TORONTO - When Mike and Ashton Phenix booked their dream vacation for themselves and their two daughters to Europe in January, the couple never imagined it would end with them still at their Okotoks, Alta., home long after their flight was supposed to depart — taking “shifts,” while on hold with WestJet customer service for 19 hours. “It’s now three days of holding and lost vacation, lost bookings, and (it’s) very, very disappointing,” said Ashton in a Zoom interview with CTV News Sunday. “You’re at the mercy of hoping you get a response — it was very frustrating to be on the phone with us and hope someone knows you’re still there, but it’s your only lifeline." The Phenix family is among the roughly 250,000 passengers impacted by the flight cancellations that resulted from WestJet flight attendants walking off the job Sunday after negotiations for a tentative agreement fell apart between the airline and the union. WestJet began winding down operations Friday, which meant hundreds of flight cancellations before the strike even began early Sunday morning. Once Mike Phenix found out that their Tuesday flight to Barcelona could be affected by the strike, he and Ashton paid more out of pocket to rebook all four tickets for Saturday, a day before the strike began. But WestJet ended up cancelling that flight too. That’s when the marathon journey on the phone with WestJet began. The first six-and-a-half-hour call was eventually dropped, resulting in a profanity-laced rant Mike said the neighbours could hear. The second time Ashton called back, the wait time was even longer: 12 hours. “The second call, it was 12.5 hours. So we were 19 hours all in,” said Ashton. The excruciatingly long wait paid off, kind of. The family was rebooked to Barcelona, but with two additional layovers. “I feel like we have no power. They were trying to rebook us on a WestJet flight from Monday, hours before the strike. He (the WestJet customer service agent) kept trying to push a WestJet flight,” said Mike, who said he couldn’t initially understand why he was being pushed to accept a new flight that was almost certainly going to be cancelled. “Then you realize they’re doing that because it’s part of the charter (Air Passenger Protection Regulations) to get them on a different flight within 48 hours — and that’s why they’re doing that and shows you what they really care about." Although their flights to Barcelona were finally rebooked, the couple is not sure whether WestJet will reimburse them for the lost costs, including several nights missed at non-refundable hotels. “I would say we’re at least $2,000 dollars plus (lost) at this point,” said Mike. “I know there’s definitely been nothing about reimbursement. We could barely get them to talk to us about a flight.” Several WestJet passengers have expressed frustration at the airline’s response to rebooking customers, either having to wait on the phone for hours or not being able to get through to a customer service agent at all. Iman Abdelkhalek had her flight back home to Nashville cancelled hours before it was supposed to take off, so she found herself pacing the departure area of Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, with her six-month-old son, Fairis, in one hand — and her cell phone in the other — on hold with WestJet. She hasn’t been able to get through like many passengers, so she decided to come to the airport in hopes of speaking to someone in person. But she says, staff weren’t able to rebook her here either. “I just feel like it came out of nowhere, we were just leaving, said goodbye to our families and now we’re stranded here and basically don’t know what to do with no one to talk (to),” said Abdelkhalek, who was in Toronto for a family wedding. “It is very frustrating not to have someone, basically explain to you what’s going on and what’s the next steps and what we need to do,” she said. “Even trying to call someone, no one’s answering. -- so we’re basically like, sitting around not knowing what to do. And honestly, I really don’t know where we go from here.” Her mother, Rola Subhie, was standing by her side and also needed to go home Sunday. She works as a teacher and is expected in the classroom on Monday. “I’m a teacher and I took days off from school, so I have to go back tomorrow because I should go back to school. I can’t miss another day from school,” she told CTV News. Travel experts advise booking on another airline instead of letting WestJet rebook you if you’re in a hurry to get to your destination — and then wait for a refund from the airline for the cancelled flight later. “The biggest concern passengers have is that WestJet is not booking them in accordance with the law,” said passenger advocate and founder of Air Passenger Rights, Gábor Lukács,in an interview with CTV News Channel Sunday. He said WestJet is rebooking passengers farther out than the required 48-hour window and also rebooking some passengers on flights that have already been cancelled. “If they don’t get back to you within three hours of the cancellation of your flight, I would go and buy myself a ticket at another airline on the basis that WestJet has broken its obligation to provide alternative transportation and therefore you are doing what is reasonable and rebooking yourself,” added Lukacs. “And once you’re back in Canada and once you’re done travelling, you send the bill to WestJet and say, ‘you have to pay for it.’” That’s exactly what Sarah Ann did after her flight to Seattle for a family wedding was cancelled. She was rebooked, but that second flight for later the same day was also cancelled by WestJet. “It’s pretty much just been emails from them -- I tried to call yesterday and I was on the phone and the system said ‘you’ll be on hold for six hours and 45 minutes or so’ And that was at 3 a.m. this morning -- so I put the phone down and tried again this morning and it didn’t even go through,” said Ann to CTV news Sunday. “It’s pretty much just been emails from them. I tried to call yesterday and I was on the phone and the system said, ‘you’ll be on hold for six hours and 45 minutes or so.’ That was at 3 a.m. this morning, so I put the phone down and tried again this morning and it didn’t even go through,” said Ann in an interview with CTV News Sunday. “So I’m not able to speak to anyone. I tried the AI chat on the website and that did not work either.” So she took matters into her own hands and booked a separate ticket with Alaska Airlines, even though she’s out nearly $1,000 now, waiting for WestJet to reimburse her for her cancelled flight. “It’s just been very frustrating. Very stressful.” WestJet did not reply to CTV News’ request for an interview by deadline.
