‘Shameful:’ Stranded WestJet passengers offered bus ride from Calgary to Regina

Some stranded airline passengers had to become bus passengers to get back to Regina on Sunday.

According to a tweet by Gilbert Proulx, WestJet offered to send him and his family from Calgary to the Queen City on a bus after their flight was cancelled.

“My family paid 2400$ for round trip AIRFARE, and you are literally sending us home on a bus,” Proulx tweeted. “I genuinely don’t know whether to be mad or impressed at the audacity.

“PS. Your employees tried to tell us that the earliest flight from Calgary to Regina is in THREE DAYS!”

https://twitter.com/GilbertProulx4/status/1630013714752581632

A tweet from Chris Henderson showed a message sent to passengers by WestJet that said the flight had been cancelled due to “unscheduled maintenance.”

The message said that as a result of the cancellation, the airline would provide ground transportation to get passengers from Calgary to Regina.

“Hahaha @WestJet, this is a joke right? Cancel my flight and offer me a bus ticket from Calgary to Regina? Really?!?” Henderson tweeted in response.

Hahaha @WestJet , this is a joke right?

Cancel my flight and offer me a bus ticket from Calgary to Regina? Really?!? pic.twitter.com/NxwabfFdkY

— Chris Henderson (@Hendersonmusic) February 26, 2023

Henderson told 980 CJME on Monday that he didn’t get any notice about the cancellation, only seeing the email when he arrived in Calgary from Grande Prairie.

“I read this thing and at first, I didn’t really know if I was reading this right,” he said. “I thought maybe I was misunderstanding what I was reading, but after getting in line and talking to customer service, I was like, ‘No, this is a bus ticket offer. Wow.’ ”

Henderson said he put up the tweet because he thought it was funny.

“I just couldn’t believe that WestJet was offering a bus,” he said.

Henderson decided to not take the bus and to wait for the next available seat on a flight to Regina.

“The idea of riding a nine-hour bus and getting home at 2 or 3 in the morning just did not seem very appealing to me,” he explained.

He added that for many, the earliest flight they could get to Regina was Wednesday or Thursday. Henderson said many flights were being cancelled, so he decided to wait around to see if a seat would open up.

“In the time that (a WestJet employee) was preparing my food vouchers, she checked again and sure enough, one seat had opened up on that Regina flight and because I was travelling solo, I was able to get on it,” he said.

While he decided not to take the bus, he has heard from people who did.

“(One man’s) exact quote was, ’10 out of 10 would not recommend. You made the right choice,’ ” Henderson said.

As for being reimbursed, he said so far he has only received food vouchers.

“I asked for hotel vouchers after they booked the flight and I was told I would get an email and they said, ‘If you don’t get an email, then talk to the other guest services,’ ” he said. “I asked, ‘Is this there where you get hotel vouchers?’ and the lady up front said, ‘Book your own or you’re going to be standing here all day.’ ”

Henderson said he had a bit of a battle with WestJet for the airline to reimburse him for his hotel room.

According to Henderson, Regina’s flight was not the only one to get cancelled; so did one for Saskatoon.

“It seemed like Saskatchewan kind of got the short end of the stick (Sunday) out of Calgary,” Henderson said.

Regina’s John Nelson was supposed to be on that initial Calgary-to-Regina flight. He was returning home from a holiday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

He luckily didn’t have to take the bus and was able to get on a WestJet flight home Monday at 9 a.m.

He said his experience was not good.

“I wish I had recorded and taken photographs so WestJet can hear poor children crying and a mother and father holding them on their shoulder when they found out they weren’t going home that night …,” he explained.

“What do they have to lose? Nothing. There needs to be stricter accountability.”

Nelson said there were three WestJet ticket agents at the airport who were left to deal with the stranded passengers.

When the travellers were told their flight had been cancelled, Nelson said the agents told them a team would meet them by the baggage claim area to deal with the situation. But Nelson said nobody showed up.

“When we got down, there was nobody — just passengers and literally ticket agents,” he said.

Nelson said as the passengers were collecting their bags, some made comments towards the ticket agents who were walking away.

“I don’t blame the ticket agents for pulling up their coats around their necks and covering up the WestJet colours,” he said. “What could they do? They work for the company. We were left to fend for ourselves.”

While they received vouchers and hotel options, he said they had to pay for a taxi to a hotel in downtown Calgary; the fare was $50 each way. He also said he couldn’t use any of the vouchers because everything was closed.

Nelson was at a loss for words when speaking about the entire experience.

“My heavens, it was just an unbelievable and forgettable memory,” Nelson added. “It’s just shameful. Poor business ethics on the part of WestJet.”

In a statement to 980 CJME, WestJet apologized to the passengers who were affected.

“Unfortunately, reaccommodation options were limited due to the high demand for travel over the weekend and significant weather events across Vancouver and Vancouver Island which caused compounding operational impacts and limited aircraft availability,” the statement said.

“In order to best support impacted guests in reaching their destination as quickly as possible, ground transportation was arranged to provide an immediate travel option for those who were unable to wait for an alternative flight option.”

— With files from 980 CJME’s Shane Clausing and Lindsay Newman