Toronto Airport faces lawsuits with its wheelchair services

CBC News states “at least eight separate wheelchair travellers or their families have launched court fights against the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, which runs Pearson International, as well as various airlines and contracted companies since 2011.”

The suit alleges wheelchair shortages, staff errors, poor trainings and other types of negligence which led to serious accidents, broken hips and even death of an elderly traveller after she fell on an airport escalator.

82-year-old , Antonia Becchetti from St. Catharines, in Ontario died after falling and hitting her head on an escalator in Terminal 3 of the Pearson Airport in  October 2011.

Her son, John Becchetti says, “I think they took better care of my mom's luggage than they did of my mom,”

Presently, Becchetti and his brother Mauro are suing the airport, Air Transat and a wheelchair service company for $1.2 million. According to them, their mother who was travelling alone, and was not conversant in English, was offered no help and was left to walk unattended after debarking from the aircraft into the airport.

"It was on my mom's travel ticket that she needed the assistance. I don't know what more you can do," Becchetti told CBC News.

Both the airport as well as the various airlines and contractors involved have denied the allegations in the eight lawsuits, one of which had been settled recently. The rest are still pending in the court.

With over 41 million travellers last year and tens of thousands of wheelchair requests every month, the Toronto airport faces a huge logistical challenge.

CBC News, obtained an internal GTAA memo which states, “Toronto Pearson receives approximately 80,000 requests for wheelchair assistance per month, more than most other major hub airports in North America.”

The GTAA supplies the wheelchairs stationed around the airport but leaves airlines to either hire their own staff or use licensed contractors to assist passengers through the terminals.

Mauro Becchetti was in the arrivals area at Pearson waiting for his mother to return from Italy when he received a phone call notifying him she'd fallen and struck her head.

"When I asked the person who brought her to us, I said she was supposed to be in a wheelchair," Mauro told CBC News. "They said there were several flights that landed at the same time and there were no wheelchairs available."

His mother died in hospital the next day from internal bleeding.

The defendants deny any negligence and in documents filed in court blame Antonia Becchetti for not waiting for assistance.

However, CBC news investigated that Antonia was not the only one who faced the wheelchair crisis and faced injury. There were many like her, however the difference is they were just injured while Antonia succumbed to her injuries.

According to a CBC News Investigation, the 65 airlines that fly out of Pearson airport are responsible for supplying their own wheelchair attendants.

Michael Schmidt, a lawyer defending the GTAA in the seven remaining wheelchair lawsuits, wouldn't discuss the cases.

However, he did say the GTAA is technically a landlord, likening it to a large mall that isn't required to provide wheelchair services.

"But the airport is a complicated place with extra issues and security. So, the airport puts into place a service," Schmidt told CBC.

He says it's difficult trying to anticipate the ebb and flow of travellers.

(Reporting by Debarati Mukherjee)