WestJet customers holding their breath as strike notice jeopardizes travel plans

The journey plans of WestJet prospects are up within the air after its pilots’ union issued a 72-hour strike discover Monday evening.

The gambit by the Air Line Pilots Association kicked off a countdown to a flight crew walkout at 3 a.m. EDT on Friday morning, simply forward of the trip-laden May lengthy weekend.

Vancouver resident Debby Raffard stated she’s been anxiously checking social media for updates about her May 22 flight to Hawaii, which she booked with WestJet in November.

“I am beyond upset,” she stated, expressing frustration with either side.

“I don’t have that extra money to pay for another flight, nor do my travelling companions. So we are essentially screwed here,” Raffard stated, noting the group made a non-refundable apartment reserving.

WestJet subsidiary Swoop notified prospects there isn’t a influence on operations to date. But WestJet stated Monday evening it had began preparations to chop the flight schedules of each the flagship and funds carriers.

In the occasion of a delay or cancellation, prospects might be “refunded or re-accommodated, as applicable,” the airline stated Monday evening.

But consultants stated a strike may taint passengers’ view of a sector already rife with buyer dissatisfaction after a whole lot of 1000’s of flight cancellations over the previous three years that prompted tens of 1000’s of complaints round compensation to the transport regulator.

“If WestJet was to go on strike because of an issue with pilots, it will be of course detrimental to the industry overall, (and) to the travellers,” stated Jacques Roy, a professor of transport administration at HEC Montreal business faculty.

“It’s a market where the supply is less than demand. So basically, they are in the driver’s seat,” he stated of the 1,600 WestJet pilots gearing as much as strike amid a worldwide pilot scarcity.

WestJet pilots, who unionized in 2017, are negotiating with privately-held WestJet after Onex Corp. purchased the airline in 2019. The privatization has meant the lack of some potential perks for pilots, stated Roy.

“The pilots with WestJet used to brag that though they were paid less than Air Canada’s pilots, they would still make more money because they could buy WestJet shares at half the price,” Roy stated, including that labour points have been as soon as “nonexistent.”

Now, union and administration are taking part in hardball below strain from inflation, labour shortages and rising U.S. pilot wages on the one hand and a pandemic-battered aviation sector on the opposite.

If it drags on, the standoff may tarnish WestJet’s popularity and have an effect on its bookings, stated Karl Moore, an affiliate professor with the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University.

“There’s that feisty Western approach, more of a sense of humour than Air Canada,” he stated. “I think overall WestJet has a pretty positive image among Canadians. Now, this might hurt them a bit.”

Bernard Lewall, who heads the union’s WestJet contingent, stated the employees’ points revolve round job safety, pay and scheduling, with some 340 pilots leaving the provider over the previous yr and a half – principally for different airways.

“After nine months of negotiating, management still fails to understand today’s labour market conditions, leading to a mass exodus of our pilots in search of better work opportunities, and more will follow if this agreement does not meet our pilots’ needs,” Lewall stated in an announcement Monday evening.

Last week, Calgary-based WestJet stated its pilots are among the many greatest paid in Canada, however {that a} contract on par with these just lately secured by some U.S. pilot teams can be financially unworkable and will put the corporate’s future in danger.

Negotiations are ongoing from 7 a.m. to midnight at a lodge close to Toronto’s Pearson airport, even after the strike discover – and WestJet’s instant response of a lockout discover.

“The decision to issue a lockout notice, in response to the actions taken by the union today, was not one that was made lightly, and we sincerely regret the inconvenience and uncertainty this continues to cause for our guests,” WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech stated in an announcement shortly earlier than midnight Monday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first printed May 16, 2023.