WestJet pre-cancelled 1,200 flights before a strike, then fumbled rebooking

WestJet cancelled more than 1,200 flights ahead of a strike by its aircraft mechanics, upending travel plans for over 150,000 passengers heading into the Canada Day long weekend. Some 680 mechanics of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association walked off the job at 5:30 p.m. MT on June 28, 2024, despite Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan's directive referring the dispute to binding arbitration. The country's labour board ruled the union was within its rights to strike — a decision that caught WestJet and Ottawa off guard and forced the airline back to the bargaining table.

The airline's handling of the grounded passengers drew its own backlash. Tina McIntosh, flying home after her great-grandmother's funeral, found her family's reservations 'just completely dropped'; after 17 hours on hold she never reached an agent, and the family's car, hotel and replacement flights cost $2,438. Patrick Socha spent $1,400 getting home from Toronto after finding WestJet 'unreachable' all weekend. Jamie Greiff's family, cancelled after checking in and paying for bags, heard 'radio silence' and pieced together a Seattle-Uber-border-taxi-car-rental route home for $3,861.

Passenger-rights advocate Gabor Lukacs said Canada's Air Passenger Protection Regulations require airlines to rebook travellers on the next available flight — including competitors — after 48 hours if the passenger declines a refund, and that 'WestJet has been systematically refusing to comply with it.' Travellers also flagged cancellation notices warning that 'fees may apply.' WestJet said it repeatedly apologized, offered refunds under the rules, and was 'working diligently to support all impacted guests as quickly as possible.'

WestJet planned around Ottawa's binding-arbitration directive, but the labour board's ruling that the union could strike left its cancellation schedule standing anyway.

Cancelling 1,200-plus flights in advance concentrated 150,000 disrupted passengers onto the same weekend, overwhelming hold queues and rebooking.

The airline left rebooking-on-competitors — a regulatory obligation after 48 hours — to passengers themselves, per advocates who called the practice systematic non-compliance.

Cancellation notices that warned 'fees may apply' landed on customers whose flights were cancelled in anticipation of the strike, not by weather.

Pre-cancelling around a strike only pays if the legal backstop holds — and the customer service behind 150,000 disrupted trips is part of the operation, not an afterthought.

WestJet and AMFA reached a deal the Sunday night of the strike, ending the job action before the Canada Day weekend was out. The airline said it repeatedly apologized and offered refunds where it could not rebook guests within 48 hours, in accordance with Canada's passenger-rights charter. The CBC's accounting of the weekend stood as the reputational record: funeral trips, border-crossing detours, and out-of-pocket bills from $1,400 to $3,861 for passengers who said they never reached an agent.