Air Canada passengers left stranded in Vancouver
Posted March 18, 2012 1:51 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Sunday has been a frustrating one for many for Air Canada passengers at Vancouver International Airport.
Air Canada admits it saw an unusual number of their pilots take sick days over the weekend, which resulted in many travelers dealing with flight delays and cancellations.
Shamim Hirji, who was trying to get home to England after visiting her mother, is frustrated after finding out her connecting flight through Edmonton was cancelled.
“I’m really upset because I’m leaving a mother who’s not too good. I’m going to London. My aunty’s in hospital. She is critical, so I’ve got enough emotional problems.”
Some passengers claimed re-booking their flights through Air Canada would mean waiting till several day to get home.
A family from Toronto was hoping to get home after a trip to Whistler. They received an early morning text message telling them their flight was cancelled.
“The agents we talked to said they have never seen this in 35 years. They don’t know what to do. Nobody seemed to know what to do, so we ended up re-booking one of us today on a West Jet, and three of us tomorrow. Air Canada’s not re-booking till Wednesday, at the earliest, and they said ‘Sorry, there’s nothing we could do.'”
The airline is locked in a rancorous contract dispute with the union representing its three-thousand pilots.
The federal government passed back-to-work legislation this week that referred the Air Canada pilots and ground crew disputes to arbitration.
In a written statement to News1130, Air Canada’s Angela Mah says,” On this peak travel weekend, we face a number of operational challenges, including weather and significant reduction in runway operations at Toronto Pearson Sunday morning. However, the vast majority of Air Canada employees are working hard to get our customers to destinations safely.”
Adding to the complications, the company that does Air Canada’s aircraft maintenance has suddenly announced the shutdown of three of its plants, including one in Vancouver, throwing 24-hundred employees out of work.
Aveos Fleet Performance delivered the news Sunday afternoon.
The union representing machinists says the company would have been impacted by Air Canada’s decision to move a lot of maintenance work overseas.
