Toronto Pearson Airport warns of delays from Air Canada strike, passengers still stranded

Flight attendants with Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge walked off the job on Saturday, forcing the national airline to ground all flights and begin cancelling customer bookings.

Travellers heading to Toronto Pearson International Airport are being asked to check their flight hasn’t been cancelled and to plan ahead as the Air Canada strike enters its third day.

On Saturday, flight attendants with Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge walked off the job, forcing the national airline to ground all flights and begin cancelling customer bookings.

Despite a back-to-work order from the government, which also sent the union to enter binding arbitration, flight attendants have refused and continued industrial action.

On Monday morning, Toronto Pearson said in a post on social media that Air Canada was hoping to begin flying again by the evening and that it “may take several days for the airline’s schedule to fully return to normal.”

The airport, which is Canada’s busiest, said “additional resources” had been deployed across its terminals and in baggage areas to assist stranded or delayed passengers.

At the airport itself, the effects of the strike are clear to see.  Air Canada passengers huddle throughout its terminals, trying desperately to book new flights and battling a customer service system that appears to be on the brink of collapse.

Marcello Arenas was supposed to fly home to Vienna, Austria, on Sunday afternoon, but had his flight cancelled by the airline.

“They told me to call a number (but) there was no agent for me to talk to about rebooking a flight,” he said.