Flying is great, until you have to actually spend a few hours crammed inside a giant tube with a bunch of strangers. I mean, there's no better way to get from Seattle to New York in one day, but that's not necessarily a ringing endorsement of the experience.
CBC | Gary Moore
Amputee Forced To Crawl After Airport Security Takes His Scooter's Batteries
And yet, as much as flying is convenient but terrible for most of us, it can get even worse.
Unsplash | Ken Yam
Just look at what one man was put through while trying to take a trip for his anniversary!
It's hard to imagine a wedding anniversary vacation more nightmarish than Stearn Hodge's.
Unsplash | Haiqal Osman
He and his wife, Jan, were taking a trip to Tulsa from Calgary, Alberta for the occasion, but before even making it through the airport, the trip was pretty well ruined.
Airport security confiscated part of his mobility device.
Unsplash | Markus Spiske
What should have been a fun time was turned into an unimaginably humiliating disaster after airport security confiscated the batteries for the double-amputee's mobility scooter.
Stearn says that he hasn't "been the same since," and he's filing a human rights complaint over the incident.
As the CBC reported, Stearn, a retired contractor, lost his left arm and right leg in a workplace accident back in 1984, and now uses a scooter powered by lithium-ion batteries to get around.
Citing safety concerns, airport security took away the batteries, leaving Stearn with no option but to crawl across the airport's floor.
It's true that lithium-ion batteries have caused issues in the past. But people with disabilities are allowed to pack lithium-ion batteries for medical devices in their carry-on luggage under the International Air Transport Association guidelines.
And on top of that, Stearn had planned in advance.
Unsplash | Ramon Kagie
United Airlines had given Stearn approval ahead of time to bring the batteries with him. However, the neither the security agents nor the airline representative on the scene would listen to him.
In fact, Stearn says that the security agent in Calgary brushed it off.
"I still remember the CATSA agent saying, 'Well, you could get a wheelchair,'" Stearn said. "How's a one-armed guy going to run a wheelchair? How am I going to go down a ramp and brake with one hand? But that shouldn't even have to come up."
His wife couldn't have pushed his wheelchair either, due to recent cancer treatments.
And remember, the loss of his batteries didn't just affect the flight.
This was at the start of the trip, so when Stearn and his wife reached their destination, they still had three weeks without batteries for his scooter. "Having to crawl across the floor in front of my wife is the most humiliating thing that I can think of," he said. "It unmasks how real my disability is ... I haven't been the same since."
Stearn felt that his entire anniversary was ruined.
YouTube | CBC News: The National
"An anniversary is supposed to be all about remembering how you fell in love ... and keeping that magic alive. And those things were denied. I'm crawling across the floor and it is pathetic," he said.
Because of the legal action he's taking, none of the parties involved would comment on Stearn's case.
Unsplash | Nikita Herasimenka
However, in an email, a United Airlines complaint resolution official did offer Stearn and his wife each an $800 travel certificate while admitting that "it appears we were in violation of federal disability requirements," and apologizing for the "inconvenience."
The apology wasn't enough for Stearn.
"Inconvenience is when it rains on your holiday," Stearn said. "This was a ... life-changing experience for me and my wife."
This isn't the first time airlines and airport security have given Stearn grief over his scooter's batteries, either.
A few months earlier, he had almost been denied his batteries on a WestJet flight, until the airline relented just before takeoff, and after Stearn had a panic attack.
WestJet offered him $350 in travel credit "as a goodwill gesture" following that incident.
As a result, traveling is now a huge source of anxiety for Stearn.
He figures he's been hassled by security more than a dozen times over the past two years regarding his scooter batteries. "When I go through the checkpoint, I'm starting to vibrate now," he said. "I don't know what I'm going to get. It's like playing Russian roulette."
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