Air Canada passengers could soon be grounded as the airline prepares for what could happen if it can't settle a contract with its Pilots with no deal it may start shutting down flights by this weekend they forced this upon upon me and upon themselves Mike Springer is flying for knee surgery we were afraid that um with the impending strike with Air Canada our flight would be cancelled if we book with Air Canada so I looked into WestJet and booked with WestJet instead initially more than 110,000 passengers could be affected each day Air Canada is letting those traveling next week to adjust or cancel bookings the pilots are threatening to walk off the job saying they aren't paid enough we fly the same passengers the same airplanes in the same airspace as our peers like United Delta and American we do so for half the salary but AIC Canada says the Union's demands far exceeded average Canadian wage increase es though labor experts point out it's a global market Pilots you know they're going around the world and they are talking to fellow workers who work for different airlines and they know what these disparities are Air Canada and the union still have a few days to settle when a company is negotiating with a a union you know they have to wait until the very last minute it's all about negotiating it's all about uh making compromises but compromises are harder for passengers outside of big cities so our choices are even less here we can't drive to Buffalo can't drive to Detroit and use American um owned Airlines so we kind of are stuck with Eric Canada down here the federal government has said it believes in the collective bargaining process and that Canadians are counting on both sides to get a deal the entire point of a labor action is that it's that threat of disruption to the employer's business that creates the pressure on them to come to the table and negotiate a fair agreement the pilots have voted 98% in favor of a strike they'll have to give notice by Sunday if they plan to do that so anise I suppose just like we saw with the WestJet strike earlier this summer even before that deadline airic Canada says it may need to cancel flights in preparation yeah that's right if either the company or the union give that 72-hour strike notice Air Canada will start cancelling flights right away it doesn't want to get equipment or airplanes stuck anywhere now if Canadians flights are cancelled they can get a full refund for that flight but they may not get any extra money or compensation under current passenger rights laws okay all right anise hiari at the Calgary International Airport thanks anise