Air Canada customers are trying to have the hope that a possible strike that involves the hostesses will not interrupt their next travel plans, but they are also preparing for the possibility that could happen.
That is the case of James Catt de Toronto, who is supposed to fly to Los Angeles on Saturday, with his wife and son, as part of a special trip to celebrate his 15th anniversary of wedding.
The family planned itinerary includes seeing a baseball game at the Dodger Stadium and sitting in first category seats near the first base.
“The ball tickets were quite expensive, they were approximately $ 1,000 in the United States,” Catt told CBC News Network Midday on Thursday.
At this point, Catt has not been told that family’s Saturday flight is a non -go.
But with such uncertainty, Catt says they have canceled their hotel reservation and are now weighing whether to leave their tickets.
“We could try to reduce our losses selling tickets in Stubhub … but the more we hope, the less likely it works,” Catt said.
“At the same time, we do not want to sell the tickets now and then discover that they make a deal at the last minute.”
Air Canada has already begun to cancel some flights before a possible attack that involves thousands of hostesses that could start on Saturday.
Mark Nasr, the company’s director of Operations, said Thursday that the cancellations would go from “several dozen” that occur on Thursday, growing to about 500 at the end of Friday, to a state of being “completely based” at the beginning of the start of a possible strike on Saturday, which affects approximately 130,000 clients daily if a resolution is not reached.
At a press conference, Air Canada operations director Mark Nasr detailed the airline plans for gradual flight suspensions before a possible strike by the hostesses on Saturday morning. Several dozen cancellations are expected for the end of Thursday and around 500 for the end of Friday, he said.
Air Canada proposed the arbitration of binding interests, but the union that represents the hostesses rejected it.
Since then, the company has asked the Federal Government to send both parties to arbitration if an agreement cannot be reached.
‘Waiting for some type of miracle’
Anne Vivian-Scott of Kingston, Ontario, is frustrated because the possibility of a work interruption approached both before the airline alerted customers about possible problems.
“Why have you let it reach this point?” Vivian-Scott asked, who identified his family as Air Canada’s loyal clients for a long time.
It is assumed that their two adult children, who live on the opposite sides of the Pacific Ocean, fly east of Ontario to attend their cousin’s wedding in Ottawa during the weekend of Labor Day.
It can be easier for your daughter, who lives on the west coast, find an alternative flight home, through another carrier, if work interruption occurs.
But his son, who lives in Japan, will have fewer options to choose from.
“This was going to be his trip at home once a year,” said Vivian-Scott. He also noted that Kingston is a place that some students will fly again in the coming days, with the autumn period at the University of Queen just around the corner.
Laeticia Halbedel, an Air Canada client who visits the family in Taiwan, says that the potential strike is a “great distraction” for her, since she is scheduled to return to take an upcoming final exam in Toronto next week.
The student of the University of Toronto Laicia Halbedel is trying to return to Toronto from Taipei, Taiwan, and not because the new school year is coming. You are supposed to write an exam for a course related to neuroscience next week.
“It is 35 percent of my final brand, so it is quite important,” Halbedel told CBC News Network on Thursday.
For now, he is not sure what he will do, apart from the hope that his Taipei flight to Toronto will continue as scheduled.
Back in Toronto, Catt is also “waiting for some type of miracle” to be able to address its Air Canada flight on Saturday.
“But,” he said, “I don’t know.”
