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Ottawa Citizen

Travel chaos starts for passengers impacted by Air Canada labour dispute

A Kingston man is demanding a full refund and additional compensation from Air Canada after hastily making alternate travel plans for the 'trip of a lifetime' to New Zealand and Australia. Article content Jeff Downie said he was notified two days before his scheduled flight on Aug. 15 that his departure was 'at risk of cancellation.' Article content Article content He received no further updates or confirmation by Friday morning with his flight still supposedly scheduled to depart at 6 p.m. for Vancouver, where he was to catch a connecting flight to Sydney, Australia. Article content Article content Amid the uncertainty and the numerous flight cancellations that caused chaos at airports across the country, Downie decided to cancel his Air Canada ticket and scrambled to make alternate arrangements through the United States. Article content Article content 'Air Canada cancelled the same long-haul flight (on Thursday) that I booked for Friday,' Downie said in a phone interview during his Newark stopover. Article content 'I don't know what they're waiting for, and not offering any option. That's the real piss-off,' he said. 'Two days ago, they could have told us to go online, get a refund and go figure out alternative transportation. It still would have been frustrating because I booked this ticket eight months ago at a significant discount, and now I'm paying same-day rates. Article content Article content 'We figured it out, but we're paying a premium.' Article content Downie said he had been among the many Canadians choosing not to cross the U.S. border amid the tariff and trade war. Article content 'I was happy to stay in Canada, happy to spend my money in Canada, but they're making it impossible for people,' he said. Article content 'I get the labour disruption, I get the challenge for (Air Canada). But to hold people's money is the big issue — to limit people's options and then have no communication, still, hours before the flight,' he said. Article content 'All the other flights are long gone. Those flights (with other carriers) are competitively filling up because everybody's trying to make alternate plans.'