WestJet, a leading airline in Canada, is under fire after an incident involving an agent denying passengers boarding and reacting negatively when they attempted to capture the interaction on video.

Jason Huang, along with three elderly family members, was on his way back to Toronto following a holiday trip to the scenic locales of Banff, Jasper, and Calgary in the southwestern Rocky Mountains of Canada.

Having already completed online check-in and printed their boarding passes, the family arrived at the WestJet counter at Edmonton International Airport only to be handed new passes for a later flight, without any initial explanation.

According to Huang, who spoke with CBC, his inquiries about why their original flight was changed were met with evasive responses from the staff.

Upon further questioning, the agents revealed that the aircraft for their scheduled flight had been downsized, necessitating the transfer of some passengers, including Huang’s group, to a subsequent flight.

A frustrated Huang pulled out his phone and began an audio recording that he planned to use as evidence when filing a compensation claim with the airline later. 

That’s when things began to escalate. In the recording, an agent reportedly can be heard telling Huang to stop recording, or the police would be called. 

The disgruntled passenger said that when he refused, the agent said: ‘You’re not flying today.’

A WestJet agent attempted to snatch a passenger’s phone while he was recording after the agent had already grabbed another family member’s phone and torn up the group’s boarding passes

The tense exchange took place at the WestJet check-in counter at Edmonton International Airport (pictured, stock image)

Huang said that afterwards, ‘The manager suddenly grabbed my phone,’ and tore up his and his relatives’ boarding passes. ‘I was shocked,’ he added. 

Huang’s father then pulled out his own phone and began to take a video, which made the agent even angrier. He told Huang’s father to ‘Get this phone down,’ and said the family did not have the right to record.

The agent’s claim turned out to be incorrect, as under Canadian law only one party has to consent when recording a conversation. 

The agent then attempted to snatch the father’s phone as well, which resulted in the elderly man getting struck in the eye, which became red and swollen, according to Huang. 

After the fiery exchange, Huang requested compensation from WestJet, which was promptly denied. He subsequently filed a complaint with the Canadian Transportation Agency and is now waiting for the result. 

WestJet shared a statement with the Daily Mail that said: ‘WestJet takes situations like this very seriously, and the incident was promptly investigated internally and recently closed with appropriate internal follow-up.

‘We sincerely apologize to the guests for this experience, guest care is an important value at WestJet.

‘We appreciate their patience while we completed the investigation; a member of our Guest Support team has been in touch with the guests directly to follow up on this matter.’

The chaotic video shows other members of the family trying to block the agent from grabbing the phone. In the chaos, the elderly man recording was struck in his eye, which was left red and swollen

Jason Huang, one of the family members, requested compensation from WestJet after the tense and physical encounter, which the airline denied

When the story was posted to the Canada community on Reddit, users shared their own negative experiences with the airline, which many perceived to have declined over the years. 

‘WestJet used to be one of the best companies in Canada, just over a decade ago. Now they are one of the worst companies in Canada. It’s really sad to see how far they have fallen under new ownership,’ one person wrote.

Another user responded: ‘They got purchased by private equity. The entire M.O. of private equity is to destroy companies for max value.

‘When I saw that deal happen I knew it was the beginning of the end for WJ. Sad, it was once an amazing home grown company Canadians could be proud of.’

A third added: ‘WestJet is morphing into an Ultra Low Cost Carrier while still charging legacy carrier prices. The worst of both worlds.’ 

Huang’s experience is similar to one experienced by Midhun Haridas and his wife, Parvathy Radhakrishnan Nair, in 2024. 

The duo experienced hardships when they were flying back to Toronto from a vacation in the Dominican Republic.

When the couple arrived at the Punta Cana International Airport check-in counter for Air Transat, another major Canadian airline, an agent told the couple he would not check them in, because they were standing in the wrong place. 

A similar incident to the WestJet encounter took place between a couple and an Air Transat agent in 2024. Air Transat is another major Canadian airline

Haridas took out his phone to record what was happening, and the agent told him to ‘Delete all pictures and all video,’ if he wanted to board the flight he had paid for. 

Haridas refused and was ultimately forced to find a flight with a different carrier to make it home that day. 

The couple later filed a lawsuit in small claims court and used the video as evidence, which the judge said he was thankful for, because it showed ‘how terrible’ the customer service was. 

The judge called Air Transat’s conduct ‘egregious’ and awarded Haridas and his wife $7,000. 

The airline told CBC that the agent who denied the couple from boarding ‘is no longer staffed’ on the company’s flights, although it did not clarify if that meant he was fired, resigned or reassigned.