WestJet said from the first 72-hour notice that WestJet Encore's Q400 flying and codeshare segments operated by partners such as Delta would not be touched by a mainline cabin-crew stoppage. [1] [2] The legal fact is simple: a different operating certificate, a different agreement, a different crew. Mainline attendants number about 4,400; Encore is a turboprop subsidiary with its own bargain. [3]

The passenger fact is messier. A ticket sold as WestJet can still be a mainline 737, an Encore Q400, or a partner metal. One unaffected segment does not salvage a connection that dies in Calgary. The airline offered a one-time fee-free change or cancel for travel booked July 30 through August 4. [2]

Monday's tentative deal ends the mainline walkout. [3] It does not rewrite Sunday, when hundreds of mainline flights were already gone and Encore kept turning Q400s. Look for the words "operated by" on the itinerary before trusting the green map this week. Encore cabin crew are on a separate notice-to-bargain this spring, not this walkout. [1] The strike-scope line was accurate. It was also a branding exercise: keep the regional map green while the trunk and Europe went dark.

-- THEO KAPLAN, San Francisco