Lawmakers took Air Canada’s CEO to task on Monday over “shocking” and failures to accommodate passengers living with disabilities. At a House of Commons committee hearing on services for Canadians with disabilities, CE Michael Rousseau faced a barrage of questions over reports of passenger mistreatment in the past year. Conservative vice-chair Tracy Gray cited several incidents she deemed shocking: “An Air Canada passenger had a lift fall on her head and her ventilator was disconnected; Air Canada leaving Canada’s own chief accessibility officer’s wheelchair behind on a cross-Canada flight … and a man was dropped and injured when Air Canada staff didn’t use a lift as requested.” In August, a man with spastic cerebral palsy was forced to drag himself off of an airplane due to a lack of help, a situation Bloc Quebecois MP Louise Chabot called “scandalous.” Asked by NDP disability inclusion critic Bonita Zarrillo whether he’d ever had to crawl down the aisle or exit on a catering cart _ in reference to recent stories — he replied, “No, of course not.” “We do make mistakes,” he said. Rousseau pointed to an expedited accessibility scheme announced in November along with new measures to improve the travel experience for hundreds of thousands of passengers living with a disability. Last week, the carrier formed an advisory committee made up of customers with disabilities and laid out a program where a lanyard worn by travellers indicates to staff they may need assistance. “The vast majority of customers requesting accessibility help from Air Canada are having a good experience. There are exceptions. We take responsibility for those exceptions,” Rousseau said.<br/>
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More than 100,000 passengers face flight disruptions as a result of strike action by Deutsche Lufthansa AG ground personnel on Wednesday, as Germany’s national carrier raced to offer alternative flights or rail substitutes. Lufthansa will operate just 10% to 20% of about 1,000 scheduled flights on Feb. 7, when baggage handlers, cargo staff and other ground services crews go on strike, the airline said in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Affected passengers shouldn’t show up at airports in Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin and Dusseldorf in the event of a cancellation as rebooking counters won’t be staffed, a spokesperson said. Germany’s main services union Verdi called a strike from 4 a.m. CET on Wednesday to 7:10 a.m. on Feb. 8 after rejecting Lufthansa’s proposals for higher pay and better working conditions. It’s the latest in a wave of strike action that has hobbled transport in Germany in recent weeks after airport security staff, train drivers and local transport staff walked off the job.<br/>
Air India has selected Recaro’s economy and premium economy seats for its widebody interior retrofit due to commence in the middle of the year. The deal will see more than 22,000 Recaro seats installed over the next five to six years, the German company states. Air India chose Recaro’s CL3710 economy class seats and PL3530 product for premium economy. The Star Alliance carrier has also opted for seat-back in-flight entertainment systems to be installed in its new seats, the statement adds. Through this year, Air India will retrofit 40 Boeing 787s and 777s with the new economy and premium economy seats. In 2025, the same seat configuration will be maintained for new widebodies – comprising 12 Airbus A350-900s and 787s – entering the fleet. Recaro adds that the airline has selected its new CL3810 economy class seats, along with the PL3530 premium economy seats, to be installed on 34 new widebody jets to be delivered beyond 2025. Airline chief Campbell Wilson states: “[The partnership with Recaro] will help us offer an enhanced experience for our passengers at this transformative time for Air India and add value to our passenger-centric focus making us more competitive on the global aviation stage.” Air India, which has not disclosed a premium class seat supplier, disclosed plans for a “full interior refit” on its widebody fleet in late-January, as its first A350 began commercial service. At the time, it said the retrofit will commence in the middle of the year. <br/>