Air Canada agreement 'good news' for Toronto travellers, but strike ends too late for some
"Good news overall, and hopefully everyone can just get to where they need to go," said Reginald Tull, who is trying to travel to Barbados for business.
"It's been pretty stressful not knowing what's going on."
CUPE, which represents more than 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants, announced early Tuesday that it has reached a tentative agreement with the airline, bringing an end to the work stoppage that began on Saturday.
While flights are now set to resume, it will take time for operations to return to normal.
Pearson airport says it has extra staffing to assist passengers as Air Canada restarts operations.
In a social media post Tuesday morning, Pearson advised passengers to check their flight status before heading to the airport, "as some flights may be cancelled over the next seven to ten days until the airline's schedule stabilizes."
Strike end comes too late for some
For some passengers, it's already too late to save their travel plans.
Durham, Ont. resident Arianna Anderson was supposed to be on a 10-day Girl Guide trip in the UK this week. It was cancelled because they weren't able to fly out on Friday as originally planned.
"All of us were so excited to go, and all of us were crushed when it was cancelled," said Anderson, 17.
She said it "really sucked" that by the time the strike ended, the decision had already been made to cancel the trip.
At the airport, traveller Muhammad Haseeb said he is flying home to Pakistan on a different airline after an exhausting few days. To get to Pearson in time, he took a bus from Winnipeg after his domestic Air Canada flight was cancelled.
"It took four buses and three transfers, 36 hours of long journey. And then 30 hours here [in] the airport," Haseeb said.
On Monday, Air Canada estimated 500,000 customers would be affected by the strike.
Resumption will take time: expert
Though flights are resuming, some passengers may be stranded a while longer.
John Gradek, a professor of operations and integrated aviation management professor at McGill University, told CBC Radio's Metro Morning that resuming flights will be "a slow process" for international flights, and he expects it will take several days.
Pilots and crews will have to be flown to international locations on other airlines, he explained, and then have a mandated amount of sleep before they can operate a flight.
"The crews have to get to those locations early, get the rest, and then be ready to take it when the airplane comes in from Canada."
Despite customer frustrations, Gradek doesn't think the strike will greatly affect Air Canada in the long run. He says the airline has "mishandled" customer relations many times over the years.
"And guess what? Planes are still full," Gradek said.
"Canadians have a short memory when it comes to aviation disruption."
For any passengers who have had to pay out-of-pocket for alternate flights, Gradek recommends trying to seek compensation from Air Canada.
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