Air Canada flights face cancellation as flight attendant strike looms
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
3 hours ago
- CBC
'Lots of turbulence': Air Canada flyers describe cancellation, rebooking chaos amid strike
Social Sharing Travellers in Canada and abroad scrambled to secure flights on Sunday after striking Air Canada flight attendants defied a federal back-to-work order, abruptly halting the airline's plans to resume operations. Lila Rousseaux, who was scheduled to fly home with her family from Zurich to Toronto on Sunday, told CBC News she spent all of Saturday glued to her phone for news about whether her flight would be cancelled. At 12:30 a.m. on Sunday, she was informed it was. "I spent one and a half hours on the phone with the agent ... lots of turbulence," Rousseaux said. "There was a lot of inflexibility in terms of what can be done," she said, adding that her suggestions to take a train to Amsterdam to catch a plane or fly directly to the U.S. before driving across the border were rebuffed by the agent. WATCH | Lila Rousseaux describes 'turbulence' of rebooking flight: Want Air Canada to reroute your flight? Prepare for 'turbulence,' says this passenger 3 hours ago Air Canada says it plans to restart flights Monday evening after striking flight attendants defied the federal government's back-to-work order Sunday morning. For Lila Rousseaux, a longtime Air Canada customer, the weekend work stoppage has resulted in inflexibility from the airline as she and her family try to reroute their way home. Rousseaux said she finally booked an "awful" overnight flight to Atlanta, lamenting that she is no longer being seated with children. "The distress in my family is very acute," she said. Ottawa moved to intervene in the labour dispute on Saturday, less than 12 hours after the strike and lockout took effect, with federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu saying she was invoking Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to ask the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to send the two sides to binding arbitration and to order the airline and its flight attendants back to work in the meantime. The Montreal-based airline subsequently announced early Sunday that it planned to resume flights in the evening, but just hours later, the union representing more than 10,000 flight attendants said in a statement that members would remain on strike — scuttling those plans and prompting Air Canada to cancel some 240 flights. WATCH | Hundreds of flight attendants picket at Vancouver airport: Hundreds of Air Canada flight attendants picket in Vancouver 18 hours ago Hundreds of Air Canada flight attendants demonstrated outside Vancouver International Airport on Saturday. The strike prompted a warning for passengers to avoid the airport unless they have confirmed a booking on a different airline. Shaurya Kshatri reports. At Vancouver International Airport, passengers stood in long lines to get the latest updates on their delayed and cancelled flights, as workers outside demonstrated with signs reading, "Unpaid work won't fly." Chi Ehis told The Canadian Press she is having to pay an extra $2,000 to meet her family in Florida for a vacation after her flight was cancelled Sunday morning. Instead of flying straight from Vancouver, she is now taking a bus to Seattle before catching another, pricier flight. "I can't scream. I have to just figure out what to do," Ehis said, adding her plane ticket cost $1,500. WATCH | Tips for Air Canada passengers from travel influencer Moxey Munch: CBC's Mark Carcasole speaks with Moxey Munch on tips for Air Canada customers 3 hours ago CBC's Mark Carcasole speaks with Moxey Munch on tips for Air Canada customers In Toronto, Khalid Muhammadi told CBC News he flew in from Dubai en route to Edmonton but is now stuck at Pearson International Airport. "WestJet is asking eight grand; what am I supposed to do?" he said. Muhammadi voiced frustrations with the federal government for not resolving the labour dispute. "You knew a strike was coming ... do your job." Air Canada has said passengers whose flights are cancelled will be offered a full refund or the opportunity to change their travel plans without a fee. However, it said that under Canada's airline passenger protection regulations, customers are not eligible for compensation for expenses incurred during travel delays deemed outside the airline's control. "Customers in Canada are not eligible for compensation for delayed or cancelled flights, meals, hotels or other incidental expenses for situations outside the carrier's control, such as a labour disruption," the airline said.
CTV News
4 hours ago
- CTV News
‘They're seeing the dirty little secret': Air Canada strike leaves Calgary travelers struggling to make connections as union pushes back
A large, vocal protest was held at Calgary International Airport as Air Canada flight attendants pushed back against a government ordered return to work mandate. Following hours of demonstrations and hundreds of cancelled flights, federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu ordered operations to resume and for the union's prior collective agreement to be extended until binding arbitration could determine a final outcome of the dispute. CUPE in a Saturday afternoon statement described the move as 'cav(ing) to corporate pressure,' accusing the Mark Carney government of dealing 'incalculable damage to the Charter and workers' rights.' Sunday morning, the union said it wasn't going back to work. In Calgary, Brittany Thomas, the president of CUPE Local 49, was blunt about her union's next steps. "We are staying on strike. As of now," she said. 'We believe that we have that right. We are not obligated to return to work.' After initially announcing that flights would resume Sunday, Air Canada issued an update, saying that flights would now resume Monday evening. Honeymoon At the airport, Air Canada passengers struggled to make alternative travel plans on short notice. Emma Demers and her new husband Quinn were all set to go on a honeymoon in Cape Cod and New York City, with flights booked in and out of Boston. Demers got a text at 3 a.m. on Sunday saying her flight had been cancelled, but then Quinn told her that the flight attendants were being ordered back to work, just as she was about to try to re-book the trip at around 4 a.m. Emma Demers Emma Demers and her husband don't know if they can go on honeymoon due to the Air Canada strike. (Tyson Fedor, CTV Calgary) 'I think with wedding planning, I've learned that things change, and to be okay with that,' Demers said, 'but just something you look forward to, and then things change--and like, non- refundable hotels, we had a concert booked and things like that.' She said they weren't likely to get on a plane Sunday and they both have to be back at work Aug. 26, leaving very little flexibility to re-book. 'Here we are, just trying to figure out if we can go or not,' Demers said. Deteriorating conditions CUPE's Thomas said work conditions for Air Canada flight attendants have been deteriorating for years, as staffing shrinks and passenger loads increase, creating more unpaid work hours for flight attendants. 'The unpaid work component has, I would say, escalated over the years, the required expectations at work are different than what they used to be, and they have increased,' she said. 'When they reduce the amount of flight attendants we had on board the aircraft, the workload increased and they have squeezed more passengers on board the aircraft,' she said. 'So when an airplane 20 years ago held 120 people, well now it holds 150 and there's less of us on board.' Chaos erupts at Pearson Airport as flight attendants defy Ottawa's back-to-work order 'We used to have four crew members to that amount of people. Now we have three. 'And when you see that there's more medical emergencies, there's more disruptive passengers, there's more luggage, there is so many strains on our time before we leave -- and we don't get paid until the brakes are off and the aircraft pushes back from the airport. 'It can be a very significant amount of time that we can be at work and we are not being paid,' Thomas said. She said the striking attendants are heartened by support they're getting, including from the public. 'I think that the curtain has been pulled back, and we're seeing the real truth,' Thomas added. 'And I think that the general public is seeing the real truth. They're seeing the dirty little secret, the stuff that was never told or explained or clarified -- and now it's out in the open.' Protests continue at Canadian airports after Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu's orders binding arbitration, requiring striking flight attendants to return to work. Air Canada flight attendants picket at Pearson International Airport in Toronto on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sammy Kogan (Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press) Cancun in 20 hours Elsewhere in the airport, a group of six who were booked to go to Cancun explained their expanded new itinerary. 'We actually were the lucky ones,' said Isaac Kazeil, one of the six travellers. 'We got re-directed. But we're flying to Edmonton first, and we have two hours there, and we're flying to Denver, two hours there, then San Francisco, two hours there -- and then San Francisco to Cancun. 'And we're looking at the flight time, and it's actually like the same flight time from San Francisco to Cancun as Calgary to Cancun, so we have our regular flight, plus, like, all of these other layovers. So it's like almost 20 hours of flying to go to place like five hours away, right?' He said Air Canada picked up the cost of redirecting their flights, which turned out to be around $22,000. '$22,000 is a bit crazy, especially since they're trying to save money with the whole strike stuff going on,' Kazeil said. 'I definitely think, like, (it) makes you not want to go with Air Canada. 'You know, the next time you fly, maybe pick a more secure airline.' On the picket line at Toronto Pearson International Airport Sunday, component president Wesley Lesosky underscored the union's rejection of Hajdu's back-to-work order. 'I sent them back a video of it being ripped up,' Lesosky said. 'Air Canada needs to see that all these people are standing behind their union. Air Canada needs to understand that we need a collective agreement.' With files from CTV's Tyson Fedor, Jermaine Wilson and Charlie Buckley
CBC
6 hours ago
- CBC
Want Air Canada to reroute your flight? Prepare for 'turbulence,' says this passenger
Air Canada says it plans to restart flights Monday evening after striking flight attendants defied the federal government's back-to-work order Sunday morning. For Lila Rousseaux, a longtime Air Canada customer, the weekend work stoppage has resulted in inflexibility from the airline as she and her family try to reroute their way home.
