CANADA VIBES NEWSROOM · ÉDITION DU MATIN | MORNING EDITION
July 29, 2026 · 7:00 AM ET

About 4,400 WestJet flight attendants could walk off the job as early as Sunday, when a 21-day cooling-off period ends, as negotiations with management remain stuck on pay.

The countdown is accelerating toward Sunday’s deadline, which marks the end of the 21-day cooling-off period that followed a strike vote held earlier in July. The union representing flight attendants said at the time that 99.4% of members who voted — representing 97.3% of the full membership — had authorized strike action.

The core of the dispute remains the pay system. According to the union, flight attendants work an average of 35 unpaid hours every month under the current system, which does not count certain ground-based duties.

Amid the uncertainty, WestJet is allowing passengers with flights booked between July 30 and August 4 to make a one-time change or cancellation to their itinerary free of charge.

Regional carrier Jazz is separately facing its own strike deadline in August, raising the risk of disruptions across multiple flights nationwide during the busy summer travel period.

What to watch

Whether negotiations resume before Sunday’s deadline, the scale of disruption if a strike is called, and whether the federal government intervenes if air travel is significantly affected.

Sources

BNN Bloomberg; CBC News (Calgary); Yahoo Finance Canada; Travelers Today.