Customers are frustrated with WestJet’s treatment during the mechanics strike

Travelers expressed frustration this week with WestJet’s response after the airline canceled more than 1,200 flights due to a strike by aircraft mechanics.

Messages and social media posts from some of the more than 150,000 affected passengers expressed their anger at spending hours on hold for customer service, at being denied rebooking by the airline on other airlines, and at being told “fees may apply” when flights were cancelled.

Tina McIntosh was planning to fly from Brandon, Man. to Kelowna, BC, last Sunday after her great-grandmother’s funeral. At 10 p.m. the day before departure, she learned that the trip had been cancelled.

Her partner’s flight was rebooked for three days after the original departure time, while reservations for her and her daughter were “just completely canceled,” leaving the two stranded in Brandon, she said.

Additional costs exceeding $2,400

After spending 17 hours on hold over the weekend — never reaching customer service — the family rented a car, drove two and a half hours to Winnipeg, stayed in a hotel and booked a new flight for Monday, McIntosh said, calling the experience a “fiasco.”

She said the additional costs totaled $2,438.

“It’s been hell, going to a funeral and dealing with all of this. I’m exhausted.”

WestJet has repeatedly apologized to its customers and stated that it will offer them a refund in accordance with the Canadian Charter of Passenger Rights if a rebooking is not possible within 48 hours.

However, passenger protection rules also require airlines to rebook their passengers on “the next available flight” of any airline, including competitors, within 48 hours if they refuse a refund – a choice the airline says it did not give them.

“WestJet was unavailable during the cancellations last weekend and we had to pay $1,400 out of pocket to fly back from Toronto to Calgary,” said customer Patrick Socha.

“We may have to take them to Alberta Small Claims Court to get a refund.”

WestJet also stated that the rules do not provide compensation for hotels and meals when the airline has no control over travel disruptions, such as a strike.

“Systematic refusal to comply”

Air passenger rights lawyer Gabor Lukacs says travelers are entitled to reimbursement for flights booked with a competitor and, for international travel, hotel, meal and other costs. He cites the Montreal Convention, a multilateral agreement on compensation for air travelers.

He said the obligation to rebook lies with the airlines.

“It is absolutely clear that there is no need to chase the airline,” said Lukacs.

“This is a clear obligation and WestJet systematically refuses to comply with it,” he claimed.

WestJet said it was doing everything in its power to transform operations and help travelers.

“Our teams at WestJet are working diligently to assist all affected guests as quickly as possible,” spokeswoman Madison Kruger said in an email.

At 5:30 p.m. MT on June 28, some 680 mechanics walked off the job despite a directive from Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan for binding arbitration. The country’s Labour Court ruled that the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association had the right to strike, surprising WestJet and Ottawa and forcing the Calgary-based company back to the bargaining table with the union.

The two sides reached an agreement on Sunday evening, but tens of thousands of Canadians found their travel plans for the Canada Day long weekend had been disrupted.

“Radio silence”

Jamie Greiff said WestJet canceled her flight home from Los Angeles to Calgary this week “after we were able to check in and pay for our luggage.”

Greiff, who was travelling with her husband, her 15-year-old son and one of his friends, said she received a text message saying her flight would be rebooked within 48 hours – but since then there has been “radio silence” from the airline.

The group managed to book a flight to Seattle, take an Uber to the border, cross it on foot, and then take a taxi to a car rental place to begin the nearly ten-hour drive home.

The additional costs totaled $3,861, not including the baggage fee for the canceled flight, Greiff said, calling the company “an embarrassment.”