Air Canada flight cancellations snarl passengers’ journey plans

Air Canada’s cancellation of a number of flights because of the strike by its unionized flight attendants has thrown a wrench in the summertime journey plans of hundreds of air passengers throughout the nation.

Cory Bolton, who lives within the Nisga’a village of Gitwinksihlkw about 100km northwest of Terrace, travelled to Toronto together with his daughter for a trip on Aug. seventh.

“We toured around Toronto. We went to Ripley’s, the CN Tower, and then we went to Niagara Falls as well,” he mentioned.

The two had been meant to fly again to YVR airport to catch a flight to Terrace on Aug. fifteenth.

“My flight was scheduled for 9:30 p.m. And I got the text at about 10:50 in the morning saying my flights are cancelled.”

Bolton was in a position to get his flights rebooked by means of a journey company, however not till Aug. twentieth.

“I’m actually stuck here for an extra five days, and I’m pretty much stuck here on my own expense. I have to pay for all the hotels and the meals myself.”

Bolton had blended emotions in regards to the flight attendants’ strike motion, which is quickly anticipated to return to an finish after Federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu ordered the airline and union into binding arbitration.

“If I was in their shoes and I wasn’t getting paid enough, I think I probably would be the same way,” he mentioned.

“But I was also lost and I didn’t know what to do, so it’s kind of put me in a hard position.”

Vancouver resident Abhinav Nair was booked on Aug. fifteenth to fly to India through Singapore to attend a cousin’s wedding ceremony.

Air Canada cancelled his flight the identical day he was alleged to fly out.

“An hour later, Air Canada sent another email saying, ‘oh, we tried our best to find another alternative path through 120 other airlines and we found nothing. Sorry to that,’” he mentioned.

Nair ended up discovering one other flight path to get to his vacation spot, which includes stops in Dallas and Qatar.

“I had to shell out $2,000 out-of-pocket to get to where I need to be.”

Nair says he has had nice experiences on Air Canada flights however compares coping with the paperwork of the airline to a nightmare.

“Forcing customers to deal with generic emails and [providing] no actual support, knowing that this is coming down the pipeline, is really frustrating. It just adds up to the other traumas Air Canada has inflicted upon me throughout the years.”

John Gradek, a provide networks and aviation professor at McGill University, believes aviation guidelines are leaving passengers on the hook for prices.

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“The regulations seem to have a little bit of a loophole in there that Air Canada can stop looking [for alternative flights] if the price gets too high. And I think that’s what’s happening,” he mentioned.

He additionally believes different airways are benefiting from the strike by jacking up the price of flights.

“I saw fares this week: Flair at $1,000. I saw Porter at $1500. And I saw WestJet at $1800 one-way travelling on Monday out of Vancouver going to Toronto. I had to do a double take. I nearly had a heart attack just watching those fares. I couldn’t believe it.”

In a press release shared Aug. sixteenth, Air Canada says its flight operations stay suspended pending the end result of a Canada Industrial Relations Board course of to look at Minister Hajdu’s binding arbitration order.

“Customers whose flights are cancelled are being notified of the cancellations and offered options that include a full refund, a future travel credit or rebooking on another airline,” reads the assertion.

“Those whose flights are cancelled are strongly advised not to go to the airport unless they have a confirmed booking on a flight by another carrier.”

Air Canada says rolling flight cancellations will now prolong to the afternoon of Aug. seventeenth. It’s not clear when Air Canada flights will as soon as once more take to the skies, however Minister Hajdu beforehand mentioned it might take between 5-10 days for normal companies to renew.