With passengers staring at him, the 49-year-old was forced to use his upper body to haul himself past 12 rows of seats with his wife holding his legs.
His wife Deanna took to social media absolutely devastated at how the situation unfolded.
She revealed that “eight cleaning crew, two flight attendants, the captain and the co-captain watched as my husband dragged his uncooperative body from row 12 to the front of the plane.”
“I was so mad at watching him fight to drag his uncooperative body so slowly and painfully… I fought his muscle spasms dragging and pushing his legs and feet to try and help… finally at the cockpit, he got on my back and I drug [sic] him while he helped take some weight with his stiffened legs,” she wrote.
“It took us struggling, in front of a dozen people as some looked away and others looked on with shame, to get him off that plane … he hurt his legs and I hurt my back – emotionally a lot more was hurt … my husband’s human rights were trampled on and Air Canada won’t respond to us and never did reach out like they promised,” she wrote.
“He suffered for days after while we were in Vegas… I felt so bad for him…. But he’s so tough and determined he fought through the pain so we could enjoy our anniversary there.
“Rod is the most beautiful human on the planet and didn’t deserve this at all.”
Deanna explained that they travel once to twice a year and always make sure they take care of all their responsibilities for disabled travelling.
However, they feel wildly let down by Air Canada. The company acknowledged Hodgins received inadequate support.
“We use the services of a third-party wheelchair assistance specialist in Las Vegas to provide safe transport on and off aircraft,” the statement read. “Following our investigation into how this serious service lapse occurred, we will be evaluating other mobility assistance service partners in Las Vegas.”
In October, Air Canada lost the wheelchair of Canada’s chief accessibility officer Stephanie Cadieux, who described the experience as “immensely frustrating and dehumanising”. Cadieux said the incident reflected a need for airlines to better improve accessibility.
Friends, family, and people from across the globe were furious after reading Hodgins’ experience, with some calling Air Canada “heinous” and “inhumane”.
“Air Canada is absolutely heinous. They put me through hell while I was pregnant and I didn’t think anyone could possibly have a worse experience than I did, but what they did to your husband is so beyond the pale,” one person wrote.
Another added: “This is unacceptable behaviour! Not surprising from Air Canada though. He deserves a HUGE and public apology. Where has human decency gone?”
“Absolutely despicable! I’m ashamed to be a frequent flyer with Air Canada. The crew on that day should hang their heads in shame,” a third added.
Hodgins said he was offered a $2000 flight voucher by the airline, but rejected it claiming compensation wouldn’t “fix the problem” of how the company fail disabled passengers.
“I just wanted to make a difference for somebody else so they don’t have to experience that again,” he said.
