Collective bargaining between WestJet and its employees may disrupt your travel in more than one way. To better understand your rights, you may want to consider two key questions.
Who changed your original itinerary—you or the airline?
- You: If your original flight is still scheduled to operate, any offer to rebook you on a different flight is at the airline's discretion. You are at the airline's mercy if you accept such an offer.
- WestJet: If the airline cancels your original flight, the law may offer you some protection.
When was your itinerary changed—before or after the strike began?
- Before: If WestJet cancelled your flight "preemptively" before the strike has begun or because it locked out its own employees, please see WestJet Preemptive Flight Cancellations 2026: What Are My Rights?
- After: If your flight is cancelled after WestJet employees go on strike and without WestJet locking out its own employees, then this article is for you.
This article addresses situations in which WestJet cancels your original flight after a strike had begun.
Overview of Your Rights
If WestJet cancels your flight because its employees have already begun a strike, your rights depend on your itinerary. However, WestJet must always offer you a choice between the following two options.
Option 1: Continuing to Travel
- Rebooking, free of charge, on the next available flight operated by any carrier, including on competitors with whom WestJet has no interline agreement, on any reasonable air route from the airport where you are located, or another airport that is within a reasonable distance of that airport, to the destination that is indicated on your original ticket.
- In addition, if the new departure is from an airport other than the one at which you are located, transportation to that other airport, free of charge.
Option 2: Refund and Return to Point of Origin
- Refund in the original form of payment and within 30 days of all unused flight segments and segments that no longer serve any purpose.
- In addition, transportation to your point of origin, free of charge, if you are not at the point of origin and the travel no longer serves any purpose because of the cancellation.
Do not agree to a refund (Option 2) if you really want to continue travelling, because Option 2 relieves the airline of further responsibility for your travel. Booking a replacement flight often becomes more expensive as the travel date approaches. Accepting a refund and rebooking on your own may leave you out of pocket because of the airline's conduct. However, the airline cannot force you to accept Option 2.
If the airline refuses to rebook you on a competitor airline in accordance with Option 1, then you may want to buy a ticket on a competitor airline on your own, and then hold WestJet liable for the extra expense.
We strongly recommend that you record your interactions with WestJet. Evidence of WestJet's actions and omissions, including refusal to offer compensation or rebooking, may turn out to be crucial for enforcing your right to compensation.
Additional compensation for out-of-pocket expenses (meals, hotels, lost wages) and inconvenience may be owed to you, depending on your travel's origin and destination.
Ultimately, you may want to take WestJet to small claims court to enforce your rights.
The Air Passenger Protection Regulations
If your itinerary is entirely within Canada, then unfortunately your only protection is Canada's inferior Air Passenger Protection Regulations, also known as the APPR. The APPR applies to all flights to and from Canada, but you may have additional rights under other legislation (see below).
Under the APPR, a strike by WestJet employees is, unfortunately, deemed to be "outside the carrier's control" (s. 10(1)(j)). The airline must offer you a choice between the following two options.
Option 1: Continuing to Travel
- Under subsection 18(1) and paragraph 18(1.1)(a) of the APPR, the airline must rebook you, free of charge, on the next available flight operated by WestJet or one of its partners (e.g., Air France, Delta, or KLM) departing within 48 hours of your original departure time, or, failing that, on the next available flight operated by a competitor with which WestJet has no interline agreement.
- The rebooking must be done irrespective of class of service (ss. 18(2)-(3)). For instance, if the only available seat on the next flight is in business class and you were originally booked in economy, the airline must book you into business class for free.
- It may be beneficial to consult a flight booking website to determine what the next available flights in fact are, as some airlines may try to put you on flights departing many hours or days later, in contravention of their rebooking obligation under the APPR.
- The APPR does not require the airline to provide food, beverages, or accommodation in this scenario (although it may be owed under other legislation; see below).
- The APPR does not require cash compensation for inconvenience in this scenario (although it may be owed under other legislation; see below).
Option 2: Refund and Return to Point of Origin
- Under the case law on refunds and paragraph 18(1.1)(a) of the APPR, you are entitled to choose to not travel anymore and opt for a full refund of the ticket. Should you make this decision enroute to your destination, the airline is required to also fly you back to your point of origin free of charge.
- Under section 18.2 of the APPR, the airline must provide that refund in the original form of payment within 30 days of your request.
- No cash compensation for inconvenience is owed under the APPR in this scenario (although it may be owed under other legislation; see below).
Flights That Are Part of an International Itinerary
If your itinerary includes at least one international segment, the airline is liable for your damages incurred as a result of a delay. This includes flights to or from the U.S. In other words, if any of your flights crosses an international border, this section applies. This means that, in addition to offering you a choice between Option 1 and Option 2, WestJet must also compensate you, after the fact, for:
- reasonable expenses incurred for meals, ground transportation, accommodation, telecommunications, etc.;
- lost wages;
- prepaid hotel nights or events missed at the destination; and
- any other loss you may have incurred as a result of the delay.
The source of your rights is Schedule VI to the Canadian Carriage by Air Act, also known as the Montreal Convention, specifically its Article 19. It provides that an airline can avoid liability for a delay only by proving that it, its agents, and its servants took all reasonable measures to prevent the delay, or that no such measures were available. In addition, under Article 26, the airline cannot exclude this liability by using creative contractual language.
While WestJet may attempt to deny compensation on the basis of this exception, it is unlikely to succeed in court, given that:
- the airline's own employees are "agents and servants" of WestJet;
- the strike was announced weeks in advance and therefore was not unforeseeable; and
- there is a judicial determination that a strike is not an "extraordinary circumstance."
Nevertheless, WestJet may dig in its heels and refuse to pay unless and until passengers take WestJet to court.
In most cases, an airline's liability for passenger delay under the Montreal Convention is limited to approximately CAD$12,000 per passenger. Airlines cannot impose any formula or guidelines on reimbursement. A policy purporting to limit hotel or meal reimbursements to a fixed amount, say $200 per night or $15 per meal, is null and void pursuant to Article 26 of the Montreal Convention. In Air Passenger Rights v. WestJet Airlines Ltd., 2025 BCSC 155, the BC Supreme Court enjoined WestJet from communicating such misleading fixed caps to passengers.
Flights Departing from the EU/EEA/UK and Connecting Flights
If your trip starts in the European Union, the European Economic Area, or the UK, includes one or more WestJet-operated flights, and one or more of those flights is cancelled, this section applies.
For example, suppose you are flying from Paris to Calgary via Atlanta: Air France operates the Paris–Atlanta flight, and WestJet operates the Atlanta–Calgary flight, which is cancelled because of a strike by its employees.
In these instances, in addition to offering you a choice between Options 1 and 2 above, the airline must:
- pay you cash compensation in the amount of:
- 300 EUR if you are delayed by at least 3 hours but less than 4 hours; and
- 600 EUR if you are delayed 4 hours or more;
- provide you with care (meals, accommodation, ground transportation, and two free phone calls or emails).
The source of your rights is Regulation (EC) No. 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council, which has also been codified as UK domestic law. The European Court of Justice recently confirmed that a strike is not an "extraordinary circumstance" within the meaning of Regulation (EC) No. 261/2004, and a strike does not relieve the airline from the obligation to pay compensation; in particular, a lockout or a preemptive flight cancellation is not an "extraordinary circumstance." (You may also be entitled to additional compensation under the Montreal Convention, if applicable.)
Canadians Deserve EU-Style Passenger Protection
This situation underscores the stark contrast between air passengers' rights under Canada's inferior APPR and the European Union's gold standard of passenger protection.
Please consider asking for an in-person meeting with your federal MP and impressing upon them the importance of aligning Canada's passenger protection regime with the European Union's simple and straightforward regime.
