Air Canada apologizes for not letting blind woman fly with guide dog

Air Canada is apologizing after not allowing a passenger who's blind to board a flight from Toronto to Minneapolis with her guide dog.

Dena Wainwright, a 49-year-old Canadian who lives in Minnesota, says she will never fly with the airline again after being forced to leave Toronto by train, cross the border by car, and take a domestic flight home, costing her more than $2,000.

"Not to mention all of the stress," Wainwright told CBC Toronto.

"Being treated by Air Canada employees like I was a criminal, like I was being held hostage, having them speak to my daughter instead of me. Like I was too mentally impaired to have a coherent conversation with the agent."

Wainwright's case isn't the first time this year that Air Canada has run into controversy over the way it treats passengers with disabilities. In September, CBC News told the story of Maayan Ziv, an accessibility activist who travelled on Air Canada from Toronto to Tel Aviv, only to find that her wheelchair was damaged after her flight landed. 

Wainwright works in technology and accessibility as a vice president with Fidelity Investments. She's also completely blind after being born with a genetic eye disease. 

Last week, Wainwright travelled to Toronto from Minneapolis to celebrate her birthday with her daughter. She was also travelling with her service dog Lilo, a five year-old black Lab. 

Wainwright says she was able to board and travel on the Air Canada flight from Minneapolis to Toronto without any issues. At check-in, Wainwright was asked if the animal was registered with the airline, which she was not.

"They said, 'Oh, that's OK.' They handed us our boarding passes and said, 'Have a great flight,'" Wainwright said.

But when the group tried to board their return flight in Toronto, Wainwright says the service dog was suddenly a major problem.

She says Air Canada staff told her that she could not fly with Lilo because she had not filled out the paperwork required to bring a service animal in the cabin of a plane.

She says she was given the option of putting the dog in cargo, which Wainwright says would not have worked since she relies on the animal for help.

According to Wainwright, the airline also said the dog could enter the cabin if she "proved to them" that she had a disability by presenting a National Institute for the Blind identification card. Wainwright says she doesn't have a card, since she lives in the United States, where there is no equivalent. 

"It was humiliating. It was demeaning."