Vivian Paguio and her household are determined to get to Toronto for a funeral.
Nonetheless, the Air Canada strike has thrown a wrench of their journey plans.
After they returned to the airport on Monday, it was $10,000 for them to fly. “Which is $1,000 cheaper, but it’s still astronomical,” she mentioned.
“We don’t have any information on if we’re going to get a refund for that because they said there’s a specific calculation on how much you can be reimbursed, so for a family of five with special needs and we also have to go to a funeral, it’s really very stressful and distressing.”
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Paguio mentioned they’ve tried to e book on WestJet, Porter and others, however with no success.
“They’re gouging, obviously. It’s a business but there’s no humanity right now,” she added.
Passengers who have been booked on Air Canada flights are discovering that costs for reserving on different airways are costlier than anticipated.
0:43Patty Hajdu orders probe into allegations of unpaid work in Canadian airline sector
Averie Dela Cruz is travelling from the Philippines to Toronto by way of Vancouver.
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“I tried to look for other flights for other airlines, aside from Air Canada, which is like WestJet, Flair, Porter and then the price, for a one-way ticket, is like $1,500 so it’s not possible,” she mentioned.
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Air Canada has rebooked them on a flight to Toronto on Saturday, however she doesn’t even know the place they’ll wait or if that flight will even occur.
“It was kind of absurd,” Dela Cruz added.
“Like I was thinking, like, are they taking advantage of what was happening?”
She mentioned it isn’t thought-about value gouging, nonetheless, as it’s how the pc methods are arrange.
“So dynamic pricing means that as we get closer to the departure date and as the flights fill up, it gets more and more and more expensive,” Newell mentioned.
John Gradek, a school lecturer in provide networks and aviation administration at McGill College in Montreal, agreed with Newell that it’s not value gouging, however the subject is that Canada doesn’t have any governance or oversight about pricing.
“Airlines can charge whatever they feel like for pricing and it’s really a function of supply and demand,” he mentioned.
“In these situations that we’re in living today, and supply is in short, you know, there’s a shortage of supply, but Air Canada not flying, you know, demand is still there. And the prices are going to shoot through the roof for airfares across the Canadian airspace.”
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Gradek mentioned that he noticed an airline providing a seat from Vancouver to Toronto for $999 final week. When he regarded on the similar possibility on Monday, that ticket was now $1,999.
“I only got one seat left on the aeroplane and I can charge $10,000. And if somebody wants to pay it, be my guest, that’s the last seat on the aeroplane. And that’s revenue management.”
1:58Uncertain journey plans leaving passengers and companies anxious
Air Canada says its flight attendants have to return to work earlier than the airline can push on with negotiations, even because the union says it gained’t finish its now illegal strike till a deal is reached on the bargaining desk.
“We’re available and ready to work on an industry-leading deal for our flight attendants, making them the best-compensated in Canada, but we can’t do that while the planes are grounded,” mentioned Air Canada chief working officer Mark Nasr in an interview Monday night.
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Air Canada earlier Monday prolonged a cancellation of all Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge flights by way of 1 p.m. PT on Tuesday.
Nasr mentioned the Canadian Union of Public Staff must direct flight attendants again to work as a result of the Canada Industrial Relations Board has dominated the strike illegal.
Earlier Monday, CUPE nationwide president Mark Hancock mentioned union leaders have been all in on pushing for a negotiated deal.
“If it means folks like me going to jail, then so be it. If it means our union being fined, then so be it. We’re looking for a solution here, our members want a solution here. But that solution has to be found at a bargaining table.”
On Monday night, the union confirmed it’s presently in conferences with Air Canada, with the help of mediator William Kaplan, in Toronto.
–with recordsdata from The Canadian Press
