WestJet customers can get full refund for cancelled flights at Pearson Airport in Mississauga

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Published May 17, 2023 at 4:52 pm

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WestJet customers who cancel their flights this weekend out of Pearson Airport in Mississauga amid the threat of a strike by the airline’s pilots will be fully refunded by the company.

With some 1,800 pilots at Calgary-based WestJet and its subsidiary, Swoop, poised to walk out of their cockpits on Friday morning (May 19) at 5 a.m. (EST), Pearson Airport officials took to social media this afternoon (May 17) to keep passengers informed.

“The airline is offering full refunds to customers who cancel scheduled flights through the weekend, when WestJet pilots could go on strike or get locked out,” Pearson officials said on Twitter.

WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech says a massive gap remains between the airline’s offer to pilots and the union’s counter-proposal for a new contract as job action looms.

 

Round-the-clock negotiations between WestJet and the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) continue to intensify as the clock ticks down toward Friday’s strike deadline.

The standoff leaves thousands of passengers with travel plans for the May long weekend and beyond hanging in limbo — and has already affected bookings, WestJet’s CEO says.

Some 750 WestJet pilots protested at Pearson and other airports last week as talks between the ALPA and WestJet management continued, but failed to make any meaningful progress.

Among other things, the pilots are seeking better working conditions and higher wages they say would bring them more in line with their North American counterparts.

ALPA officials also said earlier, according to travel magazine PAX, that poor working conditions are causing about 30 pilots a month to leave WestJet.

Airline officials countered, saying the number of pilot resignations has been exaggerated and that WestJet’s mainline pilots are among the best paid in Canada.

Pearson officials also remind passengers to check their flight’s status ahead of time if flying with WestJet and “do not come to the airport if your flight is cancelled.”

–with files from The Canadian Press

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