The Calgary, Canada-based airline WestJet was forced to cancel hundreds of flights on May 18. This left thousands of passengers stranded across various parts of the world.
Cause of cancelations of WestJet flights
The airline was forced to begin canceling flights due to a strike notice that was announced by the union that was representing its pilots, Airline Pilot Association (ALPA). The strike announcement came on May 15, although it was set to begin late last week. The airline began by canceling many of its less popular routes but still caused thousands of passengers to receive cancelation notices.
On May 19, 1,800 pilots at both WestJet and Swoop were scheduled to begin striking at 03:00 mountain time (09:00 GMT). However, ALPA and the carriers came to an agreement in principle came just hours before the strike was set to begin. Captain Bernard Lewall, the Chair of the WestJet ALPA Master Executive Council, confirmed the agreement at the time, saying,
"After months of tough negotiations with management, we are pleased to announce an Agreement-In-Principle that goes a long way to recognizing the value and expertise we bring to our airline every day."
However, because the agreement between the parties came so late, WestJet had already begun canceling flights to avoid stranding its aircraft. On May 18, WestJet canceled 111 flights, more than 30% of its scheduled flights. The cancelations continued into Friday when the airline removed an additional 107 flights.
The outcome of a large number of cancelations
The cancelations that came on both Thursday and Friday resulted in thousands of disgruntled passengers. A number of these passengers are now considering legal action due to poor communication from the airline as well as a lack of regard for the stranded passengers.
According to Global News, passenger Wendy Coutts was left stranded in Dublin, Ireland, after her flight back home to Calgary was canceled. She took to Twitter to voice her complaints about the airline's lack of communication. Coutts contacted WestJet via the company's online chat but never received a response. Because of this, on May 23, she was forced to purchase a flight back to Calgary on her own, leaving her out of pocket by hundreds of dollars. She says this amount is significantly above what WestJet would refund her for her original flight. Coutts spoke about this, saying,
"WestJet still hasn’t offered to rebook us on another airline, and they have never said, ‘Go ahead and rebook yourselves, and we will cover any extra costs."
Many passengers voiced complaints like these, as they reported being unable to reach WestJet's customer service or get their canceled flights rebooked. According to the European Air passenger rights, an airline must either reimburse the passenger's ticket for their return flight, re-route the passenger at the airline's earliest opportunity, or re-route the passenger at a later date of the passenger's convenience.
The Canadian Transport Agency also says that if the flight was canceled 14 days or less before the original departure time, then the airline must compensate the passengers for the inconvenience of the disruption. The compensation package starts at $400 if the passenger is three hours late, but can reach $1,000 if the passenger arrives over nine hours late.
WestJet released a statement about the stranded passengers, saying,
"All guests impacted will be refunded or re-accommodated, as applicable, and WestJet will continue to adhere to our regulatory obligations. Additionally, for all travel between May 15-21, 2023, we provided additional flexibility for all tickets.”
The airline will soon look to begin compensating the stranded passengers for the disruption.