'We need to get her home': B.C. family stranded in Mexico after WestJet flight cancelled

One B.C. family is desperate to get their daughter home after their WestJet flight from Mexico was cancelled due to a labour dispute.

The cancellation was one of more than 1,000 across the country and stems from a two-day-long mechanics union strike that impacted more than 100,000 travelers, according to the company. 

Kristen Williams and her family were supposed to leave Puerto Vallarta Saturday, when they were notified their flight was canceled. Since then, Williams said the family has had no luck finding an alternative route to get back to Terrace.

“I felt really helpless,” she said. “I felt stranded. There's no communication, so we literally felt stuck here.”

Williams said her family has repeatedly called the airline, and approached agents at the WestJet counter for help. She told CTV News the agents told her they are contractors and are therefore unable to rebook the family’s flight.

“Our loved ones are at home worried about us,” Williams said.

She added the earliest they’ll be able to get home is July 7. Her 21-year-old daughter is already overdue for the weekly medication she needs to treat her rheumatoid arthritis.

“We need to get her home,” she said. “I wanted to send my daughter home to a pharmacy because we need her prescription. We can’t fill it here.”

Gabor Lukacs, the president of Air Passengers Rights, said an airline is required to rebook passengers on another flight within 48 hours at their expense – or purchase another ticket on another airline.

“What passengers can do in such a situation if WestJet is refusing to rebook them – as is required by law – is to book a ticket on their own and make WestJet pay for it,” Lukacs said.

As of Tuesday, WestJet said it canceled 1,137 flights since Thursday, and that 125 out of 180 planes are now active again as the airline works to resume normal operations.