Airline expert says WestJet strike could cause chaos for Canadian Travel

Well, WestJet mechanics threw a wrench into the travel plans for thousands of Canadians after walking off the job yesterday. It was a dramatic change from Thursday when the federal government stepped in, mandating the two sides into binding arbitration to prevent a work stoppage. This led to WestJet canceling over 150 flights today. Airline expert Duncan D joins us now to tell us what's going on. Duncan, a lot of Canadian travelers thought they'd be able to breathe, breathe a sigh of relief after the Labor minister stepped in to prevent this strike. Can you tell us a bit about the demands of the mechanics and why they decided to go on strike despite the order from Ottawa? I mean, I think that the demands of the mechanics are a mystery both to management and the union. Let's not forget that the management of the union actually came to a tentative agreement which was rejected by WestJet mechanics to the tune of 97%. So other than an increase in wages, it seems to me that nobody really knows what could get this this back on track. And I think that's one of the many reasons why the minister decided to order binding arbitration on both parties. You know, the WestJet mechanics will be the highest paid aviation mechanics in the country. And it's a mystery to anyone as to why this has gone to where it's gotten to in terms of a Wildcat strike. And the timing, not great. Canada Day long weekend, one of the busiest travel weekends of the year. So let's talk about how this is affecting Canadians. What are the options for travelers with cancelled flights and can they expect to receive refunds easily? I mean, in terms of refunds for the affected flights, that's something which WestJet is already proactively offering. The cancelled flights, the flights that are affected by the uncertainty are already subject to new booking rules which allow for flexibility and cancellations and changes. The difficulty that many travelers will be facing though, Amandalina, is the fact that you've got 250,000 travelers chasing, you know, a limited number of seats on the busiest start of the long travel, a long weekend for the summer, summer travel peak. So you end up in a situation where you've got upwards of 250,000 people who are this very minute starting to look at their other options for travel. And frankly, for many of them, they just won't find them. A very frustrating situation. And we've been talking about this WestJet strike for weeks. What impact do you think this ongoing uncertainty will have for the company? You know, when we looked at the situation, for example, at Southwest Airlines 2 Christmases ago, where they were not able to properly wind down their operation because of a travel disruption, in that case, weather, it took them three to four weeks to get their network back on track. And so in the case of WestJet, if they're not able to get this matter settled, not within the next few days, but in the next few hours, they will be facing a disorderly wind down situation where they will end up with aircraft and crews stuck all over the place. And it'll take several weeks for that to get resolved. So I'm hoping against hope perhaps, that the situation gets resolved over the next few hours so that we don't end up in a situation where the entire month of July will be a month of travel chaos for Canadian travelers, and it's already seeming that way. Well, Duncan, thank you for your insight. That's former Air Canada chief operating officer Duncan Dean.