‘They are simply unreachable’: Frustrated Canadian travellers stranded amid Air Canada strike

Zahid Pervez recounts his difficulties after he and his wife's flight was cancelled in Germany.

Frustrated Canadian travellers are stranded after Air Canada flight attendants went on strike over the weekend following the breakdown of talks between the airline and the union.

More than 150 travellers reached out to CTV News with complaints that ranged from frustration over lack of communication, spending hours on hold in an attempt to get some answers, or spending thousands of dollars to book alternative flights to get to their destination.

Ottawa ordered the more than 10,000 flight attendants back to work but the union representing them defied the federal government’s order over the weekend and launched a legal challenge instead. On Monday morning, the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) declared the strike unlawful and ordered union leaders to tell its members to return to work.

Here are some of the accounts from travellers who wrote to us. We have not independently verified nor corroborated their accounts.

‘Extremely expensive’ alternatives

Oleg Navitski of Vaughan, Ont., said Air Canada cancelled his flight from Greece to Toronto on Monday because of the strike. He said the airline sent him a text message saying it was unable to rebook his family of three on another flight back to Toronto after searching for flights on more than 120 airlines. It then provided refund options.

He said they were essentially on their own, with alternatives that are “extremely expensive” and not available until four or five days later.

“My primary concern is who is going to pay for this,” he wrote in an email to CTVNews.ca on Monday. He said his insurance doesn’t cover labour disputes or related expenses, including missing working days and additional nights at hotels.

‘They are simply unreachable’

Joel Kazmi of Oakville, Ont., said he and his wife tried calling Air Canada at least 25 times in total to try to rebook their cancelled flight home from Paris, but they didn’t have luck reaching anyone. He said he, his wife and two children were scheduled to fly back to Canada from Paris on Sunday but the airline cancelled the flight at the last minute because of the strike.

“They are simply unreachable,” he wrote in an email to CTVNews.ca on Monday.

The airline did respond through a private message in social media, he said, but “blatantly refused” to book him on an alternative flight.

Woman books flight home at double the cost

Zahid Pervez said he and his wife Shabana are staying at their relatives’ home in Frankfurt, Germany after their flight home to Toronto was cancelled at the last minute.

The couple were in Germany for a week and a half for their nephew’s wedding on Sunday and were supposed to fly back to Toronto on Monday.

However, he said he learned of the flight cancellation at the airport Monday despite receiving confirmation a day before that his flight was proceeding.

“I don’t know what happened and then I went to the airport and there are big lines, almost 350 people,” Pervez said in a video interview with CTVNews.ca on Monday from Germany. “I don’t know what can I do.”

He said he decided not to wait in line to get the hotel voucher Air Canada offered him and other passengers with cancelled flights because of the strike. He said that his diabetes medicine is finished and he was supposed to work as a truck driver Tuesday.

Pervez said Air Canada told him there were no alternative flights available and he would have to wait until a seat opens up, which could take days.

But his daughter Sundus said she found them a flight herself through another airline that leaves Thursday, paying double the price at more than $4,600 for two tickets, which she said Air Canada should be paying them.

‘Still madly in love and stuck in Rome’

Lynne Harford MacNeil said she and her husband Greg were on their 12-day honeymoon in Italy and expecting to fly back to Toronto on Sunday.

She said they were able to check in online and receive boarding passes as the flight showed it was scheduled and online on the Air Canada app.

“Other than an email to say the flight has been cancelled, Air Canada has made no attempts to help us with our return flights,” she wrote in an email to CTVNews.ca on Sunday.

MacNeil said they called the customer service line but only received a voice automated message that said they are unable to help “due to extreme volumes of calls” and were directed to their website. She said their travel consultant was also unable to connect with Air Canada.

She said she was disheartened about what she called Air Canada’s “blanket disregard” for their customers.

She ended her email writing: “Still madly in love and stuck in Rome.”

Out of medication and paying out of pocket

Emily Pringle of Oshawa, Ont., said she and her three friends were vacationing in Mexico on a “moms getaway” when they learned Saturday that their flight home was cancelled because of the strike.

Pringle said they scrambled to find accommodations and plans to get home. While Air Canada said the earliest flight available is Friday, she said they are now stuck and paying out-of-pocket for additional nights at the resort and one of her friends is out of her diabetes and blood pressure medication.

“I’m sure to many an extended stay in Mexico sounds lovely, but we all have families and obligations at home we need to get back to, and some of us are running out of our much needed medication,” she wrote in an email Saturday.

Airline passenger rights advocate Gabor Lukacs said Air Canada is obligated under regulations to provide a refund or book passengers on alternative flights no matter the cost if there is a strike.

‘We have been abandoned in a foreign country’

Michelle Forrester says she and five of her family members were supposed to fly out from Barcelona to Toronto on Monday after their cruise in Greece.

Air Canada cancelled their flight because of the strike, she said, and notified them that it was unable to rebook the flight. She said she was having trouble contacting the company or even a live agent.

Forrester tried to rebook on the Air Canada website, she added, but it stated no flights were available until Thursday and no other information was provided.

“We have been abandoned in a foreign country by Air Canada,” Forrester wrote in an email to CTVNews.ca on Monday, noting her 85-year-old mother has vertigo and the “trauma” of the situation has worsened her condition. “We are at the end of our vacation and exhausted our funds and cannot afford the exorbitant ticket prices.”

She expressed her disappointment with the airline.

“This is Canada’s elite airline that has been in business for at least 60 years and has no contingency plan to get their passengers home during a strike,” she wrote. “This is unacceptable and we the passengers should not have to endure this.”