AP
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Summer travelers are dealing with uncertainty because the clock winds down on a possible strike by Air Canada flight attendants, which the airline stated would drive it to cancel virtually all of its scheduled flights as quickly as Saturday.
The Canadian provider stated it was suspending its schedule and making an attempt to get passengers booked with different airways to restrict disruptions, however already tons of of flights have been known as off since Thursday, leaving travelers stranded and scrambling in the course of the busy summer season journey season. By Friday’s finish, 500 whole flights had been anticipated to be canceled.
Both the union that represents about 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants and the airline say disagreements over key points, together with pay raises, have introduced contract talks to a standstill.
A whole shutdown of the nation’s largest airline threatens to impression about 130,000 folks a day. Here’s what to know in regards to the cancellations and your rights as a passenger:
Air Canada stated it might attain out by way of e mail or textual content to let prospects know if their flights are canceled.
By late Friday afternoon, Air Canada had known as off not less than 128 home flights and 194 worldwide flights that had been scheduled to depart on Friday and Saturday, in accordance to aviation analytics agency Cirium. On Thursday, 18 home flights and 4 worldwide flights had been canceled.
Union members disrupt Air Canada press briefing with protest
Flight attendants are threatening to strike at 1 a.m. ET Saturday if they don’t have a brand new contract by then. If the walkout occurs, the airline stated it might droop all of its Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge flights, however not the regional Air Canada Express flights operated by Jazz Aviation and PAL Airlines.
How lengthy the planes can be grounded stays to be seen. Air Canada Chief Operating Officer Mark Nasr has stated it might take every week to totally restart operations as soon as a deal has been reached.
Passengers whose journey is impacted can be eligible to request a full refund on the airline’s web site or cellular app, in accordance to Air Canada.
The airline stated it might additionally provide different journey choices by way of different Canadian and international airways when attainable. But it warned that it couldn’t assure quick rebooking as a result of flights on different airways are already full “due to the summer travel peak.”
Passengers with the pliability to reschedule their journey plans can even rebook their flights for dates between Aug. 21 and Sept. 12 at no further price, Air Canada stated.
The airline says that below federal rules, flight cancellations brought on by a strike or lockout are thought of outdoors the provider’s management, which means prospects are usually not eligible for compensation for meals and lodging bills incurred in the course of the labor dispute.
The impression of Air Canada’s flight cancellations are spilling over into different components of the world. Air Canada has service to greater than 85 airports worldwide, and it operates 430 day by day flights between Canada and the US alone.
It is additionally a part of the Star Alliance, a worldwide community of main airways that supply coordinated schedules and different journey advantages.
United Airlines, one among its Star Alliance companions, stated it is stepping in to assist passengers who is perhaps stranded at airports in cities throughout Canada: Edmonton, Halifax, Ottawa, Québec City, Montreal, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Calgary and Toronto.
On its travel alert page, United stated it was waiving charges for eligible prospects to rebook journey on a United flight departing by way of Aug. 27. United stated the brand new flights have to be between the identical cities as the unique tickets.
Air Canada and the Canadian Union of Public Employees have been in contract talks for about eight months, however they’ve but to attain a tentative deal.
By the tip of July, the union put it to a vote, and 99.7% accepted a strike. The union on Wednesday gave Air Canada a 72-hour strike discover. The airline responded with a so-called lockout discover, saying it might stop the flight attendants from engaged on Saturday.
The union stated Friday it rejected a proposal from the airline to enter a binding arbitration course of, which might stop flight attendants from strolling off the job and permit a mediator to resolve the phrases of the brand new contract. The union says it prefers to negotiate immediately with the airline on a deal that its members can then vote on.
Arielle Meloul-Wechsler, Air Canada’s head of human sources, stated the corporate was weighing all of its choices, together with asking for authorities intervention.
Both the union and the airline say they continue to be far aside on the problem of pay and the unpaid work flight attendants do when planes aren’t within the air.
The airline stated its newest provide included a 38% enhance in whole compensation, together with advantages and pensions over 4 years. But the union pushed again, saying the proposed 8% elevate within the first yr didn’t go far sufficient due to inflation.
Vancouver-based flight attendant Henly Larden, who has labored for Air Canada since 2017, stated the union additionally gained’t again down on its aim to get flight attendants paid for the time they’re on the bottom. Larden, 33, known as it a “very archaic expectation” to work for free in the course of the boarding course of.
“Just because it’s a past practice doesn’t mean here in 2025 that it’s OK or it’s right, and we want to change that going forward,” she stated.