- A Porter Airlines captain denied a passenger from boarding due to his wheelchair's batteries, per CBC.
- Although Ken Harrower's power chair uses a gel battery that IATA says is "non-dangerous."
An airline captain mistakenly stopped a passenger from boarding due to his wheelchair's batteries, CBC News first reported.
Ken Harrower was supposed to fly with Porter Airlines — a small Canadian airline operating in the US and Canada — from Calgary to Toronto on Sunday, before the airline's staff booked him on a different flight the following day.
In a statement shared with Business Inisder, Porter said "Unfortunately, this situation was a case of human error."
It added that the captain wrongly believed the power chair's batteries needed to be removed under Transport Canada regulations.
Harrower told CBC the pilot asked him if the batteries could be disconnected. "I told him no. And then he said I am a dangerous threat, then he walked away and left us high and dry," he added.
"I felt I was being discriminated against because I'm in a chair," he added. "My power chair is my legs, it's how I get around. I cannot stand, I cannot walk, so I have to have [it]."
Harrower had flown with Porter two weeks earlier as he visited Banff to finish writing a play, and had no issues with his wheelchair on that flight, per CBC.
His co-writer, Erin Brandenburg, told the outlet they'd been assured the power chair was fine to bring on a plane because it uses a gel battery.
The International Air Transport Association says that wheelchairs powered by gel batteries are "considered to be non-dangerous." It adds that only older "wet cell" batteries require disconnection, while lithium batteries will also have additional requirements depending on the manufacturer.
In the statement, Porter said Harrower's battery didn't need to be fully removed, but it did need to be disconnected which was managed by its ground handlers for his original flight from Toronto.
"Porter offers our sincere apologies for the inconvenience and personal impact this has caused Ken," it added. "Our president and CEO has been in contact personally to offer a refund for the flight, cover any expenses incurred from the delay, and provide an additional flight credit."