The past few days have been an utter meltdown for WS at their YYC hub — leading to major problems across their entire network. (And a 767 going mechanical at LGW made it that much worse.)

Lots of cancellations. OTP has been utterly dismal (or, more likely, non existent). Passengers - especially those with connections - have been stranded all over the place.

Officially, it was due to weather — the extreme cold causing frozen water lines plus creating major delays in baggage loading/offloading. There were also reports of seemingly never-ending delays for de-icing at YYC.

Per a thread on another forum, though, weather was only part (and maybe only a small part) of the problem.

That discussion indicates that - over the New Year’s weekend - upwards of half of WestJet’s Calgary ground crew either called in “sick” or no-showed.

Only half their staff showed up, at an absolute peak travel volume period, in extremely challenging conditions.

If that’s the case, half of their crew should get bonuses — and half should get canned.

A quick search brings up some Twitter chattet that seem to show they may have had similar walk out issues at other airports on NY Eve. (Those were unclear, though, and may have been referring to YYC too)

Can anyone “in the know” confirm? Or is it just hyperbole from frustrated holiday travelers?

This holiday week has no doubt been insane, stressful, horrible and thankless for many WestJet staff. I can’t imagine how difficult it would be for them to manage through those circumstances. To all of you (well, who showed up): thank you, and hang in there.