Canadian Airlines Accused of Ignoring COVID Precautions, Denying Refunds

An Air Canada jet takes off from Halifax Stanfield International Airport in Enfield, N.S., in a file photo. A union official says Air Canada is laying off more than 5,000 flight attendants as the country's largest airline cuts routes and parks planes due to COVID-19. The Canadian Press/Andrew Vaughan

TORONTO—When Bobbi Jo Green booked a flight back in May for her, her husband, and her children to see two ailing family members, she was counting on the airline’s physical distancing rules to still be in place.

But just three weeks before Green and her family were set to fly from Edmonton to Sydney, N.S., on July 17, WestJet announced it was ending its policy of leaving the middle seats on its flights empty.