Air Canada’s Lisa Pierce: “We are here for all agents”

When you ask Lisa Pierce how Air Canada will be rebuilding trust as it resumes its operations, she’ll tell you that the airline will do it by being present, being transparent, being honest and providing constantly updated information to the travel trade and to their clients in what can only be described as an unprecedented situation.

“It’s up to us to earn their trust back and we’re committed to doing that,” Pierce, VP Global Sales & Air Canada Vacations, said in conversation with Travel Press Today.

Addressing the travel trade, Pierce thanked agents for working extremely hard, day and night, for the last six or seven days, particularly over the past weekend (Aug. 15 to Aug. 17).

She said that Air Canada is clearly aware of those efforts, and its “policy is we’re not recalling commissions during this disruption period. We have not been recalling time of ticketing commission during the whole disruption period. We recognize the work that agencies are doing, and the agents, and we want to make sure that’s recognized.”

As for Air Canada Vacations, it’s protecting travel agency’s commissions per the policy it announced just over a year ago. Agents will receive their regular commission on flights ACV cancelled without reprotection. Group files will also be protected up to the agency normal commission as well.

Along with delivering that message to its agency and agent partners in Canada and around the world, Pierce had another message for the trade about the importance of having the latest information.

“It’s incredibly important that we get a lot of information out to our agencies and our agents,” Pierce said. “There’s a lot of agents that may not be aware of what resources are available to them because they may not be subscribing to [The Air Canada Flash].”

To put things in context, Pierce told TPT that “dealing with disruptions is nothing new for Air Canada.” It has dealt with winter storms, hurricanes, geopolitical situations, but she said that “what’s happening now is really, unprecedented in the scale and the pace of the way things are going. It’s a very fluid situation.”

As a result, Pierce continued, “we are working very hard to make sure we provide timely information and what we’re communicating and the resources we’re putting in place are relevant to what’s happening at the time.”

Air Canada’s VP Global Sales & Air Canada Vacations explained that: “There are four different groups of people that we’re trying to talk to. Our customers that we’re talking to and that agents are talking to, and they all have different needs.”

Pierce continued: “There are the ones that have already been disrupted. There are the ones that are in the process of being disrupted. There are the ones that are uncertain or anxious because they have upcoming bookings. And then there are the ones that haven’t booked yet, but at some point, are thinking about booking.”

And she made it clear: “We need to address all of those different scenarios. So, we do have policies in place for all of them.”

As for feedback Air Canada is getting from the agency community, Pierce said that: “It’s really heartwarming when you get positive feedback and I really think the managed agencies and the ones that we’re communicating with they’re feeling comfortable – we may not always have good news, but they’re getting timely news; they’re up-to-date with the information they have; they have someone to call.”

However, she emphasized that “being present is really important.”

“Even if we don’t have anything [or] if we have good news, if we have bad news — being present is really, important and it’s appreciated.  But there is a segment of the agent community that doesn’t have that access because they’re not aware of how to get information,” Pierce said.

And she told TPT: “That’s why these conversations are really important because we are here for all the agents. Some of them may not know how to get help or where the resources are and that’s why this conversation is really important.”

In fact, Pierce provided a list of key web links to help agents stay on top of all the changes that were currently ongoing.

Those links include:

Air Canada Flash sign up — https://go.pardot.com/l/463862/2017-12-26/l2b75

Agent reference (no log in required) — https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/ado/drs/agents.html#/

AC.com dashboard — https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco//home/book/travel-news-and-updates/2025/ac-action.html#/

As for final thoughts, Pierce said: “Thank you to everyone, especially the agents and the agencies, who have been working around the clock. We hear you. We see you. We appreciate you.”

And, she added: “Please stay informed. Look at the resources and policies we have. Give us feedback. And subscribe to the newsletter, the Flash, because that is where you can get all of your information. Tell your friends that are agents. Get the word out. It’s very current. We’re literally working in the middle of the night when something comes out to make sure you have it right off the press.”

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