The Canadian Transportation Agency has ruled allergies can be considered a disability for airline passengers.

The agency will investigate seven complaints against Air Canada by passengers who had allergic reactions to dogs, cats, flowers and paint.

Pending the investigation, the CTA could issue a directive to remove "undue obstacles" for the disabled. This could mean restrictions on what passengers can bring on a flight or even the kind of perfume a person can wear.




Normand Bergeron of the CTA says passengers should file complaints about allergic reactions during flights.

Dan Skwarchuk of Winnipeg is hailing the decision. Skwarchuk lost half of his hearing for two months after an allergic reaction to a dog that a passenger took on board a flight to San Francisco.

He wants airlines to ban animals in passenger cabins. Air Canada allows small dogs and cats to be carried in kennels on board.

Laura Cooke of Air Canada says the company does not consider an allergy as "a disease or an impairment." Air Canada's submission to the CTA says "a disease...is not necessarily a disability if it does not substantially limit one or more of the major life activities of this individual."

Cooke would not say if the airline would consider banning animals from the passenger cabin.

The CTA considered the World Health Organization's definition of disability which includes "activity limitation."

The agency cited the case of Emma Zolbrod who suffered an asthma attack after reacting to a cat on a flight from Toronto to Paris in 2000.

The CTA's paper says Zolbrod's attack "lasted for the duration of the flight of more than eight hours (and) her sinuses became congested and that this caused her considerable pain, particularly during the aircraft's descent."

Zolbrod has asked Air Canada to put up signs at check-in counters alerting passengers to the possibility animals may be on their flight.

In another instance, staff refused to provide alternative seating to a passenger. Norma Kerr was seated next to a person holding flowers. When she requested to be moved because of her allergies, the ticket agent said she did not care about her health concerns.

The submission filed says the Air Canada crew became "combative and argumentative" when Kerr kept asking to be seated as far away as possible from the flowers.