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Flying with Air Canada
Customers with special needs
Wheelchair and mobility aid assistance

View advance notice and check-in requirements for itineraries between Canada and the US.

For all other itineraries, and due to special handing of mobility aid battery-powered equipment:

  • We request that you advise Air Canada Reservations 48 hours in advance of travel that you wish to transport such equipment (72 hours for certain destinations). However, we will make every effort to accommodate requests made within that time frame.
  • We recommend that you check in at least 90 minutes in advance of normal check-in times to ensure sufficient time for special handling and packaging.


Travelling with your own wheelchair or other mobility aid

Air Canada will carry the following mobility aids as priority baggage without charge and in addition to the free checked baggage allowance:
  • Wheelchairs
  • Walkers, canes, crutches and braces
  • Communication devices
  • Prostheses or medical devices
Air Canada will also:
  • Arrange for the use of your own wheelchair until boarding the aircraft and for the delivery of your wheelchair at the gate upon arrival;
  • Disassemble and package batteries on your motorized wheelchairs, unpack the batteries and reassemble the wheelchair on arrival;
  • Stow your small mobility or other aid in the cabin;
  • Assist you in transferring between your wheelchair or other mobility aid and the aircraft seat;
  • Assist you in moving to and from the aircraft washroom (except by carrying) with the use of the on-board wheelchair;
  • Arrange for alternate transportation for your large mobility aid when travelling on an aircraft with less than 60 seats that cannot accommodate the aid.

Baggage identification tags are supplied to all our customers at check-in counters and we ask that you use them to identify your luggage and any equipment, including a wheelchair. A specially-designed tag for wheelchairs alerts our customer service agents whether your chair must be delivered to the aircraft door or the baggage room.


Assistance within the airport

Passenger access lifts are available at certain airports to allow customers in wheelchairs to safely board smaller connector aircraft.

If you are unable to ascend or descend stairs or are unable to walk long distances within the airport, Air Canada will, upon request, provide wheelchair assistance to and from the door of the aircraft throughout your journey.


Battery-powered mobility aids

For battery-powered mobility aids, some disassembly may be required. We must inspect the battery label to verify if it is spillable or non-spillable. If your mobility aid is powered by spillable batteries and we must tilt it while loading or stowing due to the size of the aircraft, or if a battery is not secured to your mobility aid, we may have to remove and pack batteries separately.

It would be helpful if you could bring along instructions to help us with the disassembly and re-assembly of your battery-powered mobility aid, should such manipulations be required.

Although most major airlines accept dry cell battery operated wheelchairs, policies for wet cell batteries may vary from one carrier to another. If you are travelling on a codeshare flight, please visit the website of the codeshare partner with whom you are travelling to learn about its specific policies. You can view a list of Air Canada’s codeshare partner websites.


Wheelchairs on board the plane

Although washrooms on most aircraft are fully accessible to passengers using the on-board wheelchair, please note that not all Jazz and Tier 3 carrier aircraft have an on-board wheelchair able to access the plane's washrooms. If this is an important consideration for you, please contact Air Canada Reservations and ask for the Medical Assistance Desk to make the necessary arrangements for your flight.

View our Fleet page for more information on Air Canada and Jazz aircraft configuration.