Air Canada to resume flights after half 1,000,000 passengers affected by strikes

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Air Canada is ready to steadily restart operations today after reaching an agreement with the union representing 10,000 flight attendants to finish their strike.

The walkout has disrupted the plans of greater than half 1,000,000 travellers after Canada’s flag carrier began grounding flights on 14 August.

Flights are still expected to be affected over the approaching days, with the airline saying “All flights of Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge remain suspended” until at the least mid-afternoon local time today.

Here’s what passengers must learn about their rights to compensation and what their travel insurance can cover.

Air Canada reaches agreement with union

The union announced the agreement early Tuesday after resuming talks with Air Canada late on Monday for the primary time for the reason that strike began over the weekend.

Canada’s largest airline said flights will start resuming on Tuesday evening.

Flight attendants walked off the job early Saturday after turning down the airline’s request to enter into government-directed arbitration, which allows a third-party mediator to choose the terms of a latest contract.

The union said the agreement will guarantee pay for members who work while planes are on the bottom, resolving one in every of the key issues that drove the strike.

“Unpaid work is over. We’ve got reclaimed our voice and our power,” the union said in an announcement.

“When our rights were taken away, we stood strong, we fought back – and we secured a tentative agreement that our members can vote on.”

When will Air Canada flights resume?

Chief executive Michael Rousseau said restarting a significant carrier is a fancy undertaking and said resuming regular service may require seven to 10 days.

Some flights will probably be cancelled until the schedule is stabilised.

“Full restoration may require per week or more, so we ask for our customers’ patience and understanding over the approaching days,” Rousseau said in an announcement.

Air Canada operates around 700 flights per day. The airline estimated on Monday that 500,000 customers could be affected by flight cancellations.

Aviation analytics firm Cirium said that as of Monday afternoon, Air Canada had called off at the least 1,219 domestic flights and 1,339 international flights since last Thursday, when the carrier began steadily suspending its operations ahead of the strike and lockout that began early Saturday.

Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, Canada’s largest, said it is going to deploy additional staff to help passengers and support startup operations.

What are my rights if my Air Canada flight is cancelled?

In case your flight was on account of start within the EU or UK and is cancelled, Air Canada is obliged to search out an alternate approach to get you to your destination.

“Customers will probably be notified of other travel options which might be identified for them. Nonetheless, given other carriers are already very full on account of the summer travel peak, securing such capability will take time and, in lots of cases, is not going to be immediately possible,” the airline said in an announcement.

Air Canada says it “has made arrangements with other Canadian and foreign carriers to offer customers alternative travel options to the extent possible”.

Lots of of hundreds of passengers remain stranded in Canada or abroad. Those waiting for flights could be expected to be supplied with meals and accommodation where essential.

Passengers whose flights are impacted will even be eligible to request a full refund on the airline’s website or mobile app, in line with Air Canada.

As for compensation, if Air Canada cannot rebook you on an alternate flight inside 4 hours of the unique timing, you might be entitled to €600 – the sum for a final destination outside the EU/EEA and distance greater than 3500 km.

In case your flight originated in Canada, you might be covered by the Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR).

Which means the airline must be certain that you complete your journey, although no time-frame is specified.

Given the quantity of travellers needing to be rebooked on a latest flight, Air Canada is advising passengers to cancel and request a refund as an alternative.

Travellers left waiting to rebook on a latest flight will not be entitled to an obligation of care as, under Canadian regulations, it will not be obligatory during “a labour disruption inside the carrier”.

Can I claim on travel insurance if my flight is cancelled?

You will need to seek an answer with the airline first; travel insurance is secondary to what the airline can or can’t do for you (and proof will probably be required).

Travellers could also be entitled to compensation if their travel insurance policy includes coverage for trip interruption or cancellation.

On this case, you must make sure that you retain all relevant paperwork, including receipts, boarding passes, and airline communications, in case you must make a claim.

Travel insurance policies often also cover meals, hotels, or transport during prolonged disruptions.