Travellers pass Air Canada flight attendants on strike at Pearson International Airport in Toronto in August.Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press
The backlog of complaints at the Canadian Transportation Agency about all airlines has grown by 1,000 two months after Air Canada’s summer labour disruption – a number that is expected to rise as the carrier anticipates resolving all claims from the disruption the week of Nov. 10.
Flight attendants, represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, were on strike from Aug. 16 to 19. Air Canada says the two sides have started arbitration.
The ordeal has left passengers trying to navigate a complicated system largely by themselves, despite the government implementing the Air Passenger Protection Regulations in 2019. To file a complaint with the CTA, a passenger must first try to resolve the dispute directly with the airline.
As of Oct. 24, Air Canada said there are more than 18,000 open claims related to the strike. It has closed 72 per cent of cases so far, it said, and expects all of them to be resolved the week of Nov. 10 – though complicated cases may take longer.
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Spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick said in a statement that Air Canada has added more staff, streamlined procedures and added new technology to process claims more quickly.
Frustrated passengers, however, may have to wait longer if they file a CTA complaint. As of Oct. 20, the backlog is about 86,000 cases, according to a statement from spokesperson Jadrino Huot, a slight jump from about 85,000 cases in mid-August. The cases involve all airlines.
Mr. Huot said the agency does not track which cases were specifically owing to the labour disruption. However, he said 2,336 complaints were filed against Air Canada with at least one issue related to flight disruptions between Aug. 11 and Sept. 30.
The CTA continually reviews and streamlines its procedures, while adopting new tools to enhance efficiency, Mr. Huot said. He added that the Complaints Resolution Office closed more than 33,000 complaints during the 2024-25, its first full fiscal year.
The agency is also investigating Air Canada to ensure it met all legal and regulatory requirements during the disruption, he said.
The Air Passenger Protection Regulations consider a labour dispute to be outside of an airline’s control. Therefore, Air Canada is required to rebook a passenger free of charge on the next available flight – either its own or on a partner airline – within 48 hours. If it can’t do that, passengers of large carriers can opt to be rebooked on any available flight, or refunded and returned to their point of origin.
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No food, beverages, accommodation or compensation is owed, but passengers should be entitled to those costs under the Montreal Convention, according to the advocacy group Air Passenger Rights. Flights involving the European Union may also qualify for compensation via its own air passenger regulations.
Air Canada has said affected passengers can submit “reasonable expenses” for reimbursement.
Air Passenger Rights president Gábor Lukács says the CTA is “a lapdog, not a watchdog,” and he suggests people pursue legal action in small claims court rather than filing a complaint with the CTA.
Two people considering legal action are Reed Hilton-Eddy and Alban Avdulaj, who were affected by the labour dispute and are now trying to resolve claims with Air Canada.
“I don’t want to have to be litigious,” Ms. Hilton-Eddy said, adding it feels un-Canadian to her. “That’s not the way we function as a country and now that’s what we have to do to hold people accountable.”
She was supposed to fly from Paris to Toronto on Aug. 16 with her husband and her two children. After 40 hours on hold, she said her husband reached an Air Canada agent and they were rebooked on a different airline’s flight.
After difficulties related to a technical issue with the rebooking, she eventually submitted a claim using the airline’s online form.
Air Canada approved her claim Sept. 30, giving her a total that amounts to one of her 15 receipts, which total about $3,000. She is also entitled to €600 (about $978) per passenger under the EU regulations, she said.
She said she wrote back to correct Air Canada, but did not hear back from an agent until Friday, after The Globe and Mail contacted the airline about her case.
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Mr. Avdulaj was supposed to travel from Lisbon to Toronto Aug. 17 with his common-law wife and sister. After cancelling the initial flight, Air Canada rebooked them on a partner airline on Aug. 20 and 21. It then cancelled their return flights – rescheduling them for Aug. 22. Mr. Avdulaj says the airline breached its requirement to book them on the next available flight.
Mr. Avdulaj decided to purchase his own flights home Aug. 19, and wants Air Canada to reimburse him for nearly $12,000 for those tickets plus costs related to an extended stay, compensation and the original ticket. He said he operates a plumbing business, and all three people needed to get home to return to work.
He did receive two payments of about $970 earlier this month, which he said he assumes is the €600 payments required by the EU regulations. Mr. Avdulaj said he is not sure if the airline considers his case closed.
“It’s forced me to work more trying to pay the debt off,” he said. “It’s causing more fights at home.”
Mr. Fitzpatrick said Ms. Hilton-Eddy and Mr. Avdulaj’s cases are still being looked at and “for some aspects of these claims we are still awaiting documentation or information.” Air Canada’s goal is to treat them fairly, he added, and abide by all applicable regulations.