Travellers stuck at Edmonton International Airport in aftermath of WestJet mechanics strike
Posted July 2, 2024 11:34 am.
Last Updated July 2, 2024 11:46 am.
Travellers at Edmonton International Airport were left scrambling on Canada Day after a brief strike by WestJet mechanics led to hundreds of flight cancellations.
The chaotic weekend spilled over until Monday despite a deal being reached to end the strike.
The airline said in a statement Monday morning that “full resumption of operations will take time and further cancellations will be required over the coming days.”
That made things complicated for travellers waiting to fly out of Alberta’s capital.
Michael and his wife were scheduled to travel to Rome to attend their daughter’s wedding.
“It showed it was still going out on time, and as the day progressed it said delayed, delayed, delayed, and now it says delayed beyond our time,” Michael told CityNews.
The couple were left with no choice but to book on another airline.
“They had no staff to help us out, nobody to answer the phones. Even today when you call in, they hang up on you,” Michael explained.
Tens of thousands of travellers had their plans disrupted over one of the busiest long weekends in the country.
“My connecting flight to my home has been cancelled not once, but twice,” said Josh, another traveller. “I’m pretty upset with WestJet because of this.”
Aman, who came to Edmonton to attend her brother’s funeral, was stranded at the airport Monday after WestJet cancelled her flight to Abbotsford, B.C.
“If I can’t travel today, I’ll have trouble with my job,” she said.
“I have to go back to work. That was our main worry,” added Noreen, another traveller.
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On Friday, the mechanics’ union – the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association – announced their 680 members were going on strike because the airline’s “unwillingness to negotiate with the union made the strike inevitable.”
It came despite a directive for binding arbitration from the labour minister.
Travellers were wondering if they would be refunded by the airline.
“I’ve tried to talk to people here about refunds,” Josh said. “The people at the airport said ‘we’re not doing it.’ I’m pretty much on my own.”
“I can’t get my money back,” added Michael. “Now what they want to do, they put that money back in the travel bank. They got us locked in to fly on their airline.”
The airline said it had cancelled around 830 flights scheduled between Thursday and Monday. It later said another 214 flights were cancelled on Monday on top of 78 that had already been chopped, and 27 flights have been cancelled for Tuesday.
The Calgary-based airline says part of the challenge it faces is that its aircrafts are parked at 13 airports across Canada, and in several cases, the crews need to be transported to the aircraft for retrieval.
