Air Canada passengers left scrambling as strikes keep flights grounded

Over 10K Air Canada flight attendants locked out as strike grounds flights; union cites pay dispute as tensions with airline escalate.

Air travellers across the country continued dealing with hundreds of grounded planes on Saturday as the federal government announced it was ordering a binding arbirtration in a labour strife between Air Canada and its 10,000 flight attendants on strike.

Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu said hours after the flight attendants initiated  the strike just before 1 a.m. ET  that she has also directed the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order both parties to resume operations. Though, she added, it could take between five to ten days for regular services to resume.

But in Ontario, passengers who had received notice that their flights were cancelled still showed up to Toronto Pearson International Airport in search of information from Air Canada about alternative options.

Tanya Baron said while fighting back tears that her family was trying to get home to Saskatoon and airline staff had yet to provide them with rebooking options and was giving her the runaround.

“They send us here, they send us there. They tell us to call a number where no human ever answers. I get hung up on. They tell us to check the website. There’s just no flights and no way to get home,” Baron said.

Noel Nemeth, who was hoping to fly back home to Edmonton, said he also hasn’t gotten any answers on how he’s getting home.

“Patience is a virtue I guess,” he said. “I just have to wait until we can figure something out.”

Sandra Caputi, who was flying home to Thunder Bay, Ont., after spending a few weeks in Greece, was one of the lucky ones to grab a competitor flight from Porter at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport to take her home.