After almost four days, the Air Canada flight attendants strike is over after the union and the airline came to an agreement.
Both sides announced the tentative pact Tuesday morning. Union members will need to vote on the agreement to make it permanent; it’s possible that the strike could resume if the deal doesn’t pass, but for now, the union is advising members to “fully cooperate with the resumption of operations.”
“The Strike has ended. We have a tentative agreement we will bring forward to you. We are required to advise our membership that we must fully cooperate with resumption of operations,” the Canadian Union of Public Employees said in a Facebook post.
Air Canada said it will resume service on Tuesday, though it will take some time for everything to get back to normal.
“The suspension of our service is extremely difficult for our customers. We deeply regret and apologize for the impact on them of this labour disruption,” Air Canada said in a statement, via CNN. “Our priority now is to get them moving as quickly as possible.”
When will Air Canada be running full service?
Flights will resume today, but it’s going to take “7-to-10 days” for Air Canada to be back hosting a full schedule, the airline warned this morning.
The reason for the delay is because aircraft and crew are out of position due to the shutdown, which began when more than 10,000 flight attendants walked off the job at around 1 a.m. Saturday morning.
As of this 9:45 a.m. ET Tuesday, FlightAware showed 438 Air Canada flights already canceled for today and 152 nixed for tomorrow.
What to do if you have a flight booked
Air Canada’s statement advises travelers to only go to an airport if they have a confirmed booking that is shown as operating on the airline’s app or official website.
As for refunds, if you booked an Air Canada/Air Canada Rouge flight for Aug. 18-21 on or before Aug. 15, you are still eligible for a refund, according to View from the Wing.
“If you booked on or before August 17 for travel August 15 – 22, you can rebook for August 23 – September 30 without fees,” View from the Wing added.
How many people does Air Canada service?
Air Canada estimates that it carries 130,000 passengers daily on Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge flights.
According to AirAdvisor, as many as 27,000 U.S passengers per day were affected by the recent work stoppage.
