A potential Air Canada pilot strike could impact your travel. Here's what to do about it
CBC
With a potential pilot strike looming, Air Canada is preparing to suspend its operations in a shutdown that could impact tens of thousands of passengers.
Canada's largest airline and the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which represents more than 5,000 Air Canada pilots, are negotiating over the union's wage demands. Air Canada pilots are seeking compensation in line with what their U.S. counterparts make.
"What the airline can do is to diminish the impact on the travellers and that's what Air Canada is trying to do now," said Frederic Dimanche, a professor at Toronto Metropolitan University and the director of the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management.
He said that giving travellers an opportunity to reschedule their flight or offering them credits — as Air Canada is doing — is "the very minimum" the airline can do.
"I think it's important for people to be aware that a strike is potentially coming and that they need to make some arrangements."
Here's how a potential strike could impact your travel plans, and what you can do about it.
A strike or lockout can't take place before the 21-day cooling period that began on Aug. 27, after the pilot union voted overwhelmingly in favour of authorizing a strike.
While Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge flights would be impacted by a potential strike, Air Canada Express (which includes the Jazz and PAL carriers), are not involved in the negotiations. Their flights will continue to operate normally.
Sunday, Sept. 15: Air Canada could start suspending its operations.
Sept. 15-18: If an agreement isn't reached, the airline or the union will likely issue a 72-hour strike notice or lockout notice, triggering a three-day wind down plan.
Both Air Canada and its low-cost subsidiary Air Canada Rouge will prepare to suspend flights over the course of three days, starting on Sunday.
If a traveller's flight is cancelled once a strike or lockout notice is issued, Air Canada will notify the passenger, who will be eligible for a full refund. But they won't be entitled to any additional compensation under the Airline Passenger Protection Regulations.
Wednesday, Sept. 18: Following the three-day wind down, a total shutdown of Air Canada's operations would start at 12:01 a.m. on this day.
After Sept. 18: Once a complete shutdown has occurred, Air Canada anticipates it will take seven to 10 days for normal operations to resume.
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