Air Canada travelers will likely face disruptions over the next week due to the carrier’s flight attendants’ anticipated strike.
In an August 13 notice, Canada’s largest airline announced that it will be gradually suspending the majority of its flights over August 14, 15, and 16. It’s cancelling Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge flights. However, regional Air Canada Express flights operated by Jazz Aviation and PAL Airlines will be unaffected. The cancellations are due to an announced workers’ strike conducted by 10,000 Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge flight attendants – members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). Air Canada anticipates the CUPE members beginning their strike at 1 a.m. ET August 16.
“Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge carry approximately 130,000 customers a day who could be affected by a disruption,” said the press release. “This includes the 25,000 Canadians that the airline flies home from abroad each day, who could be stranded.”
Elsewhere, the press release noted that the flight attendants’ strike notice comes at a “heavy travel period.” Canadian officials have called for the country’s citizens to reconsider travel to the United States, and Canadians have been following through. Though there’s an ongoing decline in Canadian travelers’ visits to the United States, Canadians reportedly haven’t decreased their summer travel plans overall. Legar Marketing reported in June that 55% of Canadians planned to take a summer 2025 vacation. The source noted that the percentage is a 47% increase over those who planned Summer 2024 travel. Out of those planning Summer 2025 travel, only 10% of Canadians planned to visit the U.S. this season, which is a 23% decrease from 2024.
A whopping 75% of surveyed Canadians who planned visits the U.S. said tariff announcements impacted those plans, with 56% of them changing their destinations to elsewhere.
Additional Details On Air Canada’s Flight Attendants Strike
The airline will inform impacted travelers. Those with cancelled flights between August 15 and 18 have options, including a full refund. If you booked the airfare before August 13, you can rebook your travel for free. However, the rebooked dates will need to be within August 21 through September 12. Cancelled trips purchased via non-refundable airfare will be able to be used as credit for future travel.
“If you opt to keep your current booking and your flight is cancelled due to a labour disruption, Air Canada will attempt to rebook you on another flight, including those operated by other airlines. However, available capacity on our airline and on other carriers is limited due to the summer travel peak, meaning the possibility of rebooking you within an acceptable timeframe is low,” says the carrier.
Air Canada is seeking “government-directed arbitration” to help it resolve the impasse it’s at with its flight attendants.
“Our latest offer included a 38% increase in total compensation over four years that would have made our flight attendants the best compensated in Canada,” said Michael Rousseau, Air Canada’s president and chief executive. ” [That offer was] along with provisions for ground pay and other work-life balance, career and pension improvements. At the same time, we [Air Canada] asked for no concessions from the union. Given this, while we remain available for discussions with CUPE, we have requested government-directed arbitration as we now view it as the only certain avenue to bring closure to bargaining and mitigate the impact on travelers, business, and the Canadian economy.”
