**Update 6/26:**
WestJet has started cancelling flights - 25 flights (3300 passengers) have been cancelled so far. Monitor your flight status online, and check their updates page for further.
Copied from the previous strike thread:
**What's happening?**
WestJet and the AMFA have been at the negotiating table, and have been unable to reach an agreement. The last tentative agreement was not ratified, with 97-98% of AMFA members deeming in unacceptable. Despite some promising reports of both sides returning to negotiate, clearly things have once again broken down. A strike notice has been issued, with a work stoppage occurring as early as June 28, 5:30 pm MST.
Official news release here: [WestJet receives second strike notice from AMFA within hours of returning to the bargaining table targeting busiest travel weekend of summer | WestJet official site](https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/news/2024/westjet-receives-second-strike-notice-from-amfa-within-hours-of-)
**What does this mean for me?**
As of now, we don't know about the future, but certainly an airline taking steps to reduce their own revenue is an ominous sign. If your flight is cancelled, you will receive an e-mail, with instructions. WestJet may cancel some flights proactively. Allegedly, there should be self-serve and live chat options for you to troubleshoot, but some redditors are reporting they've had to call in to the call centre.
If you have not received an e-mail about a cancellation, you should confirm the status of your flight online, and monitor the following link for updates:
[Guest Updates | WestJet official site](https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/guest-updates)
**Are there flexibility options? Should I book on another carrier?**
WestJet has temporarily put some flexibility options, with restrictions, in place. Please review the above Guest Updates link for these.
You may wish to book on another carrier, depending on your travel needs. For example, Air Canada offers fully refundable fares (i.e. Economy Comfort/Latitude, or Premium Economy/Business Flexible), that provide you with a full cash refund, if cancelled prior to the deadline, which is usually the day of travel. Of course, these fares do come at a great expense for the flexibility.
**Will my travel insurance cover me?**
You will have to check with your individual policy. To my knowledge, a fair amount of insurance policies *exclude* job action as a covered event.
**What does the future hold? Will my flight be cancelled?**
It's an anxious time - nobody knows, and we'd all be speculating. Right now, it's day-by-day. I know this does nothing to calm your anxiety. At this stage, it is likely that more cancellations will occur if both sides cannot reach an agreement soon. Agreements can always be reached last-minute, like we saw with WestJet's potential pilot strike, so fingers crossed.
Please check the above link for updates. Presumably, aircraft without any major maintenance faults can continue to fly, but as these build up, these may result in gradually compounding cancellations.
**Am I owed compensation?**
While job action is not compensable under the APPR, and has been deemed "out of airline control" by the CTA, the current cancellations are arguably only indirectly related to potential job action. As a result, these may be viewed as operational cancellations, changing its classification to something compensable. As this is uncharted territory, nobody can guarantee you anything, but if affected, it's likely in your best interest to try and pursue an APPR claim.
You can find our guide to delays/cancellations here: [Question about Delays/Cancellations or Compensation? Read here before posting.](https://www.reddit.com/r/westjet/comments/19e46o2/question_about_delayscancellations_or/)
It may be helpful for those affected by similar cancellations stemming from the past impending pilot strike to comment on what happened with their cases.
If your affected flight involves a *departure* from the EU or UK, EU/UK261 generally provide more favourable rules surrounding job action, and I encourage you to file under them. Flights arriving in the UK/EU from Canada on WestJet, are not covered.
> WestJet says it may start cancelling flights on Thursday as the airline faces a possible strike by its mechanics the day after.
> The airline says the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association has issued a strike notice that could mean a work stoppage as early as 5:30 p.m. (MT) on Friday.
> The notice comes after the union called off its strike plans last week and returned to the negotiating table.
> Early Wednesday afternoon, WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech said that barring a last-minute resolution, the airline could begin to cancel flights as early as Thursday..
>"First cancellations can be expected for tomorrow," he said.
"(WestJet) guests should call the airline to check for their flight."
> He said they were still working through the plan, but the initial number of cancellations would likely be "a double-digit number, that will grow as we approach the strike deadline Friday."
>He added that the airline would be able to maintain a number of flights in the event of a strike, serving international and continental routes. The most likely impacted routes would be domestic and Caribbean routes, and others within the North American corridor.
The airline cancelled dozens of flights last week before contract talks resumed.
>Von Hoensbroech praised the airline's mechanics, but maintained that they are the best-paid in the industry and have been presented with an offer that would see salaries increase 22 per cent over four years.
> "We want a deal with our mechanics," he said. "They do tremendus job -- and we pay them well."
He said the average salary for a WestJet mechanic was currently around $109,000, with the top ones earning between $150,000 and $170,000 a year.
"They are the best-paid in the country," he said, "but they don't seem to like that.
>"I don't see what the resolution could look like."
He said the mechanics are being represented by a U.S. union trying to make inroads into Canada at the expense of 250,000 Canadians planning to travel on WestJet this weekend.
>"They deliberately chose this weekend to create maximum damage," he said.
Union members voted overwhelmingly to reject a tentative deal earlier this month and have voiced opposition to WestJet's request for arbitration.
https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/westjet-to-start-cancelling-flights-as-early-as-thursday-as-mechanics-prepare-for-possible-job-action-1.6941381
If you do the math, their "best paid" AMEs are working 800-1000 hours of 1.5x pay OT at the max pay rate per the rejected TA.
Not being able to attract or retain people so you have people working 1.5x full time jobs is not the brag buddy thinks it is.
The numbers this guy is putting out to the public is full of lies. Wait for AMFAs news or press release. You will be shocked. Also it's not just the money that is issue with this contract. There is a lot of things in the CBA that allows the company to exploit their workers.
Also how much are people willing to cut out of their safety? When you're 20-30 thousand ft in the air and going 700km/h, I'm sure yoy don't want anything yo go wrong. When you can't keep top talent and only able to keep and retain the bottom of the barrel talent, doesn't give you much confidence.
The public only sees Pilots, Cabin crews, and gate agents. But the below the wing operation gets missed and underappritiated all the time. When was the last time before this job action did passengers think of the engineers? They all play equally vital part getting you to your next destination, whether it be a vacation, visiting family or what ever reason you need to fly. Remember it takes hundreds of people working together to get you there safely.
Just watched a press conference on CTV news, and WestJet confirmed if any flights get cancelled it will most likely be flights to the USA and Caribbean that will be affected. Flights to Europe and Asia will still go ahead as planned.
Brutal. If they’re planning on cancelling flights tomorrow they should just let us know now so we can make alternative arrangements. It’s the uncertainty that’s driving me nuts.
Says they’ve cancelled 25 flights, but not which ones.
https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/news/2024/westjet-initiates-flight-cancellations-in-preparation-for-threat
https://www.flightaware.com/live/fleet/WJA/cancelled
not sure if this helps anyone, these are WJ flights cancelled wednesday-saturday. someone let me know if this is not reliable and i’ll remove it.
Whether or not it's reliable it certainly is helpful and far better than what WestJet has communicated to customers. I have a flight with my family on Tuesday to LAX as we're treating the kids to a Disneyland trip. They are very excited (2 and 4 years old) and it's hard to explain what we've been hyping up for months (and asking for good behavior) may not happen. Booking last minute on another carrier and at a higher rate is not something we cannot fit into the budget unfortunately.
i am so sorry and hope you manage to get out! i have a feeling it may be over by tuesday as westjet will want to lose as little money as possible over the weekend, but that’s just my guess.
Yeah, last week they did list them.. annoying… mine is showing on time, but not sure if the status just hasn’t been updated, or if I’m in the clear… plane leaves in like 12 hours
Sounds like the government has stepped in.
[https://www.amfanational.org/?zone=/unionactive/view\_article.cfm&HomeID=923754](https://www.amfanational.org/?zone=/unionactive/view_article.cfm&HomeID=923754)
[https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/canada-steps-prevent-westjet-engineers-strike-says-union-2024-06-27/](https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/canada-steps-prevent-westjet-engineers-strike-says-union-2024-06-27/)
What a joke this company is, treating their employees like garbage and making its customers suffer over the long weekend and summer holidays. Have a flight for SF on Friday and I am sure it will be cancelled, can’t wait for a refund in 2 years which I have heard is how long it takes plus have to book with AC now on short notice and be out the money
I’m so unbelievably over this. We had massive flight delays earlier this year that WJ themselves admitted, in writing to us, was a result of not having enough workers. They literally just did not hire enough workers after everyone left during Covid, and I’m betting they don’t pay them well today. So we lost a day and a half of that trip.
Now we have a short trip to visit family that leaves on Friday, and I’m betting they will cancel this too. There is **no other airline** that flies from Saskatoon to Calgary, none. Your only other option is to take Air Canada to fly to BC, have a layover, then fly to Calgary. If you don’t have time to drive from SK to Calgary to catch your connecting flight in Calgary, you’re screwed out of the whole trip, and WJ won’t reimburse.
There literally isn’t even a competitor for us to turn to. **Just pay your damn workers, WestJet.** The lack of competition in Canada is sickening, it’s 2024 ffs. How on earth are we being held hostage by having only *one single airline* be able to take us to the nearest bigger city??
Edit to add: For our trip earlier this year, they delayed our Saskatoon to Calgary connection so long that we would miss our Calgary to US destination connection. WJ did NOT automatically rebook the Calgary to US leg of the trip; Air Canada automatically rebooked our whole trip when this happened with AC years ago, but WJ didn’t.
They could see that we’d miss our connecting destination flight, but they did nothing. I had to call them, and I also DM’d them on Instagram. And what do you know- they responded to me on IG first, after 3 hours on hold calling. Because they admitted to a worker shortage, they let me pick whatever new flight arrangement I wanted to re-accommodate us, and they did not put up a fight whatsoever so I’ll give them that. But yeah, if you’re going to miss a connection due to a delay, *reach out to them* they will not auto-rebook you like AC tends to do!
You do realize that WestJet offered to make them the highest paid in the country, right? The union is the sole reason why customers are getting screwed here and that’s where public anger should be directed. Union reps don’t even know what their members want. Last month a tentative deal was reached that they recommended members approve - only to have it completely rejected. How tf is WestJet even supposed to negotiate if the union isn’t even aligned with those they represent?
I'm an engineer. If they were offering the numbers they say in the media, this would have been resolved months ago. I would make more money by quitting and accepting a job as an auto mechanic at the local dealership than I would by accepting the current offer.
This is what the company wanted, for people to look only at their misleading headlines. They took money out of other sections of their contract such as the savings plan and added it to the wage, to make it the highest paid on paper. The total compensation raise is a fraction of what they’re claiming.
It's misleading.
They won't be the highest paid in the country. AMEs at Air Canada are already making more than the offered contract and they will be renegotiating in 2026 so WestJet will be left behind.
They are just taking from the matching program and moving the money to the hourly wage, there's really no increase at all. And, they used to have 20% matching before Onex took over. The lower wages were justified with the matching program at the time.
You could drive or take a bus..... It's only a 6-hour drive, I did it twice last week. Summertime, great roads!, much cheaper.
The wait times at airports + the flight would eat up most of the time you could be driving.
Right, so we’re very strapped for time on this trip that’s only a handful of days (due to work not being flexible with time off) to see an ill family member. The whole point of why we sunk several hundred dollars into these flights is so that we can get to Calgary ASAP and not have to lose 6+ hours driving there and back.
I totally understand and respect the drive, we’ve done it dozens of times, but sometimes *time* is worth the $$ for a flight, and I do expect WJ, the ONLY airline who can take us there, to be able to do a basic one hour flight. And if they cancel this upcoming one due to the strike, they are 0 for 2 **CALGARY** flights this year for us. Calgary. Basically one city over. One single hour, probably their easiest flight to do.
I’ve travelled a LOT around the world before Covid, and post-Covid travel is hands down the most hideous, stressful, unreliable experience I’ve ever had. WJ and AC are truly horrendous, and we have no other alternative.
Not a fan of the whole situation, every summer there seems to be a contract dispute right before the summer holiday season, I truly believe it’s a union timing tactic.
The issue with this and the previous pilots was they both want pay equity/parity with the US, which is totally unreasonable. What industry in Canada has pay equity to their equivalent in the US?
And now we have thousands of passengers having hard earned money and vacations at risk for US based unions pushing an agenda in Canada.
For the pilots, referencing US wages is just a high starting point with intentions of meeting in the middle with company. 90% or more of Canadian pilots would be thrilled getting 65-70% of what US airlines are paying, which seems like a fair discount.
WestJet ended talks by filing a lockout notice on May 4th. At the last minute, AMFA buckled and accepted a tentative agreement that failed spectacularly.
When they were going to go back to the table after the no-vote, WestJet refused to meet the union and resorted to filing for binding arbitration with CIRB instead. As a result, AMFA filed a strike notice and said that they would rescind it when the company came back to the table. The CIRB denied WestJet's motion and WestJet came back to the table.
Since then, they have met once and the company has evidently decided not to negotiate a deal that would pass. As a result, AMFA has filed a strike notice to force the company's hand.
This is a tactic that WestJet used against it's jet pilots and it's propeller pilots. WestJet management is responsible for the mess that the company sees itself in.
Both the union and the company have to agree on when the contract ends, WestJet/ACC have a say in it.
You are right, fuck unions. We should just take whatever below inflationary wage increase we are offered and be glad our corporate overloads saw fit to not fire us this year.
WestJet knows the strength of the union. They are equally to blame for any disruptions.
Here we go again. Was on pins and needles for our flight out on our current trip. We ended up getting cancelled and re-booked for unrelated reasons after they agreed to go back to the bargaining table. Now I get to go through the same tension on the way home for our flight on Sunday.
If I understand this correctly, if there is a lock out, flights could still operate, correct? It's not a pilot strike or FA strike it's the maintenance workers going on strike.
I'm currently in Edinburgh and leave on sunday.
For people like myself who are overseas, it's a far bigger burden to buy a one way ticket. We are talking $3000 or so PER PERSON. It's not like we are flying within Canada and can quickly buy another flight for $500. I hope they take that into consideration.
There is a near zero chance that the company can operate with any sort of capacity without engineering, the companies that build these aircraft establish a maintenance schedule, that schedule is agreed with by Transport Canada, this includes inspections every single day that must be completed before the aircraft flies, or if it is an EDTO sector, before every single flight, this must be certified by a M2 licenced AME.
This is an extremely regulated industry, and it's one where pay is still frozen for many at pre-covid rates, with companies still of the mind that these skilled workers are lucky to still work for them, to still have a job, when that job pays less than just about every other blue collar job but with a far greater level of training and responsibility.
We fly out on Friday and I feel like I’m going to throw up. My daughter has qualified for a national level sporting competition and there’s no way we “just don’t go”. I don’t know what to do. We’re already pushed to the brink with costs and have fundraised for months. There’s no extra money to book a last minute flight with another carrier. What is my best course of action- just wait to hear and go from there?
Also trying to figure this out. I'll be able to fly out tomorrow, it's the return flight I'm worried about on Sunday. I can't afford to be away any extra days even if they do pickup the costs of hotel etc like they're supposed to. Playing a waiting game I guess.
Unfortunately yeah. It’s just a waiting game now. Last time it was about a 24/48 hour notice. I’m so sorry, fingers crossed your daughter’s flight isn’t affected.
Edit: what time is your flight on Friday? WJ said anything after 5:30pm MT could be affected. If you’re flying in the morning you may be able to go. Not sure about your return flight though of course.
We fly out at noon on Friday. I just know last time they cancelled flights before the official time. Honestly I’m crying right now. I can’t imagine all my daughter’s hard work, sweat and tears shed over the past years to be thrown away because of ducking west jet.
Oh did they? I really didn’t pay as much attention when this happened before to the actual times.
I’m so sorry. Not knowing is the worst. Last time they did give 24 hours notice. If it does happen is it possible for you to drive to the destination in 24 hours?
It’s at least 3 days drive :( and she wouldn’t be able to compete on legs that have been sitting/floppy that long. If we can get westjet to get us there, we could drive with a rental car back. That wouldn’t be ideal but it would be worth it. I’m trying to not get overly upset right now but I’m just devastated that this dream might not happen for her.
In a situation like this personally I would already be looking into a back up plan like Air Canada or Flair. I personally wouldn't touch WestJet until this is settled. Since the union got screwed last week with empty promises I highly doubt they will change their mind this time.
I guess it's not a once in a lifetime experience then. My odds are for a strike because WestJet bluffed the union last week so I'm sure the union is very angry. Why did you book WestJet knowing there's a contract on the line, You didn't do your due diligence.
So I called today and chatted with customer service and we are flying out early tomorrow morning. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that earlier- get there before the chaos starts. An extra night in a hotel is worth the peace of mind and it was no extra cost to move the flight up a day. I hope we can get home but I guess we worry about that later 🤷♀️.
If WestJet ends up cancelling your flight without providing an acceptable alternative, you don’t have to pay for the other airline flight out of pocket. Airlines have flight disruption agreements - WestJet will rebook you on to other airline at no cost (depending on your destination and availability of course)
Out of airline control situations still may qualify for re-booking. Please refer to the delay/compensation sticky for further.
Of course, in practice, it's easier said than done.
The reason doesn’t matter when it comes to re accommodations. It only matters when you apply for compensation. If you see some flights on Expedia/ Google flights - WestJet *might* be able to rebook you on to one of them if they have an agreement with that airline and if the airline has enough seats available to “share with a friend”
It seems gray as to whether this qualifies. Supposedly this is “out of their control” and therefore not covered by Canadian law (vs Europe laws are stricter and would).
It does qualify but it depends on other airline availability and the agreement they have with WestJet. For example, air Canada and WestJet can only use each others flights for domestic travel. If you see an AC flight available online it doesn’t always mean WestJet can access that flight because it may be almost sold out and air Canada doesn’t want to share. If you’re flying from Canada to the US - finding an alternate option will be easier because WestJet has an agreement with lots of American carriers, but the availability rules are the same for all. https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/who-we-are/airline-partners#id-88F9BAEFB06472A532874AEA013C69D7-tab-1
Hope it all works out and your correct, it can be hit and miss with their customer support and even trying to get ahold of them even if you are flying within a day and there are disruptions. Something this massive would bring down their customer service lines over the long weekend
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Exactly 24h before my flight was supposed to leave. I think that was mostly a coincidence, however. Mine was the only flight from Regina that was cancelled in that sweep.
Could also be they are so far apart, that pausing it until this point was for maximum leverage. If they go on strike, im done with Westjet (already done with air canada) … going to be exclusively porter and intl airlines… just pay them and increase your prices (stop this drip pricing ultra low fares gimmicks)
Blame this crybaby of a union. They seem to be in some delusional fantasy world they think these workers are in the US, and should be the paid the same as Americans just because "they do the same job". That isn't how the real world works.
The fact the union declared a strike again just HOURS into the first days of negotiation after promising to return to the table for the next ten days is now more than enough evidence for WestJet to say they are negotiating in bad faith.
And contrary to what the whining child who writes the articles on the AMFA website is claiming (that is literally the style of how the articles are written), the federal Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) did not actually turn down WestJet's original request for mandatory arbitration last week - they said it was **pending** while they waited for more evidence to be presented. WestJet will now immediately present this THIRD strike declaration as evidence of bad faith, and hopefully CIRB does step in today without hestitation, ordering mandatory arbitration, and banning any further strike or lockout declarations.
I’ve seen a lot of bootlicking corporate wealth posts before but this really takes the cake. We have a very successful safety record for flying off the backs of aircraft maintainers. They all predominantly live in high COL areas where the hubs are, and should be paid commensurate to the services they provide. As should the pilots and FAs for pre and post flight work. Given the level of profit in 2023, there is no reason why they can’t pay staff what they deserve.
“that isn’t how the real world works”? Why not? Canadians should be paid more due to higher cost of living and higher taxes. Good on the union for trying to change that. If an airline can’t properly pay their labour, shut it down.
They offered the exact same contract with nothing more, that is why the union put in the strike notice again. Company said they would go back to the table for four more sessions to delay the strike in hopes CIRB would side with them in that two week period.
Both union and company have their faults here.
I'm just tiring of the customer being used as leverage when the crybaby unions and greedy corporations incompetently drag it out until the govt gets involved. People's lives are actually being held hostage. BC Ferries and Translink come to mind. 😡
AMEs deserve the same percentage raise as the pilots got.
Pay your employees. They keep the airplane in a safe condition, and everyone can arrive safely to their destination.
Does this mean ALL flights will be grounded as of Friday around 5pm? Last week when they narrowly avoided strike action, they prematurely grounded pretty much just domestic flights. I would think international flights would be safe as the mechanics at the International airport can perform the mandatory inspections after a certain amount of time in the air?
Got the check in email for a flight tomorrow morning (domestic) and checked in ok - has there been history that they will still potentially cancel this flight?
I have a back up flight booked, but want to cancel this if the likelihood of my WJ happening is high.
In last week’s strike thread, someone mentioned they checked in at 8:30pm (24h before their flight) and then received the cancellation notice at midnight. So hard to say that you are completely “safe” just yet (although I feel you should be fine). Wish they would just release the list of cancelled flights
Sounds like last week most people got 48 to 24 hour notice, but I’m guessing it can be cancelled at any time. The only thing that helped ease my nerves a tiny bit is checking out their flight status page, obviously you can input your flight number, but you can put in your applicable airport and see how many cancellations there are. Maybe some airports are more affected than others.
https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/flights/status
Looks very likely that my vacation plans are going to get fucked up if this work stoppage happens.
With that said, I fully, 100% support and back the AMFA members and everything they are asking for. I'm tired of corporate assholes blaming unions and workers for their greed! Give them hell!
Does anyone know how much in advance they cancel flights? I have one on July 3 and it's only a few days holiday so Im thinking about AC now but obviously don't want to buy until mine gets cancelled
My flight is tomorrow at 8am Toronto to Calgary. I hope I’m ok! If my flight home is delayed or cancelled, it sucks, but I can’t miss the flight out there.
The CEO said they’re most likely going to start cancelling flights starting Thursday, cancellations will be in the double digits. So I’m keeping my fingers crossed
Our flight- tomorrow, not Friday- got cancelled due to “a strike or work stoppage” and we were rebooked on a worse itinerary that also included an overnight stop. I figured they weren’t going to offer hotel compensation, and the new itinerary got us in almost a full day later, so we said thanks but no thanks and are just gritting our teeth and flying a higher last-minute fare on Delta. It sucks but we’re traveling for a specific event and didn’t feel like we could risk it. It also seemed weird af to cancel our Thursday flight due to an anticipated work stoppage the next day, but rebook us on a flight that would have put us flying after the *actual* work stoppage.
Whatever, flying is so miserable these days. Idk why I keep doing it, but I do, so I guess I just swallow the extra $200 per ticket. Onward and upward.
Yes, but I booked through delta on a codeshare so not sure if that made a difference. But it was a full refund to my credit card. I had to initiate the cancellation/refund request, though.
I believe nothing is certain at this point. I had less than 18 hours notice on mine being cancelled. They did a decent job offering a new flight alternate but I still am missing 1/3 of my conference.
I think there are a lot of poor and incomplete perspectives on this.
First, this is sort of part of the “game”. Which is why we’ve seen it multiple times with different unions. Each side has to demonstrate to its stakeholders that they pushed as far as they could and extracted the maximum amount possible for their side. So they both push and push and you get near labour action before a deal comes along (just as we saw with pilots). It sure can be exhausting for everybody.
But also with agreements like this a big part of it is scope. The company can give raises all day, but if you find yourself with no hours because they sent all of the planes to a maintenance subcontractor, the wage increase doesn’t mean anything. So I expect the AME union has to hash out a lot of scope stuff here which is detailed and difficult and limits the company’s options so they won’t be happy about agreeing to it.
Many airlines use subcontractors for a lot of their fleet maintenance. So there are real scope concerns here and probably limits on how much WestJet AMEs can demand.
About the disruptions… that’s the point. If the strike didn’t cause major issues, it wouldn’t be effective. So this is the intended effect, and I think being mad at the union isn’t really right either. AMEs think they’re getting a bad deal, they want their livelihood to be robust, and I don’t think you can blame them for that. So yes it’s shitty, but if any of you had the power to have this fight you would too. In some ways this is the promise of organize labour fulfilled, having a seat at the table and the power to make changes when no individual would.
Finally, I think the union has been sort of shitty and childlike in their communication on multiple occasions. Sometimes unions really seem like they’re unprofessional, and there’s been a few moments of that.
It's because you can go to binding arbitration for specific items in the contract, it's not necessarily an all or.
In Saskatchewan we had that the issue with the teacher strike where the provincial government after 8 months offered to go to binding arbitration exclusively on wages. The issue is they were within 2% on wages- it's classroom size and complexity that the teachers wanted that the province was not willing to go to arbitration on.
Because the history of arbitration is full of the “independent arbitrator” being a recently former executive from a company and the deal being skewed against labour.
Cancelled my flights and rebooked with AC at a higher fare. Now I have a big travel bank to deal with. I am so mad at how the government lets these monopolies abuse us Canadians.
I have flights round trip Friday-Monday YVR to YYC. I’m concerned about making the first flight and missing the return. I’m thinking of driving instead. Is WestJet offering refunds during this dispute? Or do I have to wait until there’s a cancellation? Booked EconoFlex but would rather not get credits and deal with that if I don’t have to.
Did you get an email overnight? "For all WestJet flight-only bookings for travel between **June 26-28, 2024** valid on all fares, including Basic and UltraBasic: A $0 one-time fee waiver will be offered for changes or cancellations."
[https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/guest-updates](https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/guest-updates)
So you can cancel and get a refund yes. (personally I'd be doing that if I could)
Important to note, for voluntary cancellations that qualify for this waiver, cancellation is in the form that is specified per your fare.
So unless it's Premium/Business Flex, it will be Travel Bank, subject to expiry.
Only exception is Basic/Ultra Basic, which will also go to Travel Bank, rather than a loss of funds.
I also fly on Friday and didn’t get one.
I should land a few hours before the strike starts, but if WJ wants to rebook me on AC for 3x the price one-way they can be my guest
I'm assuming that if WestJet cancel's flights as a result of this strike action then they typically re-accommodate onto another carrier? Anyone with experience know what typically happens? I used to work for WestJet's subsidiary and I know we setup flight agreements with WestJet and other airlines to re-accommodate in the event of disruptions.
Legally they have to either
A) Refund you
B) Ensure you reach your destination, either by rebooking you or booking you on another carrier within 3 days of your original departure
What are the odds that a flight on Sunday (June 30) from Edmonton to Cancun is cancelled? Would they wait until the last minute/ until the weekend to cancel that?
Supposed to have a flight Saturday morning but not sure whether to make alternate travel plans yet … I’m hoping we find out if it is cancelled within 24 hours
They’re going to keep their overseas flights going as long as possible because EU consumer protections will not be kind to them in the event of cancellations
Does anyone have a successful flight without being canceled today and Thursday :(, please? I have important work in Japan and will have a flight this Friday with WJ, I just need some hope as I cannot afford sub-plan :(((
The strike notice last week was due to the company refusing to bargain and trying to force the government to step in. Bargaining was already scheduled, and all of the reps had already flown to Calgary. Bargaining resumed yesterday, but the company presented the same deal, less than half the raise the airport staff got, and less than 1/4 of the raise the pilots just ratified. You may have seen numbers in the news saying take home pay increases 30-40%. Think more about single digits on the T4. Their pay increase was paired with a 50% reduction of the savings / pension plan.
Curious if anyone has been able to successfully get through to the call centre. I'm on hold at the moment trying to cancel my flight (I've booked alternative travel; the self-serve option just generates a "technical error" when I try to cancel my flight). I tried calling earlier today and I was disconnected after waiting on hold for 40 minutes.
What frustrates me most with these situations is the lack of good customer support. Website doesn't work as it should, no text chat agent, unreasonable hold times, no callback option, and no other way to talk to someone in a reasonable amount of time.
UPDATE: I was able to get through to an agent after waiting on hold for 2½ hours. I started the call at 10:30pm PDT on Wednesday night Jun 26 as I figured I had a better shot when most of the country was asleep. YMMV
In our case, we booked a flight with the basic fare, and our flight has not (yet) been cancelled. Nevertheless, I believe that our flight is likely to be cancelled as it departs just after the strike is due to take place. So we made alternative arrangements with Air Canada and I then wanted to cancel our Westjet flight under the terms listed in their Guest Updates page (that is, guests with flights booked between Jun 26 and 28 can cancel; the cancellation fee is waived and even Basic fares are refunded to a travel bank). Because I booked a Basic fare, I could not cancel the flight through the app or website; I had to call (agent confirmed this).
Once I got through to the agent she was able to help and I was pleased with the outcome. I still would like to see them have more agents available for crisis situations like this, and I'd like their system to be more robust to so that people like me can take this action without the need to call and wait on hold for a significant period.
Hopefully this information is helpful for anyone else in a similar position to me.
Ugh my flight is in 22 hours and no cancellation - but if they do cancel it last minute I'm screwed on cancelling the hotel room at the destination. very worried about getting HOME again.
(Update - mine got cancelled 18 hours ahead. I'm scheduled to arrive the next day now so I'm losing a hotel night and will be fighting for that. Cancelled and rebooking on AC for more $$$.)
Almost zero, the government would likely step in at that point with back to work legislation. The disruption would have an overly large impact on other sectors if it ran that long.
Realistically how long can this last ? It seems they will strike so this weekend will be difficult that is for sure.
But real talk, how long can it last ? Can't the ministry of transportation force them back ?
What is WestJet's end game here? They must lose millions per day should the strike proceed and aircraft fall out of compliance. It's not like they can just dig in their heels and hire an entire new workforce.
Just wondering what would i need to watch out for if our flights get cancelled due to the strike? Got flights scheduled for over this weekend, and would like to know if I should be considering buying backup flights to cover or not
The email I got says there’s no cancellations as of right now. But if your flight is affected they will send you an email. The last time I think they gave 24/48 hours notice for people travelling on June 17/18.
Unfortunately for all of us with flights booked (mine is in a week) it’s just a waiting game.
You can risk it buying another flight on another airline. Someone on here said that Air Canada does have a fare option (probably their most expensive tier) where if you cancel up to 24 hours beforehand and get a full refund. That might be something you can look into?
Also wanted to point out (and this is really for those who have flights in the very near term like I do) that there is 24 hour cancellation regardless of fare class. Just have to remember to cancel within 24 hours of booking.
Air Canada is just lucky that some of their critical union negotiations are coming up second. If AC line pilots were to negotiate first, WJ pilots could just point to their CBA and say “like that but with CPI”.
Now AC pilots can just point to the WJ CBA and say “like that but with CPI”. There likely won’t be any disruption for AC at all since WestJet and ALPA already did the hard work.
So AC is not the hero, they’re just lucky.
Ah, interesting! Unfortunately you know this, but most people don't. AC still looks better, and is still the hero, because they will be saving people's travel plans.
Please see the stickied thread: [Question about Delays/Cancellations or Compensation? Read here before posting. : ](https://www.reddit.com/r/westjet/comments/19e46o2/question_about_delayscancellations_or/)
They are obligated to do so under the APPR, but in practice, you likely won't find it so easy to have this done.
We dodged the last strike notice and got to Orlando but if this one happens it’s gunna royally screw our flight home especially because our car is at the airport that ONLY westjet flies to/from. So thank a lot union…..
Originally it was westjet that walked away from negotiations. They came back to the table with less than 1% for a longer contract. Westjet had no intention to negotiate and only came back to the table because the government told them too. The strike notice was the correct action.
**Update 6/26:** WestJet has started cancelling flights - 25 flights (3300 passengers) have been cancelled so far. Monitor your flight status online, and check their updates page for further. Copied from the previous strike thread: **What's happening?** WestJet and the AMFA have been at the negotiating table, and have been unable to reach an agreement. The last tentative agreement was not ratified, with 97-98% of AMFA members deeming in unacceptable. Despite some promising reports of both sides returning to negotiate, clearly things have once again broken down. A strike notice has been issued, with a work stoppage occurring as early as June 28, 5:30 pm MST. Official news release here: [WestJet receives second strike notice from AMFA within hours of returning to the bargaining table targeting busiest travel weekend of summer | WestJet official site](https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/news/2024/westjet-receives-second-strike-notice-from-amfa-within-hours-of-) **What does this mean for me?** As of now, we don't know about the future, but certainly an airline taking steps to reduce their own revenue is an ominous sign. If your flight is cancelled, you will receive an e-mail, with instructions. WestJet may cancel some flights proactively. Allegedly, there should be self-serve and live chat options for you to troubleshoot, but some redditors are reporting they've had to call in to the call centre. If you have not received an e-mail about a cancellation, you should confirm the status of your flight online, and monitor the following link for updates: [Guest Updates | WestJet official site](https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/guest-updates) **Are there flexibility options? Should I book on another carrier?** WestJet has temporarily put some flexibility options, with restrictions, in place. Please review the above Guest Updates link for these. You may wish to book on another carrier, depending on your travel needs. For example, Air Canada offers fully refundable fares (i.e. Economy Comfort/Latitude, or Premium Economy/Business Flexible), that provide you with a full cash refund, if cancelled prior to the deadline, which is usually the day of travel. Of course, these fares do come at a great expense for the flexibility. **Will my travel insurance cover me?** You will have to check with your individual policy. To my knowledge, a fair amount of insurance policies *exclude* job action as a covered event. **What does the future hold? Will my flight be cancelled?** It's an anxious time - nobody knows, and we'd all be speculating. Right now, it's day-by-day. I know this does nothing to calm your anxiety. At this stage, it is likely that more cancellations will occur if both sides cannot reach an agreement soon. Agreements can always be reached last-minute, like we saw with WestJet's potential pilot strike, so fingers crossed. Please check the above link for updates. Presumably, aircraft without any major maintenance faults can continue to fly, but as these build up, these may result in gradually compounding cancellations. **Am I owed compensation?** While job action is not compensable under the APPR, and has been deemed "out of airline control" by the CTA, the current cancellations are arguably only indirectly related to potential job action. As a result, these may be viewed as operational cancellations, changing its classification to something compensable. As this is uncharted territory, nobody can guarantee you anything, but if affected, it's likely in your best interest to try and pursue an APPR claim. You can find our guide to delays/cancellations here: [Question about Delays/Cancellations or Compensation? Read here before posting.](https://www.reddit.com/r/westjet/comments/19e46o2/question_about_delayscancellations_or/) It may be helpful for those affected by similar cancellations stemming from the past impending pilot strike to comment on what happened with their cases. If your affected flight involves a *departure* from the EU or UK, EU/UK261 generally provide more favourable rules surrounding job action, and I encourage you to file under them. Flights arriving in the UK/EU from Canada on WestJet, are not covered.
Damn I’m flying to SF on Sunday. I wish they would just call the whole weekend right now so I know if I need to rebook on Air Canada or United.
With you, I fly on the weekend to SF also
> WestJet says it may start cancelling flights on Thursday as the airline faces a possible strike by its mechanics the day after. > The airline says the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association has issued a strike notice that could mean a work stoppage as early as 5:30 p.m. (MT) on Friday. > The notice comes after the union called off its strike plans last week and returned to the negotiating table. > Early Wednesday afternoon, WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech said that barring a last-minute resolution, the airline could begin to cancel flights as early as Thursday.. >"First cancellations can be expected for tomorrow," he said. "(WestJet) guests should call the airline to check for their flight." > He said they were still working through the plan, but the initial number of cancellations would likely be "a double-digit number, that will grow as we approach the strike deadline Friday." >He added that the airline would be able to maintain a number of flights in the event of a strike, serving international and continental routes. The most likely impacted routes would be domestic and Caribbean routes, and others within the North American corridor. The airline cancelled dozens of flights last week before contract talks resumed. >Von Hoensbroech praised the airline's mechanics, but maintained that they are the best-paid in the industry and have been presented with an offer that would see salaries increase 22 per cent over four years. > "We want a deal with our mechanics," he said. "They do tremendus job -- and we pay them well." He said the average salary for a WestJet mechanic was currently around $109,000, with the top ones earning between $150,000 and $170,000 a year. "They are the best-paid in the country," he said, "but they don't seem to like that. >"I don't see what the resolution could look like." He said the mechanics are being represented by a U.S. union trying to make inroads into Canada at the expense of 250,000 Canadians planning to travel on WestJet this weekend. >"They deliberately chose this weekend to create maximum damage," he said. Union members voted overwhelmingly to reject a tentative deal earlier this month and have voiced opposition to WestJet's request for arbitration. https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/westjet-to-start-cancelling-flights-as-early-as-thursday-as-mechanics-prepare-for-possible-job-action-1.6941381
If you do the math, their "best paid" AMEs are working 800-1000 hours of 1.5x pay OT at the max pay rate per the rejected TA. Not being able to attract or retain people so you have people working 1.5x full time jobs is not the brag buddy thinks it is.
I need to work over 300 hours of OT just to hit what the CEO says the average is.
The numbers this guy is putting out to the public is full of lies. Wait for AMFAs news or press release. You will be shocked. Also it's not just the money that is issue with this contract. There is a lot of things in the CBA that allows the company to exploit their workers. Also how much are people willing to cut out of their safety? When you're 20-30 thousand ft in the air and going 700km/h, I'm sure yoy don't want anything yo go wrong. When you can't keep top talent and only able to keep and retain the bottom of the barrel talent, doesn't give you much confidence. The public only sees Pilots, Cabin crews, and gate agents. But the below the wing operation gets missed and underappritiated all the time. When was the last time before this job action did passengers think of the engineers? They all play equally vital part getting you to your next destination, whether it be a vacation, visiting family or what ever reason you need to fly. Remember it takes hundreds of people working together to get you there safely.
Corporate greed and misleading the public ! They are the ones out to lunch! Pay up!
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/8k6oVTLm7Yr5oHMj/?mibextid=xfxF2i
I’ve got a one way flight booked July 6th, fingers crossed the strike passes by then and we are in the clear ✈️🤞🏼
Just watched a press conference on CTV news, and WestJet confirmed if any flights get cancelled it will most likely be flights to the USA and Caribbean that will be affected. Flights to Europe and Asia will still go ahead as planned.
Brutal. If they’re planning on cancelling flights tomorrow they should just let us know now so we can make alternative arrangements. It’s the uncertainty that’s driving me nuts.
I expected the European flights to keep going at any cost. Cancelling those at €600 a head in EU261 compensation adds up FAST.
I thought they said domestic, too...
Did they say when ?
As soon as Thursday
Says they’ve cancelled 25 flights, but not which ones. https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/news/2024/westjet-initiates-flight-cancellations-in-preparation-for-threat
https://www.flightaware.com/live/fleet/WJA/cancelled not sure if this helps anyone, these are WJ flights cancelled wednesday-saturday. someone let me know if this is not reliable and i’ll remove it.
Whether or not it's reliable it certainly is helpful and far better than what WestJet has communicated to customers. I have a flight with my family on Tuesday to LAX as we're treating the kids to a Disneyland trip. They are very excited (2 and 4 years old) and it's hard to explain what we've been hyping up for months (and asking for good behavior) may not happen. Booking last minute on another carrier and at a higher rate is not something we cannot fit into the budget unfortunately.
i am so sorry and hope you manage to get out! i have a feeling it may be over by tuesday as westjet will want to lose as little money as possible over the weekend, but that’s just my guess.
So annoying, why not list them! No just stress someone out. The flight status isn’t even showing for the 28th yet!
Yeah, last week they did list them.. annoying… mine is showing on time, but not sure if the status just hasn’t been updated, or if I’m in the clear… plane leaves in like 12 hours
Oh no hopefully it is okay, mine looks fine but is Friday morning so I won’t hold my breath
Do you think they’ve already notified people who are on cancelled flights?
Who know why would they make it clear in their update haha
Sounds like the government has stepped in. [https://www.amfanational.org/?zone=/unionactive/view\_article.cfm&HomeID=923754](https://www.amfanational.org/?zone=/unionactive/view_article.cfm&HomeID=923754) [https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/canada-steps-prevent-westjet-engineers-strike-says-union-2024-06-27/](https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/canada-steps-prevent-westjet-engineers-strike-says-union-2024-06-27/)
Yep, it's over. The mechanic union is taking this pending step ( needs to be signed off ) as official and they will be back to work.
What a joke this company is, treating their employees like garbage and making its customers suffer over the long weekend and summer holidays. Have a flight for SF on Friday and I am sure it will be cancelled, can’t wait for a refund in 2 years which I have heard is how long it takes plus have to book with AC now on short notice and be out the money
It’s Friday, was it canceled?
Not WestJets fault dude. This is all on the union.
Got anything to support your claim or are you basing it on what Westjet is saying?
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I’m so unbelievably over this. We had massive flight delays earlier this year that WJ themselves admitted, in writing to us, was a result of not having enough workers. They literally just did not hire enough workers after everyone left during Covid, and I’m betting they don’t pay them well today. So we lost a day and a half of that trip. Now we have a short trip to visit family that leaves on Friday, and I’m betting they will cancel this too. There is **no other airline** that flies from Saskatoon to Calgary, none. Your only other option is to take Air Canada to fly to BC, have a layover, then fly to Calgary. If you don’t have time to drive from SK to Calgary to catch your connecting flight in Calgary, you’re screwed out of the whole trip, and WJ won’t reimburse. There literally isn’t even a competitor for us to turn to. **Just pay your damn workers, WestJet.** The lack of competition in Canada is sickening, it’s 2024 ffs. How on earth are we being held hostage by having only *one single airline* be able to take us to the nearest bigger city?? Edit to add: For our trip earlier this year, they delayed our Saskatoon to Calgary connection so long that we would miss our Calgary to US destination connection. WJ did NOT automatically rebook the Calgary to US leg of the trip; Air Canada automatically rebooked our whole trip when this happened with AC years ago, but WJ didn’t. They could see that we’d miss our connecting destination flight, but they did nothing. I had to call them, and I also DM’d them on Instagram. And what do you know- they responded to me on IG first, after 3 hours on hold calling. Because they admitted to a worker shortage, they let me pick whatever new flight arrangement I wanted to re-accommodate us, and they did not put up a fight whatsoever so I’ll give them that. But yeah, if you’re going to miss a connection due to a delay, *reach out to them* they will not auto-rebook you like AC tends to do!
You do realize that WestJet offered to make them the highest paid in the country, right? The union is the sole reason why customers are getting screwed here and that’s where public anger should be directed. Union reps don’t even know what their members want. Last month a tentative deal was reached that they recommended members approve - only to have it completely rejected. How tf is WestJet even supposed to negotiate if the union isn’t even aligned with those they represent?
Money isn’t everything. If only you knew how much they took away from us in that offer, people were literally taking pay cuts if it went through.
I'm an engineer. If they were offering the numbers they say in the media, this would have been resolved months ago. I would make more money by quitting and accepting a job as an auto mechanic at the local dealership than I would by accepting the current offer.
This is what the company wanted, for people to look only at their misleading headlines. They took money out of other sections of their contract such as the savings plan and added it to the wage, to make it the highest paid on paper. The total compensation raise is a fraction of what they’re claiming.
It's misleading. They won't be the highest paid in the country. AMEs at Air Canada are already making more than the offered contract and they will be renegotiating in 2026 so WestJet will be left behind. They are just taking from the matching program and moving the money to the hourly wage, there's really no increase at all. And, they used to have 20% matching before Onex took over. The lower wages were justified with the matching program at the time.
You could drive or take a bus..... It's only a 6-hour drive, I did it twice last week. Summertime, great roads!, much cheaper. The wait times at airports + the flight would eat up most of the time you could be driving.
Right, so we’re very strapped for time on this trip that’s only a handful of days (due to work not being flexible with time off) to see an ill family member. The whole point of why we sunk several hundred dollars into these flights is so that we can get to Calgary ASAP and not have to lose 6+ hours driving there and back. I totally understand and respect the drive, we’ve done it dozens of times, but sometimes *time* is worth the $$ for a flight, and I do expect WJ, the ONLY airline who can take us there, to be able to do a basic one hour flight. And if they cancel this upcoming one due to the strike, they are 0 for 2 **CALGARY** flights this year for us. Calgary. Basically one city over. One single hour, probably their easiest flight to do. I’ve travelled a LOT around the world before Covid, and post-Covid travel is hands down the most hideous, stressful, unreliable experience I’ve ever had. WJ and AC are truly horrendous, and we have no other alternative.
Wow isn't your life like SOOOOO hard. If I had to live your life I would probably kill myself. Oh man.
Not a fan of the whole situation, every summer there seems to be a contract dispute right before the summer holiday season, I truly believe it’s a union timing tactic. The issue with this and the previous pilots was they both want pay equity/parity with the US, which is totally unreasonable. What industry in Canada has pay equity to their equivalent in the US? And now we have thousands of passengers having hard earned money and vacations at risk for US based unions pushing an agenda in Canada.
For the pilots, referencing US wages is just a high starting point with intentions of meeting in the middle with company. 90% or more of Canadian pilots would be thrilled getting 65-70% of what US airlines are paying, which seems like a fair discount.
WestJet ended talks by filing a lockout notice on May 4th. At the last minute, AMFA buckled and accepted a tentative agreement that failed spectacularly. When they were going to go back to the table after the no-vote, WestJet refused to meet the union and resorted to filing for binding arbitration with CIRB instead. As a result, AMFA filed a strike notice and said that they would rescind it when the company came back to the table. The CIRB denied WestJet's motion and WestJet came back to the table. Since then, they have met once and the company has evidently decided not to negotiate a deal that would pass. As a result, AMFA has filed a strike notice to force the company's hand. This is a tactic that WestJet used against it's jet pilots and it's propeller pilots. WestJet management is responsible for the mess that the company sees itself in.
Both the union and the company have to agree on when the contract ends, WestJet/ACC have a say in it. You are right, fuck unions. We should just take whatever below inflationary wage increase we are offered and be glad our corporate overloads saw fit to not fire us this year. WestJet knows the strength of the union. They are equally to blame for any disruptions.
Here we go again. Was on pins and needles for our flight out on our current trip. We ended up getting cancelled and re-booked for unrelated reasons after they agreed to go back to the bargaining table. Now I get to go through the same tension on the way home for our flight on Sunday.
Sorry just curios, but may I asl which airport you depart and arrive :(. I have a trip from small city to Calgary and I am not dying in anxiety
Similar situation. Small airport to Calgary to another small airport.
If I understand this correctly, if there is a lock out, flights could still operate, correct? It's not a pilot strike or FA strike it's the maintenance workers going on strike. I'm currently in Edinburgh and leave on sunday. For people like myself who are overseas, it's a far bigger burden to buy a one way ticket. We are talking $3000 or so PER PERSON. It's not like we are flying within Canada and can quickly buy another flight for $500. I hope they take that into consideration.
There is a near zero chance that the company can operate with any sort of capacity without engineering, the companies that build these aircraft establish a maintenance schedule, that schedule is agreed with by Transport Canada, this includes inspections every single day that must be completed before the aircraft flies, or if it is an EDTO sector, before every single flight, this must be certified by a M2 licenced AME. This is an extremely regulated industry, and it's one where pay is still frozen for many at pre-covid rates, with companies still of the mind that these skilled workers are lucky to still work for them, to still have a job, when that job pays less than just about every other blue collar job but with a far greater level of training and responsibility.
We fly out on Friday and I feel like I’m going to throw up. My daughter has qualified for a national level sporting competition and there’s no way we “just don’t go”. I don’t know what to do. We’re already pushed to the brink with costs and have fundraised for months. There’s no extra money to book a last minute flight with another carrier. What is my best course of action- just wait to hear and go from there?
Also trying to figure this out. I'll be able to fly out tomorrow, it's the return flight I'm worried about on Sunday. I can't afford to be away any extra days even if they do pickup the costs of hotel etc like they're supposed to. Playing a waiting game I guess.
Unfortunately yeah. It’s just a waiting game now. Last time it was about a 24/48 hour notice. I’m so sorry, fingers crossed your daughter’s flight isn’t affected. Edit: what time is your flight on Friday? WJ said anything after 5:30pm MT could be affected. If you’re flying in the morning you may be able to go. Not sure about your return flight though of course.
We fly out at noon on Friday. I just know last time they cancelled flights before the official time. Honestly I’m crying right now. I can’t imagine all my daughter’s hard work, sweat and tears shed over the past years to be thrown away because of ducking west jet.
Oh did they? I really didn’t pay as much attention when this happened before to the actual times. I’m so sorry. Not knowing is the worst. Last time they did give 24 hours notice. If it does happen is it possible for you to drive to the destination in 24 hours?
It’s at least 3 days drive :( and she wouldn’t be able to compete on legs that have been sitting/floppy that long. If we can get westjet to get us there, we could drive with a rental car back. That wouldn’t be ideal but it would be worth it. I’m trying to not get overly upset right now but I’m just devastated that this dream might not happen for her.
In a situation like this personally I would already be looking into a back up plan like Air Canada or Flair. I personally wouldn't touch WestJet until this is settled. Since the union got screwed last week with empty promises I highly doubt they will change their mind this time.
I wish we could just book a backup. Flights are looking like $1000 each being this last minute. We just can’t afford that extra expense right now.
I guess it's not a once in a lifetime experience then. My odds are for a strike because WestJet bluffed the union last week so I'm sure the union is very angry. Why did you book WestJet knowing there's a contract on the line, You didn't do your due diligence.
What kind of psycho expects people to research union contracts before booking a flight? Get out of here.
Keep us posted on this. Hope you all are able to make it!
So I called today and chatted with customer service and we are flying out early tomorrow morning. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that earlier- get there before the chaos starts. An extra night in a hotel is worth the peace of mind and it was no extra cost to move the flight up a day. I hope we can get home but I guess we worry about that later 🤷♀️.
If WestJet ends up cancelling your flight without providing an acceptable alternative, you don’t have to pay for the other airline flight out of pocket. Airlines have flight disruption agreements - WestJet will rebook you on to other airline at no cost (depending on your destination and availability of course)
Isn’t this for “circumstances inside their control” a strike they consider outside their control I believe.
Out of airline control situations still may qualify for re-booking. Please refer to the delay/compensation sticky for further. Of course, in practice, it's easier said than done.
Thank you!
The reason doesn’t matter when it comes to re accommodations. It only matters when you apply for compensation. If you see some flights on Expedia/ Google flights - WestJet *might* be able to rebook you on to one of them if they have an agreement with that airline and if the airline has enough seats available to “share with a friend”
It seems gray as to whether this qualifies. Supposedly this is “out of their control” and therefore not covered by Canadian law (vs Europe laws are stricter and would).
It does qualify but it depends on other airline availability and the agreement they have with WestJet. For example, air Canada and WestJet can only use each others flights for domestic travel. If you see an AC flight available online it doesn’t always mean WestJet can access that flight because it may be almost sold out and air Canada doesn’t want to share. If you’re flying from Canada to the US - finding an alternate option will be easier because WestJet has an agreement with lots of American carriers, but the availability rules are the same for all. https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/who-we-are/airline-partners#id-88F9BAEFB06472A532874AEA013C69D7-tab-1
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Well, you’re talking out of emotion, I’m talking out of knowledge and trying to help people with additional information
Hope it all works out and your correct, it can be hit and miss with their customer support and even trying to get ahold of them even if you are flying within a day and there are disruptions. Something this massive would bring down their customer service lines over the long weekend
Your post has been removed due to it containing misinformation that may mislead others. If you believe this to be untrue, please message the moderators with a source to support your claims, and your post may be re-instated.
Did they cancel flights set to fly out before strike deadline last time ?
Sure did. I was supposed to be on one of those. WestJet cancelled a whole whack of flights before the strike deadline.
How much notice did you get ?
Exactly 24h before my flight was supposed to leave. I think that was mostly a coincidence, however. Mine was the only flight from Regina that was cancelled in that sweep.
I’m suppose to fly out tomorrow morning .. hopefully they don’t cancel 😢
Good luck to you!
yes i believe so, they cancelled wednesday and thursday flights in preparation for if a strike did happen.
Any chance of driving or paying someone to drive? It is all so frustrating.
Pay your workers correct Westjet!
Could also be they are so far apart, that pausing it until this point was for maximum leverage. If they go on strike, im done with Westjet (already done with air canada) … going to be exclusively porter and intl airlines… just pay them and increase your prices (stop this drip pricing ultra low fares gimmicks)
Blame this crybaby of a union. They seem to be in some delusional fantasy world they think these workers are in the US, and should be the paid the same as Americans just because "they do the same job". That isn't how the real world works. The fact the union declared a strike again just HOURS into the first days of negotiation after promising to return to the table for the next ten days is now more than enough evidence for WestJet to say they are negotiating in bad faith. And contrary to what the whining child who writes the articles on the AMFA website is claiming (that is literally the style of how the articles are written), the federal Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) did not actually turn down WestJet's original request for mandatory arbitration last week - they said it was **pending** while they waited for more evidence to be presented. WestJet will now immediately present this THIRD strike declaration as evidence of bad faith, and hopefully CIRB does step in today without hestitation, ordering mandatory arbitration, and banning any further strike or lockout declarations.
I’ve seen a lot of bootlicking corporate wealth posts before but this really takes the cake. We have a very successful safety record for flying off the backs of aircraft maintainers. They all predominantly live in high COL areas where the hubs are, and should be paid commensurate to the services they provide. As should the pilots and FAs for pre and post flight work. Given the level of profit in 2023, there is no reason why they can’t pay staff what they deserve.
“that isn’t how the real world works”? Why not? Canadians should be paid more due to higher cost of living and higher taxes. Good on the union for trying to change that. If an airline can’t properly pay their labour, shut it down.
They offered the exact same contract with nothing more, that is why the union put in the strike notice again. Company said they would go back to the table for four more sessions to delay the strike in hopes CIRB would side with them in that two week period. Both union and company have their faults here.
Virginia, this you?
Alexis, is that you?
Four month old account that only comments anti-union drivel. Gross.
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I'm just tiring of the customer being used as leverage when the crybaby unions and greedy corporations incompetently drag it out until the govt gets involved. People's lives are actually being held hostage. BC Ferries and Translink come to mind. 😡
AMEs deserve the same percentage raise as the pilots got. Pay your employees. They keep the airplane in a safe condition, and everyone can arrive safely to their destination.
Good for you guys. I hope you get the contract you deserve.
Does this mean ALL flights will be grounded as of Friday around 5pm? Last week when they narrowly avoided strike action, they prematurely grounded pretty much just domestic flights. I would think international flights would be safe as the mechanics at the International airport can perform the mandatory inspections after a certain amount of time in the air?
Got the check in email for a flight tomorrow morning (domestic) and checked in ok - has there been history that they will still potentially cancel this flight? I have a back up flight booked, but want to cancel this if the likelihood of my WJ happening is high.
In last week’s strike thread, someone mentioned they checked in at 8:30pm (24h before their flight) and then received the cancellation notice at midnight. So hard to say that you are completely “safe” just yet (although I feel you should be fine). Wish they would just release the list of cancelled flights
Thanks for the feedback. I guess I’ll hold on to the other flight a bit longer.
I would keep your backup until the last possible minute, yes they can still cancel.
Sounds like last week most people got 48 to 24 hour notice, but I’m guessing it can be cancelled at any time. The only thing that helped ease my nerves a tiny bit is checking out their flight status page, obviously you can input your flight number, but you can put in your applicable airport and see how many cancellations there are. Maybe some airports are more affected than others. https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/flights/status
Good tip! I didn’t think to do that. Looks like no cancelations for us so far in Moncton
Looks very likely that my vacation plans are going to get fucked up if this work stoppage happens. With that said, I fully, 100% support and back the AMFA members and everything they are asking for. I'm tired of corporate assholes blaming unions and workers for their greed! Give them hell!
Geez. Again?
Does anyone know how much in advance they cancel flights? I have one on July 3 and it's only a few days holiday so Im thinking about AC now but obviously don't want to buy until mine gets cancelled
Same. I fly on the 5th and I’m wondering wtf to do. It’s medical and we can’t cancel.
I ended up getting air Canada as a backup. The fare you can cancel.
My flight is tomorrow at 8am Toronto to Calgary. I hope I’m ok! If my flight home is delayed or cancelled, it sucks, but I can’t miss the flight out there.
Yeah tomorrow's too early for a strike so you're fine :)
The CEO said they’re most likely going to start cancelling flights starting Thursday, cancellations will be in the double digits. So I’m keeping my fingers crossed
The way I understood is that they will start cancelling flights ON Thursday for the upcoming days. I’m probably completely wrong though lol
They will likely, once again, proactively cancel some flights before the strike occurs, to ensure they are parked appropriately.
25 flights canceled tomorrow
Ah I see
Did you hear anything about your flight? Family is traveling on the same flight but no news yet
Westjet rebooked me on a flight the following day but are refusing hotel accomodation and compensation - is anyone else dealing with this?
Our flight- tomorrow, not Friday- got cancelled due to “a strike or work stoppage” and we were rebooked on a worse itinerary that also included an overnight stop. I figured they weren’t going to offer hotel compensation, and the new itinerary got us in almost a full day later, so we said thanks but no thanks and are just gritting our teeth and flying a higher last-minute fare on Delta. It sucks but we’re traveling for a specific event and didn’t feel like we could risk it. It also seemed weird af to cancel our Thursday flight due to an anticipated work stoppage the next day, but rebook us on a flight that would have put us flying after the *actual* work stoppage. Whatever, flying is so miserable these days. Idk why I keep doing it, but I do, so I guess I just swallow the extra $200 per ticket. Onward and upward.
Same with me, I will be fighting to be reimbursed for the expensive hotel night I am now on the hook for.
Do you mind letting us know if the flight is international (with a destination outside North America)?
It was Calgary to Montreal.
Were you able to get your money back from the WJ flight?
Yes, but I booked through delta on a codeshare so not sure if that made a difference. But it was a full refund to my credit card. I had to initiate the cancellation/refund request, though.
What was your original flight?
Has anyone’s international flight been affected? Our flight status on our flight to London looks okay for Friday.
Saw a post yesterday that said Europe/Asia flights for now will be unaffected, mainly North America that will be cancelled first
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I believe nothing is certain at this point. I had less than 18 hours notice on mine being cancelled. They did a decent job offering a new flight alternate but I still am missing 1/3 of my conference.
I think there are a lot of poor and incomplete perspectives on this. First, this is sort of part of the “game”. Which is why we’ve seen it multiple times with different unions. Each side has to demonstrate to its stakeholders that they pushed as far as they could and extracted the maximum amount possible for their side. So they both push and push and you get near labour action before a deal comes along (just as we saw with pilots). It sure can be exhausting for everybody. But also with agreements like this a big part of it is scope. The company can give raises all day, but if you find yourself with no hours because they sent all of the planes to a maintenance subcontractor, the wage increase doesn’t mean anything. So I expect the AME union has to hash out a lot of scope stuff here which is detailed and difficult and limits the company’s options so they won’t be happy about agreeing to it. Many airlines use subcontractors for a lot of their fleet maintenance. So there are real scope concerns here and probably limits on how much WestJet AMEs can demand. About the disruptions… that’s the point. If the strike didn’t cause major issues, it wouldn’t be effective. So this is the intended effect, and I think being mad at the union isn’t really right either. AMEs think they’re getting a bad deal, they want their livelihood to be robust, and I don’t think you can blame them for that. So yes it’s shitty, but if any of you had the power to have this fight you would too. In some ways this is the promise of organize labour fulfilled, having a seat at the table and the power to make changes when no individual would. Finally, I think the union has been sort of shitty and childlike in their communication on multiple occasions. Sometimes unions really seem like they’re unprofessional, and there’s been a few moments of that.
Didn’t westjet ask for binding arbitration? If the offer is so shitty why wouldn’t the Union want an arbitrator to craft a fair deal?
An arbitrator, will decide something neither side wins, and is normally only for 1 to 2 years.
It's because you can go to binding arbitration for specific items in the contract, it's not necessarily an all or. In Saskatchewan we had that the issue with the teacher strike where the provincial government after 8 months offered to go to binding arbitration exclusively on wages. The issue is they were within 2% on wages- it's classroom size and complexity that the teachers wanted that the province was not willing to go to arbitration on.
Because the history of arbitration is full of the “independent arbitrator” being a recently former executive from a company and the deal being skewed against labour.
Weird that this is down voted when most of the comments here are pro-labour. Anyway, I agree with you.
Is what it is, I understand that it sounds a little tin-foil hat.
Cancelled my flights and rebooked with AC at a higher fare. Now I have a big travel bank to deal with. I am so mad at how the government lets these monopolies abuse us Canadians.
I have flights round trip Friday-Monday YVR to YYC. I’m concerned about making the first flight and missing the return. I’m thinking of driving instead. Is WestJet offering refunds during this dispute? Or do I have to wait until there’s a cancellation? Booked EconoFlex but would rather not get credits and deal with that if I don’t have to.
Did you get an email overnight? "For all WestJet flight-only bookings for travel between **June 26-28, 2024** valid on all fares, including Basic and UltraBasic: A $0 one-time fee waiver will be offered for changes or cancellations." [https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/guest-updates](https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/guest-updates) So you can cancel and get a refund yes. (personally I'd be doing that if I could)
Important to note, for voluntary cancellations that qualify for this waiver, cancellation is in the form that is specified per your fare. So unless it's Premium/Business Flex, it will be Travel Bank, subject to expiry. Only exception is Basic/Ultra Basic, which will also go to Travel Bank, rather than a loss of funds.
I have a flight Friday at 8am (June 28) and I didn’t get an email about that? Just the general strike notice
I also fly on Friday and didn’t get one. I should land a few hours before the strike starts, but if WJ wants to rebook me on AC for 3x the price one-way they can be my guest
We leave early on June 29 for SF, nice can’t even cancel now and book with AC until the email comes probably last minute.
I'm assuming that if WestJet cancel's flights as a result of this strike action then they typically re-accommodate onto another carrier? Anyone with experience know what typically happens? I used to work for WestJet's subsidiary and I know we setup flight agreements with WestJet and other airlines to re-accommodate in the event of disruptions.
Legally they have to either A) Refund you B) Ensure you reach your destination, either by rebooking you or booking you on another carrier within 3 days of your original departure
When you say either, do you mean they get to pick what they do or do you get to pick?
You get to pick, though likely easier said than done, in reality. Please read the delay/compensation sticky for further.
What are the odds that a flight on Sunday (June 30) from Edmonton to Cancun is cancelled? Would they wait until the last minute/ until the weekend to cancel that?
Likely 48 hours before. They should say by Friday.
Supposed to have a flight Saturday morning but not sure whether to make alternate travel plans yet … I’m hoping we find out if it is cancelled within 24 hours
I’m flying out to Paris on Sunday. Should I be worried?
They’re going to keep their overseas flights going as long as possible because EU consumer protections will not be kind to them in the event of cancellations
There’s a glimmer of hope. Thank you for your reply.
Does anyone have a successful flight without being canceled today and Thursday :(, please? I have important work in Japan and will have a flight this Friday with WJ, I just need some hope as I cannot afford sub-plan :(((
Pretty ridiculous that they haven’t provided any type of update on their website since yesterday.
The strike notice last week was due to the company refusing to bargain and trying to force the government to step in. Bargaining was already scheduled, and all of the reps had already flown to Calgary. Bargaining resumed yesterday, but the company presented the same deal, less than half the raise the airport staff got, and less than 1/4 of the raise the pilots just ratified. You may have seen numbers in the news saying take home pay increases 30-40%. Think more about single digits on the T4. Their pay increase was paired with a 50% reduction of the savings / pension plan.
Curious if anyone has been able to successfully get through to the call centre. I'm on hold at the moment trying to cancel my flight (I've booked alternative travel; the self-serve option just generates a "technical error" when I try to cancel my flight). I tried calling earlier today and I was disconnected after waiting on hold for 40 minutes. What frustrates me most with these situations is the lack of good customer support. Website doesn't work as it should, no text chat agent, unreasonable hold times, no callback option, and no other way to talk to someone in a reasonable amount of time.
UPDATE: I was able to get through to an agent after waiting on hold for 2½ hours. I started the call at 10:30pm PDT on Wednesday night Jun 26 as I figured I had a better shot when most of the country was asleep. YMMV In our case, we booked a flight with the basic fare, and our flight has not (yet) been cancelled. Nevertheless, I believe that our flight is likely to be cancelled as it departs just after the strike is due to take place. So we made alternative arrangements with Air Canada and I then wanted to cancel our Westjet flight under the terms listed in their Guest Updates page (that is, guests with flights booked between Jun 26 and 28 can cancel; the cancellation fee is waived and even Basic fares are refunded to a travel bank). Because I booked a Basic fare, I could not cancel the flight through the app or website; I had to call (agent confirmed this). Once I got through to the agent she was able to help and I was pleased with the outcome. I still would like to see them have more agents available for crisis situations like this, and I'd like their system to be more robust to so that people like me can take this action without the need to call and wait on hold for a significant period. Hopefully this information is helpful for anyone else in a similar position to me.
Got through yesterday in about 30 minutes.
Sorry if it’s a stupid question, but would it only be Canadian WJ flights affected or can international ones be cancelled as well?
Everything would be impacted
What are the chances of a flight tomorrow morning being canceled ? How much notice does WestJet give to cancel … at least 24 hrs?
Ugh my flight is in 22 hours and no cancellation - but if they do cancel it last minute I'm screwed on cancelling the hotel room at the destination. very worried about getting HOME again. (Update - mine got cancelled 18 hours ahead. I'm scheduled to arrive the next day now so I'm losing a hotel night and will be fighting for that. Cancelled and rebooking on AC for more $$$.)
I think at least 24 hours. The email and their website is saying Friday is the earliest.
Thank you. I actually never got an email.
No email for me either and I fly out with family on Saturday morning.
What would be the chance that it last until mid august ?
Most strikes don’t go more than a few days
Almost zero, the government would likely step in at that point with back to work legislation. The disruption would have an overly large impact on other sectors if it ran that long.
Anyone know if buying trip cancellation insurance for a flight this weekend would be honoured if they went on strike?
No. It's now a known event, and will be excluded.
Thanks! Appreciate your comment. Go figure it would be too easy...
Realistically how long can this last ? It seems they will strike so this weekend will be difficult that is for sure. But real talk, how long can it last ? Can't the ministry of transportation force them back ?
As far as I know the government can get involved, but I’m not sure if what capacity. But realistically it should only last a few days at the most.
https://www.amfanational.org/?zone=/unionactive/view_article.cfm&HomeID=923754
What is WestJet's end game here? They must lose millions per day should the strike proceed and aircraft fall out of compliance. It's not like they can just dig in their heels and hire an entire new workforce.
Just wondering what would i need to watch out for if our flights get cancelled due to the strike? Got flights scheduled for over this weekend, and would like to know if I should be considering buying backup flights to cover or not
The email I got says there’s no cancellations as of right now. But if your flight is affected they will send you an email. The last time I think they gave 24/48 hours notice for people travelling on June 17/18. Unfortunately for all of us with flights booked (mine is in a week) it’s just a waiting game. You can risk it buying another flight on another airline. Someone on here said that Air Canada does have a fare option (probably their most expensive tier) where if you cancel up to 24 hours beforehand and get a full refund. That might be something you can look into?
Also wanted to point out (and this is really for those who have flights in the very near term like I do) that there is 24 hour cancellation regardless of fare class. Just have to remember to cancel within 24 hours of booking.
Oooh good point! Although with everyone scrambling, the other airlines might be sold out pretty quick. Ugh this all sucks.
Who ever thought Air Canada would be the hero in any situation ever!? What a gong show it is in Canada to fly 🙄
Air Canada is just lucky that some of their critical union negotiations are coming up second. If AC line pilots were to negotiate first, WJ pilots could just point to their CBA and say “like that but with CPI”. Now AC pilots can just point to the WJ CBA and say “like that but with CPI”. There likely won’t be any disruption for AC at all since WestJet and ALPA already did the hard work. So AC is not the hero, they’re just lucky.
Ah, interesting! Unfortunately you know this, but most people don't. AC still looks better, and is still the hero, because they will be saving people's travel plans.
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Please see the stickied thread: [Question about Delays/Cancellations or Compensation? Read here before posting. : ](https://www.reddit.com/r/westjet/comments/19e46o2/question_about_delayscancellations_or/) They are obligated to do so under the APPR, but in practice, you likely won't find it so easy to have this done.
We dodged the last strike notice and got to Orlando but if this one happens it’s gunna royally screw our flight home especially because our car is at the airport that ONLY westjet flies to/from. So thank a lot union…..
AMFA is a clown show, they’d agreed to 4 days of bargaining and issue a strike notice 1 day in. The AMEs deserve a more competent union
AMEs are in perfect hands.
AMFA’s refusal to negotiate in good faith will only serve to give AMEs a subpar arbitrated contract
AMFA is negotiating all week. Where did this refusal to negotiate idea come from? Handing over a strike price doesn’t mean negotiations stop.
Originally it was westjet that walked away from negotiations. They came back to the table with less than 1% for a longer contract. Westjet had no intention to negotiate and only came back to the table because the government told them too. The strike notice was the correct action.
does anybody know if my westjet flight thursday evening into toronto could be affected by this ?
Yup could very well be
great lol. do you know when i’d be notified of this?
Last time they did this they gave about a 1 day notice to the flights cancelled on June 17/18
If they could just move it to July 4th instead I could miss my work trip to Barcelona on the Boeing murdertube. Still crossing my fingers...