What travellers need to know ahead of a potential WestJet pilot strike

More than 1,000 WestJet pilots across Canada are preparing for the picket lines this month as a union claims the employees have been overworked and underpaid, while the airline argues they're being fairly compensated. The potential strike has thousands of travellers on edge amid what has already been a year of delays and flight cancellations from several Canadian airlines, including WestJet. Complaints to the Canadian Transportation Agency have sky-rocketed recently, with more than 42,000 filed in the last year, nearly 2,000 of which involved WestJet in December alone. Many of the complaints came after passengers were denied compensation for cancelled flights due to a major snowstorm. With the threat of a strike looming, president of the non-profit Air Passenger Rights organization Gabor Lukacs says the need for improved passenger protection rules has increased. He says a labour dispute should be considered a situation within the airline's control, prompting questions about the strike’s impact and whether passengers will be compensated in the event of cancellations and delays. "Ultimately, this is really troubling. It's a wake-up call for Canadians that our system of passenger protection is inadequate," Lukacs told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview on Tuesday. On Monday, the union representing WestJet pilots, Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), said in a news release that employees in Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto are calling for a pay increase and noting the airline’s high turnover rate. The union says WestJet has been losing 30 pilots per month and on average, and that a pilot will seek different employment every 18 hours. “It is well known that WestJet currently has a pilot attraction and retention problem. Those of us here today are fighting to change that,” ALPA president Capt. Jason Ambrosi said in a news release. “Our goal is to secure a contract that will help make this airline a career destination for pilots once again.”<br/>