Canadian airlines demand doctor’s note for extra seat free for obese or disabled passengers

Three major airlines of Canada – Air Canada, Air Canada Jazz Air and WestJet Airlines – have adopted a policy that would reaquire a disabled passenger or an obese passenger seeking a second seat free of charge to produce a doctor’s note in order to obtain the concession.

If the customer gets a doctor’s note for an extra seat, these three airlines will sell two seats for the price of one.

This follows a ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada that the Canadian airlines are required to give two seats for the price of one for those that needed it.

According to the court order, which took effect on January 10, 2009, those travellers who need two seats – either because they are disabled and need an attendant to travel with them or because they are unable to fit into one seat – will be able to buy two seats for the price of one.

However, the requirement of a doctor’s note has displeased doctors, who fear that the new policy puts the responsibility on the doctors to decide who is “big enough” to have an extra seat. And, the Canadian Medical Association has described the policy as “an undue pressure on the country’s doctors.”

The Canadian Medical Association said in a press release: “The Association has asked the airlines to make the decisions themselves because Canadian doctors are already dealing with too much third-party paperwork. Not only does this new policy make it harder for the airlines to get their travellers situated when buying their tickets but it is also bound to put an extra strain on the travelers themselves who would have to go the extra steps necessary to obtain a doctor’s note in order to gain that extra seat.”

Media reports quoted Canadian doctors as saying that they feel “the airlines are basically handing over a business matter to the hands of doctors of something which is not a medical issue.” Canada’s doctors complain that they are already “stretched far with limited resources and this added burden is going to stretch them even further.”

Air Canada, Canada’s flag carrier and the country’s largest airline, operates scheduled and charter air transportation for passengers and cargo.

The low-cost carrier WestJet Airlines, based in Calgary, Alberta, Canadsa, flies to major cities in Canada as well as to destinations in the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean.

Jazz Air (Air Canada Jazz), Canada’s largest regional air carrier, operates feeder and commuter services for Air Canada to destinations in Canada and the United States.

Air Canada and WestJet Airlines had argued in the Supreme Court against providing the extra seat free of charge on the ground that it would cause undue hardship on the airlines. However, the two airlines were unable to prove their point in the court, and the Supreme Court gave the airlines one year to start the policy of an extra seat for free.

Air Canada and WestJet Airlines contended that they were not responsible for ensuring extra seats to those who are not disabled due to their weight. They also averred that they would not give an extra seat to “someone feeling uncomfortable in one seat.”

Air Canada said in statement that a person requesting an extra seat will have to obtain not only a doctor’s note of disability but also a medical approval to travel in order to travel with Air Canada.

Air Canada said it would require of passengers “a doctor’s certificate of their disability.” If that disability is obesity, the airline will consider the doctor’s note valid for two years. It can be renewed by a nurse, physical therapist or occupational therapist.

WestJet Airlines demands one doctor’s note for each flight booking, with no renewal process.

It was the Canadian Transportation Agency that created the free-seat policy, and the government officials left it to the individual airlines to determine who qualifies for the concession.