(UPDATE: Aug. 15 @ 12:00 pm) – The first Air Canada Route cancellation at Kelowna airport is tonight's red-eye to Toronto.
AC flight 1912 that was originally scheduled to take off from Kelowna at 11:25 pm and land in Toronto early tomorrow morning was scrapped ahead of Air Canada's lockout of 10,000 flight attendants.
This morning's Air Canada Rouge flight from Kelowna to Toronto managed to take off, albeit a little later than its 11:15 am scheduled departure.
The first cancellation is likely to lead to scrapping of the two Kelowna-Toronto flights tomorrow and beyond, until the labour dispute is settled.
Sunday's Air Canada Rouge flight from Kelowna to Montreal is also likely to be cancelled.
Air Canada started cancelling flights leading up to the midnight lockout of flight attendants in an attempt to have a controlled 'wind down' of operations.
On Wednesday, flight attendants issued a 72-hour strike notice.
Immediately, the airline announced a lockout of those flight attendants for tonight at midnight in an effort to get ahead of any disruptions.
The lockout and cancellations effects flight attendants and flights operated by Air Canada mainline and Air Canada Rouge.
Air Canada Jazz (sometimes called Air Canada Express) flight attendants are covered by a different collective agreement, so the lockout does not apply to them.
Therefore, Air Canada Jazz flights in and out of Kelowna to Vancouver and Calgary are not affected.
However, if you have a ticket to fly Jazz to Vancouver or Calgary and then connect to an Air Canada mainline or Air Canada Rouge flight to somewhere further afield, you'll be impacted.
For instance, Air Canada flights out of Vancouver today were cancelled to a myriad of destinations -- Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul, Toronto, Denver, Frankfurt, Osaka, Austin, Mexico City, Honolulu, Los Angeles, London-Heathrow, Las Vegas, Winnipeg and Regina.
Air Canada is offering refunds, credit for future travel and rebooking on other airlines if there's room during this peak summer travel season.
Check with www.aircanada.com/action to see what options are available.
You can also keep on top of what's happening in and out of Kelowna airport at https://ylw.kelowna.ca/.
(Original story: Aug. 13 @ 7:05 am) – This is going to get complicated.
Air Canada has three divisions -- Air Canada mainline (most flights on bigger planes), Air Canada Rouge (the leisure airline with both domestic and international flights) and Air Canada Jazz (regional airline that operates smaller Q400 turbo-prop planes).
The Air Canada lockout of 10,000 flight attendants starting at midnight Friday will affect Air Canada mainline and Air Canada Rouge.
That means the airline could start cancelling Air Canada Rouge flights between Kelowna and Toronto and Kelowna Montreal as soon as tomorrow as part of the phased wind down of operations.
And Air Canada Rouge flights from Friday forward will definitely be cancelled as the lockout officially begins.
Most of Air Canada's flights between Kelowna and Vancouver and Kelowna and Calgary are operated by Jazz and won't be affected by the lockout cancellations.
However, if you are connecting from a Jazz flight from Kelowna in Vancouver or Calgary to a mainline or Rouge flight then your travel will be upended.
Many flyers don't make the distinction between mainline, Rouge and Jazz, simply considering and calling them Air Canada.
"See, I told you it gets complicated," said Kelowna International Airport CEO Sam Samaddar.
"Once flight attendants announced 72 hour strike notice (on Wednesday), Air Canada declared a lockout (for Friday at midnight) so it could control the schedule."
Currently, Air Canada Rouge has two flights daily between Kelowna and Toronto and a weekly flight on Sundays to Montreal.
Air Canada mainline and Air Canada Rouge flight attendants are covered by one collective agreement, Air Canada Jazz flight attendants by another.
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As of Wednesday afternoon, the departures board for Kelowna airport had the Air Canada Rouge red-eye flight to Toronto at 11:25 pm listed as 'on time'.
The Air Canada Rouge flights from Kelowna to Toronto tomorrow (Thursday) at 8:30 am and 11:15 am are also currently listed as scheduled to depart 'on time'.
That could change on a dime, so Air Canada and Kelowna airport are advising people with Air Canada tickets to check with the airline at www.aircanada.com/action or the airport at https://ylw.kelowna.ca/.
The airline and airport also recommend you don't come to the airport unless you have a confirmed ticket.
Kelowna airport has put a notice on its website and its arrivals and departures lists will be updated with cancellations as soon as it gets definitive information from Air Canada.
Air Canada is promising to notify all customers with itineraries that will be impacted by the lockout and offer options.
One of those options is Air Canada rebooking you on the first available flight with another airline.
For flights in and out of Kelowna that's likely WestJet because WestJet has Kelowna-Toronto flights and then connecting flights to other domestic and international destinations.
However, as the lockout comes during peak summer travel season, extra seats on other planes will be very limited, meaning Air Canada may not be able to rebook you.
Air Canada is also offering cash refunds and credit for future travel if you want to cancel your trip and not travel at all or travel at another time.
If you're booked on Air Canada to travel soon, you could also be proactive and book a refundable flight on another airline to get you to where you're going.
If things work out with Air Canada, great, and you cancel your refundable ticket with the other airline.
If not, you travel with the other airline and keep your trip intact.
Air Canada and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) representing flight attendants negotiated for nine months and couldn't come to a deal.
After talks broke down, the union issued 72-hour strike notice and then Air Canada immediately issued 72-hour lockout notice.
Air Canada's latest offer included a 38% raise over four years and addressed the issue of ground pay, improved pensions and benefits and increased crew rest and suggested third-party binding arbitration.
CUPE said inflation has gone up 69% since 2000 and flight attendant wages have fallen far behind.
CUPE also wants full pay (not the half pay Air Canada is offering) for the hours of safety-related duties flight attendants do responding to medical emergencies, fires and evacuations.
