Passengers face fallout of WestJet dropping Winnipeg-Palm Springs route early By: Gabrielle Piché Posted: 4:51 PM CDT Tuesday, Apr. 1, 2025 Last Modified: 6:36 PM CDT Wednesday, Apr. 2, 2025 Updates

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For years, James Derksen’s family has flown directly to Palm Springs, Calif., from Winnipeg to escape winter.

Consequently, it was a surprise when the return flight home wasn’t appearing in their online itinerary in March. Derksen opened his WestJet app — around March 21, he approximated — to see the April 3 return trip was cancelled.

There was no email, no alert, Derksen alleged. He scrambled to make alternate arrangements.

WestJet ended its direct path between Winnipeg and Palm Springs a month early. The twice-weekly route was slated to run until April 24. Instead, the final flight of the kind — for this winter — left March 27.

It’s inconvenienced snowbirds and spring breakers, Derksen said.

“(WestJet is) supposed to provide a service, a reliable service,” he said. “They’re the ones that put out the flights.

“I don’t understand how they can just cancel a whole bunch of flights and not give any reason.”

“I don’t understand how they can just cancel a whole bunch of flights and not give any reason.”–James Derksen

WestJet didn’t answer questions by print deadline.

“All impacted guests have been notified and provided (reaccommodation) options,” spokeswoman Julia Kaiser said in a statement last week.

Derksen said he still hasn’t yet received a specific alert about the April 3 flight’s cancellation. WestJet hadn’t booked return seats on another plane for Derksen’s family when his daughter-in-law called around March 21, Derksen added.

He then went through RBC — he’d used RBC Avion points to book the plane tickets — to plan a trip home for his family members. The WestJet options for a family of five were full, Derksen said, adding he didn’t want the return to span two days and require a hotel booking.

Ultimately, he paid for five Air Canada tickets through Vancouver to Winnipeg. The upcoming trek home will be long for the grandchildren, Derksen relayed.

The experience has left Derksen, a long-time WestJet customer, with a bad taste: “They don’t care about their passengers. They care more about their dollars.”

He’ll get reimbursed via points and money for his WestJet flights, an RBC email confirmed.

Canadian airliners must provide passengers notice and alternative accommodations if they cancel flights, said Gabor Lukacs, president of Air Passenger Rights.

Federal air passenger protection regulations require airlines to inform affected customers about the reasons for flight cancellations, plus assistance the company must provide and the compensation customers are eligible for.

Large airlines must rebook passengers of flights cancelled within the company’s control on new planes departing close to the time of the original flight, the regulations state. Customers can choose a ticket refund instead of being rebooked on a flight. The airline cannot force a refund or walk away from the contract; if it can’t book the customer on a plane of its own departing within nine hours of the original flight, it must offer a competitor’s flight.

“WestJet cannot just walk away from the obligation to transport a passenger,” Lukacs underscored.

He recommended travellers push to get their alternate flights paid for; those are typically more expensive than a $400 refund.

John Gradek, an aviation expert and faculty lecturer at McGill University in Montreal, believes WestJet cut its Winnipeg to Palm Springs route short because of recent declining demand for flights to the United States.

Air Canada told shareholders Monday decreased cross-border flight bookings for the next half-year were “comparable” to a 10 per cent drop industry-wide, The Canadian Press reported.

“The Canadian carriers … are playing fast and loose with reacting to reduced demand for services between Canada and the U.S.,” Gradek said.

“The Canadian carriers … are playing fast and loose with reacting to reduced demand for services between Canada and the U.S.”–John Gradek

WestJet flew 13 fewer flights from Winnipeg to the U.S. in March compared to March 2024, per data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company.

WestJet has 11,571 plane seats slated for trips from Winnipeg to the U.S. this April — a 22.4 per cent year-over-year reduction, Cirium data show. This follows a 13.7 per cent seat reduction of the same kind in March.

Flair Airlines sent planes from Winnipeg to the U.S. last winter; it did not this February or March. Still, Delta Air Lines has increased its year-over-year cross-border flights from Winnipeg this winter, as has United Airlines.

In general, Canadian airlines scaling back their U.S. presence are “not doing a good job of letting the affected passengers know about it, offering them compensation or offering them alternative flight arrangements,” Gradek said.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com