Mother wants answers after daughter’s wheelchair broken by airline

A Saskatchewan mother says her young daughter has been without a wheelchair for more than a month after it was broken while she was on a flight.

Sarah Turnbull travelled to Toronto in early October with her mother, her four-year-old daughter Blake and her two-year-old son.

Turnbull told 980 CJME that Blake’s wheelchair rim was bent during the flight.

“Because the wheelchair rim was bent, it made it so the brakes were on all the time or the brakes were off all the time, making the wheelchair unusable,” Turnbull said.

The wheelchair was packed in the plane’s cargo hold.

Normally, Turnbull takes the wheelchair apart and puts it back together again for flights, but since the wheelchair was damaged, it took longer than usual this time around.

“My daughter and my two-year-old son and my mother were in that airplane together,” Turnbull said.

“My mom is also a wheelchair user and while I was taking my time trying to put this wheelchair together, they asked them to get off the plane.

“They never came and told me, but my mom is unable to pick up my daughter because she also needs a wheelchair and then my other son is two (years of age) so he came toddling off the plane by himself and then my daughter who cannot walk came wiggling off the plane crawling or whatever.

“She actually has open wounds on her stomach from surgeries, so I was very distraught that that’s really filthy.”

Turnbull said according to her mother, members of the crew called Blake a salamander for not being able to walk.

In a statement, WestJet is apologetic after what happened to Blake and her wheelchair. It said what happened is not its standard. (Sarah Turnbull/Submitted)

Afterwards, Turnbull said they went to the desk to try to get the wheelchair fixed and were told that someone would be sent to their hotel to take a look at it the following day.

However, since Blake’s wheelchair was a pediatric wheelchair, the family had no interim solutions.

“They could give us an adult transport chair, but my daughter who’s four, that would be useless to her because she’s mobile, she’s able to wheel herself,” she said.

The repairman was unable to fix the wheelchair, leaving the family to deal with the matter when they returned to Regina.

Turnbull said they’ve been approved for the repair of parts of the wheelchair but they’ll still have to wait another three or four weeks before Blake’s wheelchair is fixed.

“We do have wonderful community members who were able to get us a different pediatric chair but not through the airline,” she said.

Although a family friend provided Blake with a temporary chair, it was well-loved and needed major repairs for Blake to use it.

Turnbull had to pay for those costs out of pocket.

Turnbull said she was not initially given an explanation from WestJet about why things happened the way they did.

“They never came and told me to come get my daughter. They never did any of that. They told me I should just put in the complaint,” she said.

Turnbull said this isn’t the first time the wheelchair has been broken.

“I feel defeated. I feel like I know this is a really bad, horrible thing but it feels like this is almost normal,” Turnbull said.

In an emailed statement, WestJet said it had notified its chief medical officer, Dr. Tammy McKnight, who has since spoken with Turnbull to learn about the experience.

The statement also said the airline would work with its mobility partner to have the wheelchair repaired.

“We sincerely apologize for the handling failures the Turnbull family had while flying with WestJet,” the statement said. ”This is not the standard we aspire to deliver.”

The email went on to say that WestJet now has a “fulsome” understanding of the situation.

“We have engaged our disability assistance team to conduct a thorough investigation and review of the incident …,” the email stated.

“We also understand the process to repair the wheelchair has been delayed and we are in contact with our service provider, who is managing the repair, to determine how we can assist to expedite and solution the repairs or replacement.

“WestJet strives to ensure that any guest travelling with or transporting medical equipment such as wheelchairs are provided with a seamless travel experience and receive care and support, throughout their entire journey. We sincerely apologize that this was not reflected during the Turnbull family’s recent travel experience.”

Turnbull said the airline has reached out to her, but still hasn’t offered her a solution.

— With files from 980 CJME’s Nicole Garn