Travellers stuck in Calgary, others trying to return as WestJet flight attendants’ strike ends
Posted Aug 3, 2026 6:17 pm.
Last Updated Aug 4, 2026 9:49 am.
It was a hectic holiday Monday at the YYC airport as WestJet and the flight attendants’ union announced they’ve reached a tentative agreement to end the flight attendants’ strike; however, many travellers are still stuck in limbo, some for the next few days.
“Really more about how they’re handling it; that’s the frustrating part,” said Jody Kulas, who was trying to get to Ottawa.
She adds that she’s been struggling to get in touch with customer service.
“They’re just not taking calls; the chat, they’re not taking new chat online, but there’s nobody here to deal with the ticketing issues and rebooking. You’re just kind of left to do it on your own,” said Kulas.
Chris Horten is stuck in Atlanta. He says he had flights booked for his family using WestJet companion vouchers, but urgently needs to get back to Calgary, so he ended up spending close to $5,000 to get his family on another airline.
“I was going to wait for them, and I’d like to wait, but I don’t know how long it’s going to take for them to get to us, and my wife starts cancer treatment this week. Back in Calgary. So we have to get home,” Horten explained.
He says he reached out to customer service numerous times through chat and on the phone, and similar to Kulas, was unsuccessful in his attempts.
“Sent an email message to them, so I filled that out and said, hey, here’s my email address; here’s my confirmation, please get back to me whenever you can. So when none of that was working, I reached out on Twitter to kind of see if anything would happen. Just spitballing at that point.”
Another traveller stuck at the airport shows me what happens on his phone when he tried to access the website to rebook his flight and says he was rebooked from Monday to Thursday, and is worried about missing work.
“Yeah, it’s very frustrating. Everything depends on my job; if I lose my job, then what am I here for,” said Lalit Patil, who is trying to get to Toronto.
