As the clock ticks toward a looming Air Canada flight attendant strike, Alberta passengers booked with the airline are anxiously watching developments.
Air Canada began cancelling flights Thursday, with all of its flights set to be grounded as of Saturday if a work stoppage goes ahead.
Vanessa Francone is scheduled to fly from Calgary to Toronto Aug. 26 to see family and attend her best friend’s wedding, a trip she has had booked for months.
“I don’t want to miss certain things, and these people are important to me,” said Francone. “I just want to be there.”
She is holding out hope planes will be in the sky by then, but is prepared to rent a car and drive out to avoid missing her friend’s big day.
“Just frustrated. I’m very much a planner and everything was kind of set up, and now it might mean me pivoting — which I know it’s part of life, but I just wanted everything to go really smooth,” said Francone.
Amrit Maan arrived at the Calgary International Airport Thursday with her family, including her baby, for a flight to Montreal then on to New Delhi, after getting notice the second leg of their trip was cancelled.
“Half of my family is at the kiosk right now trying to figure it out with the agent, and they’re looking at different options. It’s a little inconvenient, [with a] baby, and old grandparents travelling,” said Maan at the Calgary airport.
Amrit Maan and her family hope to find a solution to find a solution after finding out their connecting flight from Montreal to New Delhi was cancelled. (David Mercer/CBC)
Dragon boat team could miss nationals
But of the 22 competitors from Edmonton, half are booked to fly via Air Canada — which would leave the entire team up the creek without a paddle if all flights are cancelled.
“We’ve looked for alternate flights, but they’re very limited at the moment, and they’ve skyrocketed in price,” Janelle Dane, team member and public relations chair of Breast Friends told the Calgary Eyeopener Thursday.
Dane says some of the rowers have considered driving cross country, or booking flights to other cities and then renting a car to get to Montreal in time.
“We’ve been practicing since February so I think everybody’s feeling sad, worried, discouraged,” said Dane.
What can passengers do?
Calgary travel agent Lesley Keyter, known as The Travel Lady, says her team has been fielding a lot of calls.
She likens it to playing poker, with some passengers waiting to hang on to reservations in hopes a resolution comes. But she warns even if it does, the backlog of previous cancellations and suspensions could still create travel headaches.
“The disruption is going to spread. Those ripples are going to go all the way down,” said Keyter. “So if you can reschedule, if you have that sort of flexibility, do it.”
“Just because you purchased a ticket from Air Canada, does not mean that you are on an Air Canada plane,” said Munch. “You might have a big bullet dodged that you see it’s not operated by Air Canada or Air Canada Rouge because even Air Canada Jazz, PAL, Air Canada Express, those are different unions.”
Other flights booking up
WestJet says it is monitoring the situation, and will support Canadians wherever possible in situations where there is an uncontrollable impact to air travel.
Flair Airlines says while the summer travel season is always busy, they have noticed an uptick in recent bookings.
“The few remaining seats on our flights are quickly being snapped up, and any open seats are ready and waiting for travellers looking for reliable, affordable service across our network,” said Eric Tanner, vice president of commercial at Flair Airlines, in a statement.