I booked a RT DEN-YYC back when the fares were ridiculously low because no one was sure what the Covid situation would be in summer, I believe it was in January. I think I paid $128 for it taxes included.

Since then they "canceled" my original return flight and moved it forward a day. I called them up to see if they would give me an option to keep my dates and just use a connecting flight. They said no unless I want to pay $428. So I kept it. Now they did the same exact thing yet again! My trip which was supposed to be 5 days is down to less than 72 hours. And same annoying response from them, either you cancel it or you accept the flight we make you take.

Is this a common strategy for them? Basically get people to cancel out of cheap tickets by making their schedules unreasonably bad? I know a few ULCC's have done this on occasion, is this a WestJet strategy as well?