WestJet is saying they "strongly dispute" the claims of an Indigenous UVic student who says she was a victim of racist remarks from one of their employees.
On Monday, Nikki Sanchez, a doctoral student at the University of Victoria and Director of 'Decolonize Together,' an organization which provides decolonial and inclusivity workshops, made a social media post saying she was a victim of racial profiling by a WestJet employee.
In an interview with CFAX, Sanchez said she had been waiting through five weather delays at YYJ on her way to Vancouver to catch a connecting flight to New York for a photo shoot with Fair Trade USA. When she was ready to board the flight, she was informed that she had gone to an Air Canada gate instead of WestJet.
"I went back through security to speak to the WestJet attendant to see if I was going to make my connecting flight to Vancouver and if not, whether she could help me find an alternate solution. She took one look at me, did not ask for my name or flight number, and instead she asked if I had been drinking. I honestly replied that I had had two drinks in the five hours I’d been waiting for the flight."
Sanchez said the employee then told her that she smelled "like booze" and said “I know you guys can’t handle your alcohol.”
"I was shocked but I was much more concerned about finding a solution because I was really worried about missing the photoshoot," Sanchez said the employee refused to help her and said she was a liability for any flight carrier because of how inebriated she was.
"I then asked to speak to her manager, she refused, and then I asked for her name and employee number which she gave me."
Sanchez said she went back through security and was able to get on the boarding Air Canada flight with no issues, but in the end wasn't able to catch her connecting flight to New York.
In a statement to CFAX, a media spokesperson for WestJet said the situation didn't play out how Sanchez is claiming it did.
"It is important to understand that this guest was not denied boarding. This guest was a ‘no show’ at the gate for boarding and missed her flight. This file was also opened via our customer service agents and escalated to our guest support team in the days following the alleged event. It was handled appropriately by our agents who advised the guest that should she wish to escalate her concerns she could contact the CTA and the matter was agreeably deemed closed."
The statement goes on to say that WestJet has made attempts to contact Sanchez without success over the past two days.
"WestJet has a zero tolerance policy for racism and discrimination. Due to the sensitivity of this matter, we immediately launched a comprehensive investigation into this file after being tagged on Instagram. While the investigation remains ongoing, we have evidence that significantly contradicts the version of events that has been reported by the guest.
"We have reached out to her on her social platforms both DM and publicly. Again note that we opened this file originally through our customer service agents and escalated to our guest support team in the days following the alleged event. There were approximately nine phone calls between us and the guest. We refunded her ticket as well as offered to reaccomodate her the following day, which would have been over and above what would happened with a guest who misses the flight after uncontrollable delays due to weather. In reviewing all of the multiple phone calls, it was handled appropriately by our agents who advised the guest that should she wish to escalate her concerns about missing her flight she could contact the CTA and the matter was agreeably deemed closed."
Sanchez said the statement is "entirely untrue."
"Due to WestJets claim of the nine calls between us when in fact they have not followed up with me by email, phone or DM on any of my social platforms, I believe the may be investigating a completely separate incident all today, as they have not had been able to substantiate any facts with me," she added that they offered no solution for retrieving baggage which had already been sent through to YVR, and she was picked up at the airport by a friend late on the night of the 15th, which wouldn’t have been necessary had the airline offered accommodation.
She said the only correspondence she's had with the company was on January 16th when she phoned to complain about the issue and was given a credit for the flight. At that time, Sanchez said she asked for recourse and didn't hear anything back from the company for two weeks, when they responded by commenting on her Twitter and Instagram posts.
When asked, WestJet wasn't able to provide the date of the incident.
"I reached out, I followed the formal complaints process, which is the mechanism that WestJet has set up in order to resolve these issues and nothing was addressed in a meaningful way. I gave them over two weeks to get back to me with some kind of outcome and they didn't. It was only at that point that I chose to go public with this and still, even after going public with this they have not tried to contact me in a meaningful way."
Sanchez wanted to make it clear that she isn't looking for any kind of monetary gain from bringing the issue public.
"I've had a lot of trolls where people are saying where this is about attention and money, I work in media, I was going to go be a part of a national campaign, which would have been a much better way to get attention and money than this. This is not an endeavor for me that's fun. It really breaks my heart that for the majority of Indigenous people in Canada this is what they have to deal with everyday."
"It takes so much. I'm doing my PHD right now in Indigenous Governance, I speak on these issues on a regular basis, I am someone who is put in a leadership position around these things, so if I'm not going to address this when it happens to me, how can I support and encourage other people to advocate for themselves when it happens to them?"