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What travellers can do if theyre booked on Air Canada · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So, gentlemen, we've been getting, as you can imagine, a
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: lot of emails very worried travelers, many of whom are stuck.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: They want to find ways to get where they need
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  Speaker 1: to go. Mark what's the best thing they can do
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: that's not going to crush them financially.
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  Speaker 2: Well, hopefully they've booked with a travel agent, because if
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  Speaker 2: they book with a travel agent, all they have to
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  Speaker 2: do is contact their agent and we've got their back.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: We have access to all the airlines reservation systems, so
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  Speaker 2: we can very quickly check to see what might be
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  Speaker 2: available on other airlines to get them home with the.
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  Speaker 1: Strandd okay, I hear you with Hopefully they booked, but
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to venture that quite a few people have
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: booked on their.
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  Speaker 3: Own because it's significantly easier in this era to do that.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: And if you've done that and now you're trying to
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  Speaker 1: book independently to get out of where you are because
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: you just can't wait anymore, what are your chances of
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: ever getting reimbursed by either Air Canada or insurance.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Well, Air Canada is responsible for getting you back to
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  Speaker 2: your to where you are where you started to travel.
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  Speaker 2: It's part of the contract that you entered into them
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  Speaker 2: into with them when you book your ticket. You can
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  Speaker 2: try pulling up your reservation on their Canada website or
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  Speaker 2: through the app and see if you're able to make
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  Speaker 2: any change through there. Otherwise, unfortunately, you're going to have
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: to try to get a hold of them on the phone.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, John, I'm curious.
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  Speaker 1: In past labor disputes, is it your sense that eventually
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  Speaker 1: people do get reimbursed and doesn't matter where you are
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  Speaker 1: stranded at the time.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, it does matter where you get stranded. If you're
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: stranded in Canada for a domestic trip, the only obligation
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: here Canada has is ready to offer you alternative transportation
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  Speaker 4: within forty eight hours of your scheduled arrival. Any hotels
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: or meals or anything else that might be involved while
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  Speaker 4: you wait for that flight is out of your own pocket.
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  Speaker 5: There is no possibility.
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  Speaker 4: There's nothing in their regulations that basically require Eric Canada
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: to cover those costs. If you are in Europe, however,
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  Speaker 4: difference that are rules. The Europeans require that in the
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: event of a cancelation, the carrier again has forty eight
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  Speaker 4: hours to book you on a return flight, and if
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  Speaker 4: that flight does not meet your requirements. You can then
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  Speaker 4: go to your own resources, book a flight, pay for
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  Speaker 4: the hotels out of your pocket. But once you come home,
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  Speaker 4: that claim, along with all the receipts that you have,
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  Speaker 4: are submitted to Air Canada and Eric Canada is obligated.
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  Speaker 5: To repay you.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, So that's only if you're in Europe for example.
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  Speaker 1: That's correct, John, Can you help us understand something about
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  Speaker 1: this particular situation. Flight attendants are furious about not being
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  Speaker 1: paid for the work they do when they are not
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  Speaker 1: in the air.
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  Speaker 3: We are getting a lot.
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  Speaker 1: Of questions from viewers about asking, for example, how is
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: this even legal? How typical is this of the airline
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  Speaker 1: industry globally?
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  Speaker 5: It is tip parody typical.
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  Speaker 4: I think that this has been a tradition or a
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  Speaker 4: method of pay for flight attendants and pilots for a
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  Speaker 4: number of decades. So it was put in place because
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  Speaker 4: it was a simple way of reckoning the total workload
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  Speaker 4: for a flood attendant. They fixed the salary for the
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  Speaker 4: for the work inside the airplane and then bumped it
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  Speaker 4: up by twenty or thirty percent to reflect all the
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  Speaker 4: work that they.
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  Speaker 5: Do outside of the aircraft.
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  Speaker 4: So in their salaries they have today, there is a recognition,
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  Speaker 4: not in it's hidden in their salary, that that work
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: has been covered by their hourly rate. However, in the
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  Speaker 4: last four or five years, I think airlines have been
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  Speaker 4: pressured by a number of labor and government groups to
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  Speaker 4: basically make that expression of outside the aircraft work, to
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  Speaker 4: make it very overtly, you know, showing to the to
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  Speaker 4: the past, to the flight attendants at a salary level
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  Speaker 4: that's somewhat less than what they would get in the cabin,
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  Speaker 4: but it does recognize very explicitly on their paycheck, this
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  Speaker 4: is the amount of work as we have assigned. It's
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  Speaker 4: prior to the check, prior to your aircraft, and you're
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  Speaker 4: being paid accordingly.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, Uh, it's pretty confusing.
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  Speaker 1: I think I'm also confusing for the passengers again right now, Mark,
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  Speaker 1: going back to you one more time. I heard you
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  Speaker 1: when you said about hopefully they booked through a travel agent.
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  Speaker 1: But the best thing they could do right now would be.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: What don't go to the airport. There's nothing that the
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  Speaker 2: that the staff at the airport can do for you.
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  Speaker 2: You're going to have to try to get through to
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  Speaker 2: Air Canada over the telephone to have them book alternative
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  Speaker 2: arrangements for you or that is the best piece of
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  Speaker 2: advice I'd give right now.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: Okay, John, we are in this very unusual situation where
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: you know, the flight attendants have said nope, we're not
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  Speaker 1: going back to work. In your experience, and I understand
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  Speaker 1: you know this is this is rare, so unprecedented.
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  Speaker 3: What happens next in an impast like this.
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  Speaker 4: Well, you know, like you said, this is not this
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  Speaker 4: is not something that has an everyday occurrence. For we
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  Speaker 4: have what I would call civil disobedience on the part
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  Speaker 4: of union members to return to work. Some have characterized
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  Speaker 4: us as being unlawful. Others have characterized as being illegal,
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  Speaker 4: including the Canned Industry Relations Board. The unions have a
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  Speaker 4: different opinion that this is an infringement on their right
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  Speaker 4: to strike, that they have a constitution, They have a
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  Speaker 4: Supreme Court decision that says, you know, the employees have
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  Speaker 4: a right to strike and you can't take it away
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  Speaker 4: from them. So there is a legal tussle taking place,
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  Speaker 4: and that's where the airlines and where Air Canada and
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  Speaker 4: its flight attendants are having to deal with solving that
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  Speaker 4: problem through binding, arbitration or negotiation.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, it's still messy, all right, John greydeck Mark Greenwood.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you very much.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you,