With the recent surge in airline strikes, thousands of travelers are getting stranded or bumped off their respective flights.

Qantas Airway engineers have announced they have called off plans to strike, but the airline says it is too late to reinstate already canceled flights. The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Associated said Monday it will no longer take part in its four-hour strike because Qantas threatened to withhold up to seven hours of pay from those workers.

Qantas denies it threatened airline engineers, but still insists thousands of passengers will be affected by the cancellation of 40 flights and delays on another 24 flights.

“We would like to reinstate services but it’s too late. You can’t just turn an airline on and off,” Qantas spokeswoman Olivia Wirth said in a statement.

These problems have been going on for the past six weeks as the union is battling the airline over pay and work conditions.

Meanwhile, Air Canada is still in the midst of controversy with its flight attendants. The issue has escalated as the two sides are headed for a showdown with the government. Labor Minister Lisa Raitt announced the government will move to block the strike threatened to take place on October 13. Flight attendants will be able to legally strike starting from 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 13 according to CUPE Air Canada unit president Jeff Taylor. Taylor also urged the government in a statement not to intervene in the labor dispute.

But Labor Minister Lisa Raitt doesn’t feel the government has a choice, issuing a statement saying “work stoppage is unacceptable in this time of fragile economy.”

But this means some headaches for passengers who already have flights booked in the next couple of weeks. On its website, Air Canada has announced that travelers will be able to change flight dates.

“In recognition of the uncertainty for customers this situation may cause, Air Canada has introduced a flexible rebooking policy to enable customers booked for travel over the next six days on a rolling window basis (October 11-16, 12-17, etc.) to change dates free of charge until December 15, 2011, subject to seat availability.”

Travel insurance is also very important when it comes to strikes at airlines. Many travel insurance companies cover airline strikes under specific insurance. The catch: you have to have bought the insurance before the strike announcement. So for both the Qantas and Air Canada strikes, you cannot purchase insurance now, you would have had to do so before September 13, 2011, according to Carol Mueller, spokesperson for Travel Guard.

“Travel Guard offers coverage for trip cancellation and interruption if a trip is delayed, cancelled or interrupted due to a sanctioned union labor strike for an airline or other travel supplier, as long as the coverage effective date is prior to when the strike is foreseeable.” Explains Mueller.

Many travel insurance companies also offer a “strike list” on its website to check airlines and cutoff dates for travel insurance policies. In the interim, Air Canada says its operations are not affected and the airline will continue to operate its normal schedule.

Competing Canadian airline WestJet announced Tuesday it would add more domestic and North American flights, depending on crew and aircraft availability, if Air Canada flight attendants go on strike.

By Alyssa Caverley for PeterGreenberg.com 

Have strikes distrupted your travel plans? Tell Peter, how you’ve weathered the storm…

For more strike-related information, check out:

• Our travel insurance category for details on travel insurance policies and coverage
• Read about the British Airways strike earlier this year