Insurers on standby amid massive WestJet flight cancellations

Insurers on standby amid massive WestJet flight cancellations | Insurance Business Canada

Travel

Insurers on standby amid massive WestJet flight cancellations

More than 100,000 passengers impacted

Travel

By
Terry Gangcuangco

With over 100,000 passengers impacted by WestJet’s more than 1,000 flight cancellations, travel insurers are ready to assist policyholders whose travel plans have been disrupted by the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association’s (AMFA) strike.

In response to the strike that began on Friday and ended on Sunday, WestJet had to park 130 planes at 13 airports across the country. The cancellations included flights before and after the AMFA strike.

“Given the significant impact to WestJet’s network over the past few days, returning to business-as-usual flying will take time, and further disruptions over the coming week are to be anticipated as the airline gets aircraft and crew back into position,” WestJet said on June 30 when the strike action was withdrawn.

AMFA, in its statement, noted: “We are grateful and relieved to announce that the AMFA-represented aircraft maintenance engineers and WestJet have successfully negotiated a contract covering the next five years…

“We believe this outcome would not have been possible without the strike, but we do regret the disruption and inconvenience it has caused the travelling public over the Canada Day holiday period. The timing was coincidental as the negotiation process did not follow a predictable timeline.”

Travel Secure president Marty Firestone, speaking with CTV News Channel, pointed to the cost implications of the disruption.

Firestone, whose camp specializes in travel insurance, asserted: “I really think people are going to be out of a lot of money, not to mention all the ancillary costs if they didn’t get back to work on time or people didn’t get to cruise ships on time. It’s just going to balloon.”

Most travel insurance plans offer coverage for trip cancellation or interruption due to disruptions caused by covered reasons, such as inclement weather and strikes.

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