Regina travellers scramble to make new plans after strike forces WestJet flight cancellations

WestJet flight cancellations after the airline's unionized mechanics went on strike left people in Regina scrambling for other ways to reach their destinations on Saturday — including, for at least one traveller, considering a 17-hour drive to catch a connecting flight from Vancouver. 

Jane Li was at the Regina airport's WestJet kiosk for more than two hours trying to figure out a way to get to China. She had flights booked from Regina to Vancouver, and then to Shanghai, but the Regina to Vancouver flight was cancelled.

She had to go through the time-consuming process of booking a new route to China — one she said will now take her two days.

"I am so sad about that, and I have to re-plan my schedule," she said. 

Li said she considered driving to Vancouver to catch her connecting flight, but decided that journey wasn't feasible. She now has a flight scheduled for Sunday morning, but isn't convinced that flight will go ahead as planned.

"If the flight postpones for longer, then I have to postpone my plan in China, and I don't know what will be the consequences," she said.

She was among the travellers affected by a surprise strike by unionized airline mechanics at WestJet. That prompted the airline to cancel 235 flights on Saturday, affecting an estimated 33,000 passengers.

The airline said earlier Saturday it expected another 150 flights to be cancelled by the afternoon.

The strike decision came Friday, a day after the federal labour minister directed the Canada Industrial Relations Board to impose binding arbitration to solve outstanding collective agreement issues between WestJet and the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, or AMFA.

Bharat Gautam, a Regina resident, was another WestJet passenger left in the lurch by the strike — and said he was also considering the drive to Vancouver, where he's supposed to attend a family member's wedding.

Gautam said he was rebooked on a WestJet flight to Vancouver on July 1 — but that's a day too late. 

"It's a very important trip because somebody's getting married, so we have to be there," he said.

If WestJet isn't able to book him on an earlier flight, Gautam said, he'd rather ask for a refund and start driving to Vancouver.

"It's difficult. The passengers still really don't know about their passenger rights, and airlines take advantage of that," he said.