Canadian travel agencies are scrambling to help passengers whose British Airways flights have been cancelled on Monday and Tuesday after a pilots strike grounded the global carrier.

The airline says more than a dozen flights between Canada and London are slated to be cancelled over the two days, affecting about 3,500 passengers based on the size of the scheduled aircraft.

TorontoB次元官网网址檚 Pearson International Airport is most impacted with four flights each day. One arrival and one departure are cancelled over the two days in Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary.

B次元官网网址淐ustomers were sent email notifications if they have been affected,B次元官网网址� British Airways said in an advisory to travel agents.

Passengers can receive refunds or rebook for later flights. They may also be able to rebook on partner airlines such as American Airlines, Finnair and Aer Lingus, if seats are available.

Toronto travel agency TTI Travel says some customers have called to inquire but there doesnB次元官网网址檛 appear to be any alarm.

B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檝e been looking at flights and trying to re-accommodate them and make some decisions around how we support them and what those options are,B次元官网网址� said TTI vice-president Lucy Lavigna.

Air Canada says it has added larger aircraft on the route between Toronto and London-Heathrow to accommodate increased demand it has seen in recent days.

B次元官网网址淟ast night we operated one flight on the route (we have four flights daily) with a 400-seat, Boeing 777 instead of the scheduled 298-seat Boeing 787-9, and will do the same tonight,B次元官网网址� said spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick by email.

B次元官网网址淭hat makes for a total of about 400 extra seats in the market. We continue to monitor the situation, but there are no plans for additional capacity at this time, in part because our aircraft are already committed under the existing schedule.B次元官网网址�

WestJet Airlines said itB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址渂usiness as usualB次元官网网址� for the Calgary-based airline.

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British Airways cancelled almost all its flights for 48 hours, affecting as many as 195,000 travellers, due to a strike by pilots over pay.

The U.K.B次元官网网址檚 flagship carrier said in a statement Monday that it had B次元官网网址渘o way of predicting how many (pilots) would come to work or which aircraft they are qualified to fly.B次元官网网址�

As a result, it said it had B次元官网网址渘o option but to cancel nearly 100 per centB次元官网网址� of its flights for the duration of the strike.

B次元官网网址淲e have supplemented our fleet by using aircraft and crew from other airlines (wet-leasing) and working with our partner airlines to schedule larger aircraft to take the maximum number of customers,B次元官网网址� said the trade support website that details customer guidelines.

B次元官网网址� With files from The Canadian Press

The Associated Press

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