Air Canada to continue canceling flights in and around Kelowna, aiming to clear accumulated flight schedule delays
Kelowna resident Bojan Gilic and his family find themselves stranded in Italy, unable to fly home as planned due to the ongoing Air Canada strike.
The Gilic family's ordeal began when their flights were cancelled, leaving them scrambling to re-book their travel arrangements. Despite attempts to re-book through the provided number and website, Gilic's efforts were unsuccessful.
As of Tuesday, 22 flights had been cancelled in and out of Kelowna since the strike began on Saturday, with more cancellations expected. The exact resumption time for operations in Kelowna is unknown, but Air Canada has advised that it could take up to two weeks for domestic flights to resume, with a hope for an earlier start.
Gilic and his family drove to the airport in Venice to deal with the situation in person. Upon arriving at the Kelowna International Airport (YLW), they found the Air Canada counter packed with anxious passengers trying to re-book cancelled flights.
The rescheduled flights do not get the Gilic family all the way home, and they are currently considering purchasing last-minute tickets with another airline for the last leg of their trip from Vancouver to Kelowna. However, this decision will come with the added cost and hassle of reimbursement for the last-minute tickets.
Gilic's wife, Vanessa, is anxious due to the uncertainty of the situation. She misses her family and wants them home. "I just want to be home with my family," she said. "I miss them terribly."
Air Canada is prioritizing the resumption of international flights, followed by trans-border and then domestic flights. The airline that managed the transaction with its personnel during the flight attendants' strike is WestJet, and passengers can expect flights from Kelowna to return to normal starting from the early hours of August 29, 2025.
Gilic is hoping to be home this weekend, if all goes according to plan. Until then, he and his family remain stranded in Italy, waiting for the chance to return home.
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