored in the second half to rally the Vancouver Whitecaps to a 1-1 draw with the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday night.
Houston (12-9-8) took a 1-0 lead into halftime after Ezequiel Ponce scored on a penalty kick in the seventh minute of stoppage time. Ponce’s third goal this season came after Amine Bassi drew a foul on Whitecaps midfielder Pedro Vite following a video review. It was Ponce’s sixth career appearance, all starts.
Vancouver (13-8-7) scored the equalizer in the 73rd minute when White, who entered in the 60th, used assists from Fafá Picault and Ryan Gauld to find the net for the 13th time this season. Picault’s assist was his fifth, matching his career high for a single season. Gauld’s assist gives him a career-best 13 on the season.
Yohei Takaoka, who had clean sheets in his last three starts, finished with one save in goal for the Whitecaps.
Steve Clark saved three shots for the Dynamo, who remain one point behind Vancouver in the Western Conference standings.
Houston, which was coming off a 4-1 victory over Real Salt Lake, has allowed just 33 goals this season.
Vancouver — 6-2-2 in its last 10 matches overall — leads the all-time series 10-9-6.
The Whitecaps remain on the road to play the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday. The Dynamo travel to play Austin FC on Saturday.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Tom Pearce and Nathan Saliba scored in the second half — the first goals of their careers — and CF Montreal rallied for a 2-2 draw with the New England Revolution on Wednesday night.
“In the second half, the guys came out a little more ambitious and above all, more connected,” Montreal head coach Laurent Courtois said. “It was a great second half of resilience and fighting spirit. Nathan and Sam were impressive.
“Impressive in covering the gaps and compensating for the teammates, and the individual defending – yes it’s true, it is a lot of weight on their shoulders, but that’s the job.”
New England (8-16-4) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute on Bobby Wood’s third goal of the season. Teenage defender Peyton Miller notched his first assist in his fourth career start and sixth appearance and Carles Gil picked up his ninth of the season. Peyton, at 16 years, 315 days old, is the eighth youngest player in league history to record his first assist.
The Revolution took a two-goal lead in the 35th minute and held it through halftime when 19-year-old Esmir Bajraktarevic took a pass from Gil and scored his third goal of the season and career in his first full season in the league. It was the 73rd regular-season assist in Gil’s career, tying him with Steve Ralston for the most in club history.
Montreal (7-12-10) pulled within a goal in the 54th minute when Pearce scored off a free kick after defender George Campbell drew a foul on New England’s Mark-Anthony Kaye. It was the first goal for Pearce in his third career start and fourth appearance.
“Playoffs are the goal. Maybe it wasn’t in the best form, but in the end, we are picking up a point,” Pearce said. “We came into this game confident, ready to play our own game. Everyone tries their best, whenever the players are called on, we are always ready, and we are always giving it our best.”
Montreal scored the equalizer in the 68th minute on the first career goal by Saliba, a 20-year-old midfielder. Saliba has made 34 starts and 48 appearances with Montreal in his two seasons in the league. Campbell snagged his second assist of the season and the third of his career.
“It’s an incredible feeling, it’s a goal I’ve been waiting for a long time. I’m extremely happy that I was able to score it and that it can help the team take this important point on the road,” Saliba said. “Pearce’s first goal gave us really good momentum and we kept up the pressure to go for a second goal. We got more solid defensively, and we came back ready after halftime, to push for these 3 points.”
Aljaz Ivacic finished with four saves in goal for the Revolution.
Jonathan Sirois stopped four shots for Montreal.
New England beat Montreal 5-0 on the road on Aug. 24.
New England leads the all-time series 16-13-4. Montreal improves to 5-8-2 on the road against the Revs.
The Revolution travel to take on Charlotte FC on Saturday. Montreal returns home to host the Chicago Fire on Saturday.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Adolis García hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning, Cody Bradford pitched seven strong innings after the worst start of his career, and the Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 on Wednesday night.
The win kept the defending World Series-champion Rangers alive in the AL West race, trailing first-place Houston by 10 games with 10 to play.
García launched an inside sinker over the left-field wall off Toronto starter Bowden Francis (8-5) after Wyatt Langford singled.
“He swings hard, he swings a lot,” Francis said of García. “I guess the velo was dropping during that time.”
Bradford (6-3) allowed five hits and no walks while striking out six.
The seven shutout innings are the most in a game during his two-year career. He was knocked out of his previous start after allowing career highs in hits (nine), runs (eight) and homers (three) in 3 2/3 innings in a 14-4 loss at Arizona.
“Throughout the week, you’ve got to try and digest what happened, see where I can make adjustments, whether it was just game plan went wrong or just poor execution, or a little bit of both,” Bradford said. “Then you flush it.”
Bradford was perfect through four innings before Alejandro Kirk opened the fifth with a smash back to the mound that caromed off Bradford’s left foot and rolled into right field for a single. It extended Kirk’s hitting streak to a career-high 12 games.
Spencer Horwitz’s double to left-center put runners on second and third with no outs before Bradford retired the next three batters.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider credited Bradford’s “deceptive fastball.”
“When you’re throwing 89, 92, you’ve got to have pretty good deception with that at this level,” Schneider said. “Kept us off balance.”
Kirby Yates pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 31st save in 32 opportunities.
Francis, who took no-hitters into the ninth inning in two of his previous four starts, allowed a double to Marcus Semien, the Rangers’ first hitter of the game. He gave up five hits and one walk in six innings.
Francis has a 1.96 ERA in nine starts with 54 strikeouts and seven walks since being moved back into the starting rotation in late July.
“I don’t even want to get complacent, on cruise control,” Francis said. “Just keep attacking.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Blue Jays: SS Bo Bichette was a late scratch with a right middle finger contusion suffered during infield practice. Schneider said the team will get back x-rays on Thursday. Bichette was activated Tuesday following a calf injury and played for the first time in two months, going 2 for 5 with one RBI at the plate. … INF Will Wagner (left knee inflammation) will have the knee scoped on Thursday. Schneider said Wagner should be ready to start spring training. Wagner, son of former major leaguer Billy Wagner, was acquired from Houston at the trade deadline.
UP NEXT
Rangers rookie RHP Kumar Rocker (0-0, 2.25 ERA) will make his home debut against Blue Jays RHP Kevin Gausman (12-11, 4.02) in the series finale. Rocker allowed one run in four innings at Seattle last Thursday in his major league debut.
