'They should have at least communicated'

Passengers say they felt abandoned by WestJet following flight cancellations

- KEVIN JIANG

WestJet’s recent flight cancellations left Julie Borgdorff, along with her three daughters and husband, stranded in Cancun days before hurricane Beryl was expected to hit, forcing the family to pay for a costly alternative flight home.

By the time Crystal Kelly finally got through to WestJet customer service, after waiting 27 hours on hold — including a restless night spent sleeping with phone in hand listening to the holding tone on speakerphone — the 33-year-old mother of three had already been stranded in Chicago, away from her kids, for half a week.

What was meant to be their first weekend vacation in five years had turned into a “nightmare” for Crystal and her husband Deryk, after the couple were roused by a 3 a.m. notification Monday morning informing them their flight that same day had been cancelled amid the WestJet mechanics strike.

She described desperately trying to arrange care from Chicago for her three children, three, six and 14 in Carstairs, near Calgary.

“So I’m trying to find arrangements for friends to take my son to daycare and pick them up until my mom gets off her shift at night.

“I (had) no one to watch my son. It’s been really awful.”

The Kellys were among the more than 100,000 passengers affected by the 1,171 cancelled WestJet flights, as of time of writing, following a surprise strike from aircraft mechanics over the weekend — including 79 cancellations on Tuesday, 30 on Wednesday and eight on Thursday — despite the airline and the union reaching a deal just after midnight Monday. WestJet said it has now “stabilized,” and that no more cancellations related to the strike are expected.