It seems like a PR nightmare could have been avoided if

(1) the email to passengers said something more like “As a result of significant winter storms, we don’t have an aircraft available this evening for your flight. We have options for you. Ground transportation tonight - or - we’ll accommodate you on a flight over the next ?? hours”. I.e. we’re working hard to provide options to get you home, rather than “we replaced your flight with a bus”.

(2) they had a PR person respond immediately to the media to tell the back story and express some empathy. Instead, the story in the news is all about furious customers, — and some feeble written WestJet statement (in lieu of a person) is making them sound like a heartless corporation who doesn’t care about their customers.

Some bad calls on this one.