Latest news with #AirCanadaStrike
CTV News
10 hours ago
- CTV News
Maritime travellers face cancellations, confusion as Air Canada strike continues
Many Maritimers are trying to find flights amid the Air Canada strike. Long lines, mounting frustration and cancelled flights continue to grip Halifax Stanfield International Airport as Air Canada's strike stretches into its fourth day, leaving passengers stranded and employees defying a federal back-to-work order. The walkout by flight attendants represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has prompted the cancellation of about 30 daily flights in and out of Halifax, affecting service to Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and London's Heathrow airport. For Lower Sackville, N.S., resident Jamie Munroe, the strike has been a rollercoaster. He had planned to take his teenage son to Calgary this past weekend for the Founders Cup lacrosse championship, but their Air Canada flight was cancelled. 'I've been at the airport for about 12 hours in the last 48 hours, trying to get answers,' Munroe said. 'You call Air Canada and nobody answers. It literally hangs up on you.' Munroe eventually bought to one-way tickets to Calgary through WestJet, paying more than double what his original trip cost. 'I paid $3,800 for two tickets, one day,' he said. 'Honestly, I didn't care how much they were. I just wanted him to be there. He was the only one on his team not going. Lacrosse is the healing game for us. I don't care if it was $8,000, I just wanted my boy to have that experience.' Alice See, a fashion designer from Paris, had planned to fly home with her niece after attending Halifax Fashion Week. Their Air Canada flight to Montreal was cancelled, jeopardizing their connection to Paris. 'We might not be able to get back until Thursday or Friday,' See said. 'They told us the accommodations are our responsibility. My niece is a surgeon, and she has patients waiting for her. It's a disaster.' Even passengers flying with other carriers say the strike has disrupted their plans. Anna Petri and Karen Walls had booked a WestJet flight to Edmonton but say their itinerary was repeatedly changed in recent days. 'Even though we didn't book with Air Canada, we are still affected,' Walls said. 'I'm not against the strike, flight attendants deserve fair pay, but this has meant three days of trying to get to Edmonton,' said Petri. In Halifax, officials are urging passengers not to come to the airport without confirmed bookings. 'We've had about 30 arriving and departing flights cancelled each day,' said airport spokesperson Tiffany Chase. 'We're encouraging people to wait for confirmation instead of showing up at the airport without it.' Outside the airport, picket lines stretch across a designated area. Lisa Vivian-Macdonald, a Halifax-based flight attendant and picket captain, said workers are determined to hold the line despite the Canada Industrial Relations Board ruling the strike illegal. 'The order is unconstitutional, and we're fighting that right now,' she said. 'We're on the picket line from coast to coast, and we're not moving until our employer comes back to the table. Canadians support us, they know we deserve fair wages for the work we do, both in the air and on the ground.'
Epoch Times
11 hours ago
- Epoch Times
Day in Photos: Volcanic Eruption in Indonesia, Trump Meets Zelenskyy, and Pygmy Hippo
Open sidebar A glimpse into the world through the lens of photography. Listen Save By Epoch Times Staff | August 18, 2025Updated:August 18, 2025 Share this article Leave a comment More Photo Pages see more America in Photos: National Guard in Washington, Trump Meets Putin, and Hurricane Erin Monitored Day in Photos: Flood in Nigeria, Air Canada Strike, and Anniversary of Victory in the Pacific Day in Photos: Trump Meets Putin, World War II Anniversary, and Wildfire in Spain Day in Photos: National Guard Patrols Washington, Air Balloon Accident, Clashes In South Africa Day in Photos: Floods In India, Wildfire in Greece, and Sailing Ship Festival Day in Photos: 105-Year-Old Royal Marines Veteran, Heatwave in Europe, and Grouse Hunting Season Day in Photos: Wildfire in Portugal, Attack on Refugee Camp, and Traditional Sailing Boats America in Photos: Flood in Wisconsin, Fire in California, and Astronauts Landing Day in Photos: NASA Astronauts Return to Earth, Protests in Ivory Coast, and Oldest Oak Tree in France To ensure we reach the high standards of reliability and neutrality that you expect from us, we are engaging with Ad Fontes Media to analyze our content. If you find an article you think falls short of the standard, please submit the link through this form. Copyright © 2000 - 2025 The Epoch Times Association Inc. All Rights Reserved.
CTV News
12 hours ago
- CTV News
Maritime travellers scrambling amid flight cancellations, ongoing Air Canada strike
First at Five looks at how the Air Canada strike is impacting travellers with plans to fly into – or out of - smaller airports. There were only two flights set to fly out of - and into - the J.A. Douglas McCurdy Sydney Airport on Monday, and one of each - Air Canada flights to and from Toronto - were cancelled. The cancellations come after 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants chose to strike. 'Well, I'm stuck here now until Thursday night, with a redirecting flight which will bring me home Friday night,' said Michael Bergeron of Stanley Bridge, P.E.I., who spent the weekend in Edmonton at the Canadian Half-Marathon championship. Bergeron was supposed to board an Air Canada flight home to Prince Edward Island on Monday. That flight was cancelled Sunday night. Now, he won't return until four days later, which leaves his wife home alone with their eight-month-old son for the rest of the week. 'It's hard,' Bergeron said. 'I have a young kid at home and a wife that's missing me, and I think an extra four days away from home really sucks.' Monika Dutt is travelling from Cape Breton to Zurich, Switzerland with her 14-year-old son Kail. 'Right now, I have a flight that is scheduled to leave in seven hours, and I have not yet received official cancellation of that flight,' Dutt said on Monday afternoon. The pair made it from Halifax to Toronto on a Flair Airlines flight and were supposed to fly to Europe with Air Canada but have decided not to risk it. 'Unfortunately, that flight - I'm assuming - won't go ahead,' Dutt said. 'I did, at a much greater cost, book another ticket early last week which leaves a few hours after my scheduled flight is supposed to so I'm in this strange place of not quite knowing when to leave for the airport and what flight I am going to get on. I assume it will be my backup flight.' Air passenger rights advocate Gabor Lukacs said if an airline does not rebook someone within 48 hours of their original departure time, the onus is on them to buy the passenger a ticket with a competitor and cover associated costs like ground transportation. 'Passengers have a right to alternate transportation when their flight is cancelled,' Lukacs said. He added that at smaller Maritime airports where there might not be many alternative flight options to Air Canada, there could be plenty of cases where the airline must pay. 'So, for example if from Charlottetown you have a passenger who has no other flight from Charlottetown but Air Canada, then Air Canada might have to buy them a ticket from Moncton or possibly Saint John or Halifax,' Lukacs said. In an email, a spokesperson for the Saint John Airport said they are in a similar situation as the McCurdy Sydney Airport - that their Toronto flights are affected, but flights to Montreal are operated by Jazz and are flying as usual. Before boarding her flight to Zurich, Dutt said that despite the stress it has caused her she has taken a stance on the issue. 'I do fully support the flight attendants,' Dutt said. 'Honestly, I didn't know much about their work conditions until the media of the last few weeks.'
CTV News
12 hours ago
- Business
- CTV News
Windsor travellers caught in Air Canada strike uncertainty
The ongoing Air Canada strike is creating stress and uncertainty for Windsor-area travellers as flight cancellations ripple through international connections. Windsor resident Moe Zogheib said his family is struggling to bring his mother home from Lebanon after her flight was cancelled last weekend. 'Our budget is tight and we don't know what to do,' he said. 'She's currently in Lebanon, and she's coming back to Montreal. Okay. But last Saturday, they canceled the flight. She was at the airport, and they sent her back home in Lebanon. So, we're trying to figure it out. We're calling the call center. Nobody answers us,' Zogheib said. 'We keep calling from Saturday, today's Monday, we don't have any answer,' he said, adding the family doesn't know when she might be able to travel. 'How long we going to wait? We can wait like ten days, five days, but I don't know when she will come back,' he said. Others are stranded in Windsor waiting for flights out. Windsor International Airport Windsor International Airport in Windsor, Ont., on Monday, Aug. 18, 2025. (Chris Campbell/CTV Windsor) Emily Napier, visiting from England with her four-year-old son, said their return to London was abruptly pushed back. 'We were supposed to leave yesterday and land today this morning. But we're now not scheduled to go to Friday and landing on Saturday,' Napier said. 'It's fortunate in a way, because we can spend more time with family here. I think we're just lucky that we weren't on an all-inclusive or booking a hotel, because it would be very difficult. And I think we'd be stressing a lot more than we are now,' she added. At Windsor International Airport, Jazz Aviation flights operated under the Air Canada Express banner are still flying, but president and CEO Mark Galvin said the situation is changing quickly. 'It's a pretty fluid situation and dynamic. So check your connections. Check where you're going, check the flight you're on, check all of your flight numbers to make sure that you know what's happening. And of course, obviously, if you're getting emails from the airline itself, letting you know that that's also important,' Galvin said. 'The situation is pretty fluid. So, I would continue to give the same advice to check those flights. Right now, they're operating as normal. You know, don't foresee any impact, but the situation can change day by day,' he said. Travel agent Al Valente, president of Valente Travel, said the strike has created a flood of calls from anxious clients. 'Our phone's been ringing off the hook. I mean, we've been dealing all over the weekend trying to figure out, you know, whether they're working, whether or not working, whether their flights are delayed, whether they're canceled, whether they're going or not. We're just really not sure at this point,' Valente said. 'We usually recommend to wait until it's cancelled before you make plans for other flights, etc. so unless you want to change your flight, you have to do that as well. That's an option,' he said. 'This is just complete turmoil. That's the word to describe it. It's a mess. But, hopefully we'll get back to some normalcy in the next couple of days,' Valente added. He urged passengers to be patient and avoid rushing into expensive changes. 'We just have to be patient and try to figure things out because it's a moving target, and we really don't know what's going to happen from one hour to the next. So the most important thing is to keep aware of alerts for your flight. Call your travel agents if you have one, and, see what you can do from there,' Valente said. 'It's extremely frustrating. I mean, a lot of clients save up for years literally for their dream vacation. And when it comes to something like this, it really puts a sour taste in their mouths. And, so the only thing we could do is just try to help them through this and to navigate the waters,' he said.
CTV News
18 hours ago
- Politics
- CTV News
‘He's a different type of cat': Premier Ford on Trump following his meeting with PM
Air Canada strike latest updates: 'I urge both parties to resolve this as quickly as possible,' Carney says
