Summer travelers are facing uncertainty as the clock winds down on a possible strike by Air Canada flight attendants, which the airline said would force it to cancel almost all of its scheduled flights as soon as Saturday.
The Canadian carrier on Thursday began what it described as a “phased wind down” of most operations that included multiple flight cancellations. Air Canada said it was suspending its schedule and trying to get passengers booked with other airlines to limit disruptions if members of its cabin crews walk off the job.
Both the union that represents about 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants and the airline say disagreements over key issues, including pay raises, have brought contract talks to a standstill.
A complete shutdown of the country’s largest airline threatens to impact about 130,000 people a day. Here’s what to know about the rights of passengers and airline consumer protections:
Air Canada said it would reach out via email or text to let customers know if their flights are canceled. The cancellations on Thursday included some long-haul overseas flights. By the end of Friday, the airline expects to cancel 500 flights.
Flight attendants are threatening to strike at 1 a.m. EDT Saturday if they don't have a new contract by then. If the walkout happens, the airline said it would suspend all of its Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge flights, but not the regional Air Canada Express flights operated by Jazz Aviation and PAL Airlines.
How long the airline's planes will be grounded remains to be seen. Air Canada Chief Operating Officer Mark Nasr said the decision to lock out the union members even if it meant halting flights would help facilitate an orderly restart, “which under the best circumstances will take a full week to complete.”
A complete grounding would affect 25,000 Canadians a day who traveled abroad and may become stranded.
Passengers whose travel is impacted will be eligible to request a full refund on the airline's website or mobile app, according to Air Canada.
The airline said it would also offer alternative travel options through other Canadian and foreign airlines when possible. But it warned that it could not guarantee immediate rebooking because flights on other airlines are already full “due to the summer travel peak.”
Passengers with the flexibility to reschedule their travel plans can also rebook their flights for dates between Aug. 21 and Sept. 12 at no additional cost, Air Canada said.
The airline says that under federal regulations, flight cancellations caused by a strike or lockout are considered outside the carrier's control, meaning customers are not eligible for compensation for food and lodging expenses incurred during the labor dispute.
Air Canada and the Canadian Union of Public Employees have been in contract talks for about eight months, but they have yet to reach a tentative deal.
By the end of July, the union put it to a vote, and 99.7% approved a strike. The union on Wednesday gave Air Canada a 72-hour strike notice. The airline responded with a so-called lockout notice, saying it would prevent the flight attendants from working on Saturday.
The union said it rejected a proposal from the airline to enter a binding arbitration process that would have prevented flight attendants from walking off the job, saying it prefers to negotiate a deal that its members can then vote on.
Arielle Meloul-Wechsler, Air Canada's head of human resources, said the company was weighing all of its options, including asking for government intervention.
Both the union and the airline say they remain far apart on the issue of pay and the unpaid work flight attendants do when planes aren’t in the air.
The airline said its latest offer included a 38% increase in total compensation, including benefits and pensions over four years. But the union pushed back, saying the proposed 8% raise in the first year didn't go far enough because of inflation.
Vancouver-based flight attendant Henly Larden, who has worked for Air Canada since 2017, said the union also won't back down on its goal to get flight attendants paid for the time they're on the ground. Larden, 33, called it a "very archaic expectation” to work for free during the boarding process.
“Just because it's a past practice doesn't mean here in 2025 that it's OK or it's right, and we want to change that going forward,” she said.
