AI-Summary – News For Tomorrow
Air Canada’s recent flight attendant strike, though brief, caused significant disruptions. Data indicates roughly 551,697 passengers were affected, leading to an estimated $2 million in compensation owed under EU and UK regulations (EC261/UK261) for eligible passengers traveling from those regions. Airfairness estimates 54,000 travelers are entitled to around $52 million. Despite the major impact, Canadian regulations don’t cover strikes, so passengers there are only entitled to refunds or rebookings, not additional compensation. The financial impact on Air Canada during the strike was estimated at $61 million daily. Flight attendants rejected the tentative deal that ended the strike and now enter mediation.
News summary provided by Gemini AI.
This amount is in addition to any refunds or rebookings the airline may owe.
Data shared with The Globe and Mail by airfairness—a company that assesses passenger eligibility for compensation using commercial aviation data—indicates that nearly 54,000 travellers could be entitled to around $52 million under European Union regulations for labour-related disruptions occurring between Aug. 13 and Aug. 22.
Overall, their data indicates that 3,292 flights were cancelled globally during the period studied. The European Union and the U.K. are among the few regions that provide air passenger compensation for labour-related disruptions.
Airfairness reports that roughly 551,697 passengers were affected by Air Canada’s labour disruptions, which started when the airline began pre-emptively cancelling flights following a strike notice from the flight attendants’ union and continued until most services resumed on Aug. 22.
In the same timeframe before the labour disruptions, only 116 flights were cancelled, impacting roughly 14,500 passengers.
Estimated compensation under EU and U.K. rules for these cancellations would total about $2 million, reports say.
Most passengers eligible for compensation due to the labour disruptions fall under the European EC261 regulations and their U.K. counterpart, UK261.
These regulations cover passengers travelling from the EU or the U.K., regardless of the airline.
None of the compensation estimates provided by the firm fell under Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations.
Under Canadian rules, strikes by airline staff are viewed as beyond the airline’s control. As a result, passengers impacted by such strikes are not entitled to compensation, although they are still entitled to prompt refunds or rebookings.
Flight attendants reject deal
Air Canada has fully resumed its operations after the high-profile flight attendants strike – which started August 16, and lasted nearly four days – grounded its aircraft, disrupting the flights of some 500,000 customers.
Financial analysts say Air Canada faced roughly $61-million a day in lost revenue during the strike, but the full financial impact is not yet known.
Air Canada’s flight attendants recently rejected the tentative deal that ended the strike, with 99.1 per cent of members voting “No” on the wages that were proposed.
The airline and CUPE, the flight attendants’ union, will now enter mediation to resolve their outstanding issues, with both sides saying that another strike is off the table.
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