Planning to fly Air Canada?

yup, flights are being canx as we type.

My SIL has been caught by this. He's been in Manila on business, and his visa expires on Saturday. His existing flight on AC won't be going. He's had his office trying to arrange an alternate flight (hopefully on ANA or JAL, for points). At this point he just needs to get out of Manila, and will be happy for a short stay in Japan or Korea if necessary before a flight home. Luckily for him, this is on the company's dime, and not his. Who knows how long this strike will last. If they can't negotiate a settlement ( a pilots strike in '98 lasted 2 weeks), or agree to binding arbitration, the government could legislate them back to work. Ugh, what a mess.

One minor point to mention. If Air Canada flight attendants do strike or get locked out, that will only affect Air Canada and AC Rouge flights. AFAIK, it will not affect AC Jazz flights.

They walked off at 1 AM EDT. Aug 16

No planes flying.

Good luck to those affected.

Well that didn't last long. The government has issued back to work and binding arbitration orders. AC says it could be anywhere from 5-10 days to fully get back to normal services.

https://apnews.com/article/air-canada-strike-flight-attendants-541145adf4092a677f3e7f2df7ffd7b4

Still no planes flying and uncertainty on resumption remains.

Hard to see how AC could resume operations while the FAs continue to defy the back to work order. And if other unions decide to show support for this.....it's a real mess for all concerned.

Given the economic impact of a prolonged AC strike, I don't think the Union's defiance will last long. The government carries a big stick and I know from past labour disputes that I've been involved with, that they can exert a lot of pressure on the union. I absolutely support the F.A.'s and hope they get a fair settlement, especially as it looks like the airline can afford to pay them better - https://canadianaviationnews.ca/air-canada-reports-second-quarter-2025-financial-results/ .

It's interesting reading statements from the two sides. Air Canada says with what is being offered, some flight attendants will make up to $94/hr, while the Union statement says flight attendants rely on food banks and 2-3 jobs to survive. Hmmmm, no wonder the government had to intervene with both sides telling tales.

Meanwhile I know of 3 people/families impacted so far. One friend was supposed to fly to London tonight and is now scheduled on Lufthansa on Wednesday, getting to London via Munich. My wife's cousin and her family were supposed to fly from Australia to Calgary tomorrow, but now the family of 6 are flying out on different days this week on 3 different flights. Another friend and her husband have been "stuck" in Victoria, BC since Friday with no date of return yet, however based on their Facebook posts they're not too upset about it and seem to be living it up.

I'm supposed to fly on the 31st to Geneva; since i live in upstate NY, I have options, however, so I have a fully refundable BOS-FRA-GVA flight booked, just in case.

Associated Press
Tue, August 19, 2025 at 2:48 AM PDT

TORONTO (AP) — Union for Air Canada flight attendants says it has reached a tentative agreement with the airline to end strike.

Now it's how long to get the planes moving

YUL Airport is estimating 7-10 days, haven't heard anything from AC though. Regardless, am super excited!