Canadian couple 'very frustrated' after WestJet strike, Hurricane Beryl cancels flight home
CTV
After 10-plus years as a loyal WestJet traveller, Jennifer Hewitt says she is swearing off the Canadian airline after a series of unforeseen flight cancellations left her and her husband still stranded in Jamaica.
After 10-plus years as a loyal WestJet traveller, Jennifer Hewitt says she is swearing off the Canadian airline after a series of unforeseen flight cancellations left her and her husband still stranded in Jamaica.
“(I’m) very frustrated. I said, 'I'm not coming back to Jamaica for a while, and if I'm flying, it won't be WestJet,'" Hewitt said in a phone interview with CTVNews.ca.
Hewitt, 64, flew to the Caribbean island on June 17 to visit friends and family for vacation and was scheduled to return home to Ajax, Ont., on June 29.
"I did not get a cancellation notice from WestJet, so we came (to the airport in Montego Bay)," Hewitt said.
She dropped off her rental car before making her way inside Sangster International Airport, where she said she learned at the WestJet travel desk that her flight home had been cancelled due to the strike by the airline mechanics union. Though the job action ended Sunday, the disruption cancelled more than 1,100 flights and impacted more than 100,000 travellers.
"Unfortunately, as July long weekend is a peak travel period across Canada, limited availability exists both within our network and through alternative carriers, making options for accommodation extremely challenging," WestJet said in a service update after the strike averted.
For Hewitt, she said she was rescheduled for a departure on Tuesday with American Airlines, which included a seven-hour layover in Miami, Fla. When she returned to the airport for her flight, Hewitt said it was cancelled outright for yet another reason out of the airline's control: Hurricane Beryl.
