A passenger says a Canadian airline's pilot told him he was a 'dangerous threat' because he couldn't disconnect his wheelchair's batteries

• A Porter Airlines captain denied a passenger from boarding due to his wheelchair's batteries, per CBC.
• Although Ken Harrower's power chair uses a gel battery that IATA says is "non-dangerous."
• Porter said the captain made a mistake, and booked Harrower on a flight the next day.

An airline captain mistakenly stopped a passenger from boarding due to his wheelchair's batteries, CBC News reported.

Ken Harrower was supposed to fly with Porter Airlines — a small Canadian airline operating in the US and Canada — from Calgary to Toronto on Sunday, before the airline's staff booked him on a different flight the following day.

Porter told CBC that the pilot made an error, wrongly believing the power chair's batteries needed to be removed under Transport Canada regulations.

"[He] asked me 'can the batteries be disconnected?' I told him no. And then he said I am a dangerous threat, then he walked away and left us high and dry," Harrower told the outlet.

"I felt I was being discriminated against because I'm in a chair," he added. "My power chair is my legs, it's how I get around. I cannot stand, I cannot walk, so I have to have [it]."

Harrower had flown with Porter two weeks earlier as he visited Banff to finish writing a play, and had no issues with his wheelchair on that flight, per CBC.

His co-writer, Erin Brandenburg, told the outlet they'd been assured the power chair was fine to bring on a plane because it uses a gel battery.

The International Air Transport Association says that wheelchairs powered by gel batteries are "considered to be non-dangerous." It adds that only older "wet cell" batteries require disconnection, while lithium batteries will also have additional requirements depending on the manufacturer.

"Porter offers our sincere apologies for the inconvenience and personal impact this has caused Ken," an airline spokesperson told CBC. "Our president and CEO has been in contact personally to offer a refund for the flight, cover any expenses incurred from the delay, and provide an additional flight credit."