I Do... depart? Travel advisors’ wedding group caught in WestJet uncertainty

After a weekend of widespread travel disruption, WestJet’s tentative agreement with its flight attendants’ union, announced early Monday (Aug. 3), will come as welcome news for the Canadian travel industry. 

But uncertainty remains as travellers (and travel advisors) begin the week with questions about WestJet's flight schedule and how quickly the airline will be able to restore its network.

Over the weekend, WestJet says it cancelled 645 flights after its 4,287 flight attendants walked off the job at 12:01 a.m. MT early Sunday morning (Aug. 2) – a move that disrupted the travel plans of some 250,000 customers.

WestJet initiated an "organized take-down" of its network on Friday (July 31), but the bulk of the cancellations occurred Sunday.

READ MORE: WestJet & CUPE reach tentative agreement, ending flight disruptions

Given the complexities of restarting an airline after a major operational disruption, it remains unclear how quickly WestJet will return to normal and how much of its network will be restored in the coming days.

Airlines, after all, are not a light switch.

But for travel advisors like Shalene Dudley, owner of Oakville, ON-based Latitude Concierge Travels, a destination wedding and groups specialist, that lingering uncertainty is enough to keep her awake at night.

Till flight do us part

Dudley has a wedding group of 40 passengers scheduled to depart Toronto for Cancun with WestJet later today (Aug. 3) at 3:15 p.m. ET.

Everyone in the group has checked in – and to Dudley's surprise, the flight remains listed as active and on schedule for departure.

READ MORE: "Working around the clock": Travel advisors navigate chaos as WestJet strike grounds flights

“It’s a flight that didn’t get cancelled and no one knows why,” Dudley told PAX over the phone early Monday morning.

By "no one," she was referring to a Sunwing Vacations support member she spoke with earlier this morning while seeking clarification on the status of the flight.

Regardless, the fact that the flight remains active is a positive sign.

But when you're responsible for a group of 40 travellers just one day after an airline nearly shut down its entire network, the uncertainty surrounding what could still happen adds another layer of stress.

"It could be delayed all night," Dudley said, outlining possible scenarios. "It could be cancelled at the last minute. I have to prepare my group for that."

Handling a booking for a couple or family is one thing, but coordinating travel for a group of 40 is a different beast.  

Fortunately, most members of Dudley's group live in the Greater Toronto Area or nearby communities, making it relatively easy for them to return home if the flight is ultimately cancelled.

Others, however, are travelling to Cancun from farther afield, including the United States and Portugal.

As with most destination weddings, there are countless moving parts.

Dudley's immediate priority is ensuring everyone arrives at Dreams Aventuras Riviera Maya in time for the welcome cocktail this Wednesday – and, most importantly, the wedding on Thursday.

“I hope they get there,” said Dudley, “but it’ll be a challenge if they don’t. Events [at the resort] can’t be moved to other days.”

Love is in the air. Hopefully.

Toronto Pearson airport (YYZ) shed some light on the situation on Monday, revealing that all WestJet flights at the airport remained suspended throughout morning. It didn’t mention anything about the afternoon.

Dudley said Sunwing has advised her group to proceed to Pearson as planned. If the flight is cancelled, the group will be notified before departure or at the airport, she said.

Still: “It has been constant anxiety looking at my phone,” Dudley shared.

“It doesn’t help that the flight is today [one day after the shutdown]. I don’t have a window,” she said. “If the flight was Tuesday, I would have felt better about it.”

“Telling 40 people to head to the airport, only to send them home again, isn't something everyone will take the same way.”

Many in the group are teachers on summer break who can't simply postpone the trip, she said.

There's also Dudley's own investment in the booking. If the flight is cancelled, it would unravel a major itinerary she has spent the past two years planning.

For now, all she can do is believe in the power of positive thinking. And it sounds like the group is taking the uncertainty in stride.

“Half the group is asking about [Quintana Roo’s] Visitax, never mind the flight disruption,” Dudley shared, with a laugh.

Monday schedule heavily impacted

Fresh data from aviation analytics firm Cirium, released Monday morning, shows the scale of the disruption caused by WestJet’s flight attendant strike.

Cirium says more than 900 flights were cancelled since Aug. 1.

As of 9 a.m. ET on Monday (Aug. 3), the firm recorded 922 cancellations out of 2,365 scheduled WestJet flights between Aug. 1 and Aug. 5 — representing roughly 39 per cent of the airline's schedule over the five-day period.

The data reflects WestJet mainline operations only, excluding WestJet Encore flights, which were not affected by the labour disruption.

Monday's WestJet schedule remains heavily impacted despite the airline reaching a tentative agreement with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents its flight attendants.

Cirium data shows 305 of 494 scheduled flights (61.7 per cent) had been cancelled as of Monday morning.

The disruption appears to ease significantly over the coming days.

Cirium lists 13 cancellations out of 446 scheduled flights (2.9 per cent) for Tuesday (Aug. 4), while no cancellations had been recorded for Wednesday (Aug. 5) as of Monday morning.

In a statement Monday, WestJet said it will provide further details on its return-to-operations plan as they become available.

"Some flights may continue to be affected as operations recover," the airline wrote on its website. "Please check your flight status before departing for the airport and visit our travel advisories for the latest information and available options."

How far will it spin?

Dudley applauds WestJet reaching a tentative agreement with its flight attendants' union, but said she would have appreciated more transparency over the weekend as details of the airline's offer – which CUPE initially rejected – began circulating. 

“When WestJet outlined what they were offering, and that wasn’t enough, what part wasn’t enough?” said Dudley. “It wasn’t helping my support. I was cheering for the flight attendants, but I didn’t know what happened.”

The agreement between the airline and the union will now go to WestJet's cabin crew for a ratification vote.

“I’m hoping the 4,000 flight attendants agree. Otherwise, how far is this going to spin?” Dudley said.

Neither side disclosed the terms of the tentative agreement, but according to WestJet's latest offer, the proposal included a 13 per cent wage increase effective Oct. 1, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2026, followed by annual 2.5 per cent increases through 2029.

It also featured what the airline described as a "duty pay premium"— compensation for all duty hours that WestJet said would address the union's concerns about unpaid work. 

The airline estimates the premium is equivalent to an additional 12 per cent increase in pay.

Time for a rethink?

The experience has meanwhile prompted Dudley to call for changes to how the travel industry manages group bookings, especially when airline labour disruptions loom.

“We have to book groups differently. We can’t do this anymore,” she said, referring to the rigid restrictions that often come with booking large groups through tour operators.

Dudley would also like to see more discussion around how commission protection is handled for group bookings during travel disruptions.

In response to WestJet's strike, for example, Sunwing Vacations Group offered commission protection of up to eight per cent on group bookings.

“I get it and love that they did that in good faith,” she said. "But applying a flat percentage, rather than assessing each case individually, leaves room for improvement. Eight per cent doesn’t reflect agents’ own markups and terms.”

As for managing her group during the strike, Dudley believes she would have been better off booking the trip as land-only, allowing travellers to rebook flights with their preferred airlines, where many have loyalty status and access to more flexible change and refund policies.

“When it’s sitting in one big pot, everything can go wrong,” she said. “We have to have more control over how groups are managed.”

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