{"id":842844,"date":"2026-08-02T17:50:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T17:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/842844\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T17:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T17:50:08","slug":"westjet-strike-leaves-northern-travel-plans-up-in-the-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/842844\/","title":{"rendered":"WestJet strike leaves northern travel plans up in the air"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

For one Yellowknife family, flight cancellations are more than just a disappointment: they could leave a teen stranded far from home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Robyn Scott had been planning a trip with her two children to visit family in the Maritimes for a year. She\u2019d booked her flights six months in advance. They\u2019re meant to board their flight from Yellowknife on Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But after WestJet flight attendants went on strike on Sunday morning<\/a>, that trip might not happen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More importantly, it might leave her 15-year-old, Liz Stewart, stranded in Manitoba. They were visiting their grandparents, and were meant to fly on their own, meeting their mother and younger sister, Isla Stewart, 12, in Moncton on August 4.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo if we’re delayed several days, that really throws up a problem when they’re a minor flying by themselves,\u201d said Scott. \u201cSo just not knowing, you know. When they get to Moncton, I’ll be able to find somebody to go pick them up, but will I even be joining them on this trip?\u201d<\/p>\n

In true northern fashion, she cobbled together a flight path across multiple airlines in order to get the best price. The first leg, from\u00a0 Yellowknife to Edmonton, is on WestJet\u2013 and if that one is cancelled, the rest may fall like dominos.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Sunday morning, her flight was still being listed on WestJet\u2019s website as on time. But Scott is uncertain how accurate that is.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The WestJet website on Sunday announced 309 cancellations across their network, including cancelled flights departing and arriving at both Yellowknife and Whitehorse. WestJet began parking Boeing 737 aircraft on Friday. But, the smaller De Havilland Dash Q400 planes operated by WestJet Encore remain in the air. Some flights out of Yellowknife fall under that category.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Scott said six months ago, she paid approximately $3000 for the trip for all three of them, which includes using companion vouchers and jumping between Air Canada and WestJet.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Travel to and from northern Canada is already expensive and often complicated, with few direct flights<\/a>. Canadian North, which operates flights connecting the N.W.T., Nunavut and Nunavik with southern Canada, declined to comment on if passengers were rebooking with them. A one-way ticket from Yellowknife to Edmonton, to replace Scott\u2019s WestJet flight, would cost $991.67 on Canadian North. The same flight on Air Canada starts at $863, according to their websites on Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRebooking with another airline is not an option right now,\u201d said Scott.<\/p>\n

Still, Scott says she supports the workers. Even if the union and WestJet don\u2019t come to an agreement, Section 107 of Canada\u2019s Labour Code gives the federal minister of labour the power to intervene, as they did in 2025 when Air Canada employees went on strike.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m secretly, for my own selfish reasons, hoping that that happens. But at the same time, that’s absolutely not fair and not the purpose of unions,\u201d said Scott. \u201c I completely think that everything they’re asking for is reasonable.\u201d<\/p>\n

She just hopes she can get her kid back home safely.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":842845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":["post-842844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=842844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/842845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=842844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=842844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=842844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}