Air Canada travellers still scrambling to rebook as more flights cancelled

Passengers were still scrambling to rebook their flights home on Sunday, as Air Canada cancelled more commutes amid an ongoing labour dispute with the union representing more than 10,000 employees.

James Hart and Zahara Virani were visiting Toronto from Calgary for what they thought would be a fun weekend.

But they ended up paying $2,600 to fly with another airline on a later day after their Air Canada flight from Toronto Pearson International Airport got cancelled due to the strike and lockout that began Saturday.

Hart said the couple heard late Saturday that their Sunday flight home had been cancelled, forcing them to also miss work.

“We kind of had an idea it wouldn’t be going out, and now you can’t get a hold of anybody to get any answers,” he said.

The couple found seats on a competitor flight for Monday, but said it’s costing them three to four times more than what they initially paid for their original tickets.

“It’s a little frustrating and stressful, but at the same time, I don’t blame the flight attendants at all,” Virani said. “What they’re asking for is not unreasonable whatsoever.”

At Vancouver International Airport, passengers stood in long lines to get the latest updates on their delayed and cancelled flights, as workers outside demonstrated with signs reading, “Unpaid work won’t fly.”

Chi Ehis said she is having to pay an extra $2,000 to meet her family in Florida for a vacation after her flight was cancelled Sunday morning.

Instead of flying straight from Vancouver, she is now taking a bus to Seattle before catching another, pricier flight.

“I can’t scream. I have to just figure out what to do,” said Ehis, who said her plane ticket cost her $1,500.

Also in Vancouver, Carole Delort and her husband Pierre Chatelain stood next to a pile of suitcases, contemplating how they were going to get back to Montreal after a fun trip touring Jasper National Park in Alberta and Vancouver.

“With any luck we can leave today, but I don’t think so,” said Delort, who shook her head. “I think we (will) be stuck at least until tomorrow.”

With hotel prices hovering at around $250 a night, she joked about sleeping on the airport floor. “If we can’t leave today, we will have to stay here,” she said.

The union representing more than 10,000 flight attendants said on Sunday that the workers plan to remain on strike, even after the Canada Industrial Relations Board ordered both parties back to work by 2 p.m. the same day.

As a result, Air Canada announced it was suspending a plan to restart operations and cancelled some 240 flights that had been scheduled to take off Sunday.

Some passengers say they left for the airport in the early afternoon with their flight status showing as “on time,” only to arrive and find out that their trip had been cancelled following the airline’s mid-afternoon announcement.

Basil Erjoub, who is trying to get home to Jordan, said he checked the status of his 4:30 p.m. flight to Montreal before leaving. It was only after he got to the airport that he got an email updating his flight status.

“This morning, my plane was scheduled, but I got (to the airport) and I saw an email three hours ago, and they cancelled it,” Erjoub said from the Toronto airport.

Grounded planes also affected tourists from all over the world.

Travellers such as Mel Durston, from southern England, was trying to make the most of sightseeing in Canada. But she said she doesn’t have a way to continue her journey.

“We wanted to go see the Rockies, but we might not get there because of this,” Durston said. “We might have to head straight back (to the U.K.).”

Robert Cwynar and his wife were originally supposed to leave Saturday night to get to Saskatoon on their way home to Poland, when they also found out their flight was cancelled with no alternate routes home.

“There’s no help. We have to get our hotels on our own, our transportation, our meals… They don’t say anything,” he said.

Air Canada has said passengers whose flights are cancelled will be offered a full refund or the opportunity to change their travel plans without a fee.

However, it said that under Canada’s airline passenger protection regulations, customers are not eligible for compensation for expenses incurred during travel delays deemed outside the airline’s control.

“Customers in Canada are not eligible for compensation for delayed or cancelled flights, meals, hotels or other incidental expenses for situations outside the carrier’s control, such as a labour disruption,” the airline said

Air Canada said in a news release that its flights would resume Monday evening, although a notice on its booking page said all Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge flights were cancelled until further notice.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 17, 2025.

Natasha Baldin and Nono Shen, The Canadian Press