Thousands of passengers had their travel plans disrupted and some stranded after Canada’s second-largest airline cancelled hundreds of flights over the weekend.
WestJet cancelled 832 flights between last Thursday and Tuesday, during the Canadian holiday weekend.
The strike grounded 130 planes at 13 airports in Canada, leaving some passengers stranded overnight in terminals.
“It is [a] disaster,” said Louisa Garcia CTV News, in which she explained how she and her husband slept at Vancouver International Airport after a 14-hour flight from Manila.
The couple was scheduled to take another flight to their home in Edmonton on Saturday around 8 p.m.
“When we checked in for the connection … we heard that it had been canceled and they had not sent us an email,” she said, adding that she was then booked on another flight for the morning but that one was also cancelled.
The groundings were the result of a strike by the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association. The strike ended Sunday after talks between the union and the airline resumed.
It wasn’t just passengers in Canada who faced disruptions. La Carmina, a travel vlogger from Vancouver, told us Vancouver is awesome that she was stuck in Los Cabos, Mexico.
“I received an email after midnight [on Friday] “They said it was disrupted and there were no options to rebook, very unhelpful,” the vlogger told the outlet.
At Winnipeg International Airport, others who had a layover at the airport on Saturday said they feared they would have to spend the night at the airport.
WestJet announced late on Sunday that strike action had been halted and that “AMFA members will return to work as planned and begin work immediately to restore the network” after a preliminary agreement was reached.
The Airplane Mechanics Fraternal Association urged its members to return to work immediately, pending a vote on the temporary agreement.
About 680 employees, whose daily inspections and repairs are essential to the airline’s operations, walked off work Friday evening despite a directive for binding arbitration from Canada’s labor minister.
WestJet reported Sunday evening that flight disruptions will continue into the coming week as planes return to service.
The independent has contacted WestJet for comment.
