WestJet strike holds with 250,000 travelers' long-weekend flights cancelled as talks continue

The 9:45 AM ET Sunday update: WestJet's 4,400 flight attendants remain on strike with 250,000 travelers' flights cancelled and Ottawa still on the sidelines, Charlotte's morning thunderstorm ground stop has cleared, New York Center has entered SWAP with the NY Metro Hotline active, and JFK/LGA/EWR ground stops are PROBABLE after 1 PM ET as the convective focus shifts Northeast.

What's happening: the strike holds

WestJet's 4,400 flight attendants, represented by CUPE Local 8125, walked out at 2:01 AM ET Sunday after marathon negotiations in Calgary broke down over ground pay. The airline has grounded all Boeing 737 and 787 flights, cancelling more than 300 flights so far. WestJet says 250,000 travelers' long-weekend flights are cancelled, with more to follow depending on how long the stoppage lasts.

The 27 US cities in WestJet's network are affected, with Los Angeles (LAX), Las Vegas (LAS), and Atlanta (ATL) as the biggest gateways by departures, per Cirium schedule data cited by The Points Guy. WestJet Encore, the regional affiliate flying Dash 8-Q400 turboprops, continues to operate, as do Delta code-share flights.

Both sides say they are willing to resume negotiations. Contract talks have been ongoing at a Calgary hotel conference room, with federal mediators on site since May.

Why: ground pay and the rejected offer

The dispute centers on compensation for work flight attendants do on the ground, before a plane departs and after it lands. The union says attendants perform up to 35 hours per month of unpaid ground work. WestJet says its "credit hour" system rolls flight time, ground duties, and delays into a single higher rate of pay.

Hours after the strike began, WestJet released the full terms of its final offer: a 13 percent wage increase effective October 2026, with 2.5 percent increases in each of the following three years, plus retroactive pay to January 2026. A new "duty pay premium" worth an additional 12 percent of salary was designed to address the unpaid-work claim. The package also included a $300 annual healthcare spending account, a 13 percent per diem hike, a fifth week of vacation at 25 years of service, and a 17-week postpartum maternity leave top-up.

Union president Alia Hussain told the Canadian Press the offer "didn't go far enough" and that attendants are "bargaining for a comprehensive contract," not just pay.

The Ottawa question: will the government step in?

Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu is in Calgary with mediators. She said she is "disappointed" no deal was reached but has not said whether the government will invoke Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code, which would direct the Canada Industrial Relations Board to impose binding arbitration and send workers back.

The precedent is messy. Last August, Hajdu invoked Section 107 against striking Air Canada flight attendants over the same ground-pay issue. The union defied the order, and the strike lasted three days before the two sides reached a deal on their own. Larry Savage, a labour studies professor at Brock University, told the Globe and Mail: "If Ottawa steps in, the question is whether WestJet attendants will accept it quietly. Given what happened at Air Canada, that would be a risky assumption."

The union has explicitly asked the government not to interfere, saying it hopes Ottawa "will let the bargaining process run its course." Hajdu's office has repeated that "the best deals are reached at the bargaining table."

US airspace: Charlotte cleared, Northeast building

On the US side, Charlotte (CLT) had a thunderstorm ground stop Sunday morning that the FAA scheduled to end at 8:30 AM ET, and it has since cleared. The FAA's live homepage now shows zero active ground stops and zero ground delay programs at any US airport. JFK is running a Severe Weather Avoidance Plan for weather, and Tampa has thunderstorm departure delays.

The bigger watch is this afternoon. The FAA's current operations plan (ADVZY 035) puts JFK, LGA, and EWR ground stops or delay programs as PROBABLE after 1 PM ET. New York Center (ZNY) has already gone into SWAP and activated the NY Metro Hotline. The advisory warns that "staffing constraints in ZNY will add to the complexity," with ZNY Area B, ZNY Area D, ZNY TMU, and F11 TRACON all under staffing triggers through the afternoon. Florida airports (MCO, TPA, MIA, FLL) have ground stops POSSIBLE after 11 AM ET, and Atlanta is POSSIBLE after 2 PM ET.

If you are flying through the Northeast this afternoon, check your flight status before heading to the airport.

Rebooking and what to watch

WestJet is offering one-time changes or cancellations at no fee for travel through August 4 on its advisories page. Under Canada's Air Passenger Protection Regulations, affected passengers must be rebooked on WestJet or a partner within 48 hours, or can receive a refund instead of a travel credit.

For the US weather side, Delta has posted a New York City summer weather advisory and JetBlue has a travel alert covering the Northeast for Sunday and Monday, with rebook deadlines into August 6.

What to watch today: whether Ottawa invokes Section 107 (and whether the union would defy it as Air Canada's did), whether the Northeast convective line fires JFK/LGA/EWR ground stops after 1 PM ET, and whether WestJet's cancellation count climbs further into the long weekend.