Travellers expressed frustration this week over how WestJet handled them after the airline cancelled more than 1,200 flights due to a strike by plane mechanics.
Messages and social media posts from some of the 150,000-plus affected passengers conveyed exasperation over hours spent on hold with customer service, the carrier’s failure to rebook them on other airlines and flight cancellation notices that informed them “fees may apply.”
Tina McIntosh was set to fly from Brandon, Man., to Kelowna, B.C., last Sunday after her great-grandmother’s funeral. She learned at 10 p.m. the day before departure that the trip was cancelled.
Her partner’s flight was rebooked for three days after the original takeoff time, while the reservations for her and her daughter were “just completely dropped,” leaving them stranded in Brandon.
After staying on hold for 17 hours over the weekend — she never got through to customer service — the family rented a car, drove two and a half hours to Winnipeg, stayed at a hotel and booked a new flight for Monday, McIntosh said, calling the experience a “fiasco.” She said the extra cost totalled $2,438.
“It’s been hell to go and have a funeral and deal with all this. I’m exhausted.”
Obligation to rebook
WestJet has repeatedly apologized to customers and said it offered them a refund if they weren’t able to be rebooked within 48 hours, in accordance with the country’s passenger rights charter.
However, the Air Passenger Protection Regulations also require airlines to book travellers on “the next available flight” from any airline, including competitors, after 48 hours if they turn down the refund — a choice customers say the airline did not give them.
“WestJet was unreachable during the cancellations this past weekend, and we had to go $1,400 out of pocket to get back to Calgary from Toronto,” said customer Patrick Socha.
“We may have to take them to Alberta small claims court to receive reimbursement.”
Even after a strike by WestJet mechanics was called off on Sunday night, CBC News spoke to a number of frustrated travellers at YVR International Airport on Monday afternoon.
WestJet also said the regulations require no compensation for hotels and meals when travel disruptions are outside of the carrier’s control, such as a strike.
Passenger rights advocate Gabor Lukacs says travellers are entitled to reimbursement for flights they booked with a rival and — in the case of international trips — for hotel, food and other costs, citing the Montreal Convention, a multilateral treaty on compensation for air travellers.
He also said the obligation to rebook falls on carriers.
“It’s quite clear that you don’t have to run after the airline,” Lukacs said.
“That’s a clear obligation, and WestJet has been systematically refusing to comply with it,” he claimed.
WestJet says it has been doing everything in its power to revamp operations and help travellers.
“Our teams across WestJet are working diligently to support all impacted guests as quickly as possible,” said spokeswoman Madison Kruger in an email.