WestJet changed our flights!

[grantclaire]

Hi! We were flying to Tampa over New Years intending to split our stay with Orlando. Got an email today changing our 1 pm flight out of Toronto to 645 AM and the return from 3PM to 10AM! Not a big fan of the early flights! Able to cancel without a fee and was able to find cheaper flights to MCO with better times. Still with WestJet. So it all worked out!

 

[tgropp]

We had a similar experience as my wife and my flight times on our Dec 18’th flight to Orlando and our return flight from Fort Lauderdale on Jan 3’rd were changed. Obviously we had the option to either cancel or accept. I noticed that by cancelling our old flights and rebooking the new flights would save me over $250. I called and asked to cancel and rebook and I was told that since I booked Econ flex that I would not be able to do that. I asked her to look at my initial reservation and it clearly stated econo. Next I was told that my companion flight was expired and I could not use it. I reminded her that it was Westjet that changed everything and then I was on wait for thirty minutes while she was with her supervisor on hold. Companion flight was accepted and I got my new flight. Since I had paid for a seat selection but my old seats kept on stating that they were occupied(2 days later they still say that) I then opted and picked new seats. She then told me that I had to pay again for the new seats. I reminded her that I already paid and then it was fixed. All this took 95 minutes. It’s good that I’m retired. My son has a party of four and daughter a party of three travelling at the same time/flights and they tried to do the same thing but since they have young families, they had neither the time or patience to do what I did. Westjet is like an insurance company looking for loopholes to deny anything.

 

[grantclaire]

We had a similar experience as my wife and my flight times on our Dec 18’th flight to Orlando and our return flight from Fort Lauderdale on Jan 3’rd were changed. Obviously we had the option to either cancel or accept. I noticed that by cancelling our old flights and rebooking the new flights would save me over $250. I called and asked to cancel and rebook and I was told that since I booked Econ flex that I would not be able to do that. I asked her to look at my initial reservation and it clearly stated econo. Next I was told that my companion flight was expired and I could not use it. I reminded her that it was Westjet that changed everything and then I was on wait for thirty minutes while she was with her supervisor on hold. Companion flight was accepted and I got my new flight. Since I had paid for a seat selection but my old seats kept on stating that they were occupied(2 days later they still say that) I then opted and picked new seats. She then told me that I had to pay again for the new seats. I reminded her that I already paid and then it was fixed. All this took 95 minutes. It’s good that I’m retired. My son has a party of four and daughter a party of three travelling at the same time/flights and they tried to do the same thing but since they have young families, they had neither the time or patience to do what I did. Westjet is like an insurance company looking for loopholes to deny anything.

Wow! That is poor customer service!

 

[DenaRox]

My Westjet flights were switched as well. Flight down is for the better so accepted that but the flight back now had a 6 hour layover so I was able to switch from a 8am departure home to a 5:30PM departure ( I was already seriously contemplating paying to switch to the 530 flight because of the 330AM mears pick up time for original home flight) and all my seat selections transferred over so overall worked out better for me

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

I wonder if booking one way flights would be better. Maybe they wouldn't have to cancel both of the flights if there is only one change?

 

[pangyal]

They now have us flying out at 7:30am on Boxing Day. I don’t even know why I bother with them anymore. Last April, they changed my mom’s and my flights six times. Sometimes, to a different day altogether.

 

[DenaRox]

I wonder if booking one way flights would be better. Maybe they wouldn't have to cancel both of the flights if there is only one change?

For me, every time I’ve priced it out, one way always ends up more than doing a return trip. I acknowledge I fly out of a small prairies airport so not a lot of options.

 

[badiggio]

IMO,it's "given" that there will be a flight change."Sometimes" it does work out better financially,but usually the new times are NOT what you would book or would have in the first place.And yes, I agree about the runaround you get,that most would just give up trying

 

[grantclaire]

It does seem like Westjet now has more connecting flights to Florida, often connecting with Delta flights.

 

[Nagle]

I have had very poor interactions with @WestJet to the point I avoid them completely. Customer service is nonexistent.

 

[bababear_50]

My times got cancelled . Feb
I was going out early in the morning (7:30 AM) ,,,now going out in the evening.
I kept it because the new return flight was better.
I just wish the constant changing of flights would end.

Hugs Mel

 

[grantclaire]

We are now going on an 530 pm flight to MCO, get to the resort late but still there!

 

[badiggio]

We are now going on an 530 pm flight to MCO, get to the resort late but still there!

We are now going on an 530 pm flight to MCO, get to the resort late but still there!

As long as you're happy is all that matters.I wouldn't be.A wasted day of my trip and paying for 1 day at the resort,to just show up in time to go to bed.

 

[grantclaire]

As long as you're happy is all that matters.I wouldn't be.A wasted day of my trip and paying for 1 day at the resort,to just show up in time to go to bed.

Normally I would agree with you, but we saved 400.$ on the new flights and I was able to add another night to our trip! The other consideration is my DW is dealing with some new health concerns and I did not want to get her up at 3 am to head to the airport. Going to be happy to be on vacation!

 

[C.Witch]

It does seem like Westjet now has more connecting flights to Florida, often connecting with Delta flights.

Those Delta code share flights usually better departure times, duration and connections as well. Oh, and fun fact, WJ no longer lets you use companion vouchers on code shared flights as of this year

 

[LuvMyEAR]

After years of loving WJ, I am done with them. They screwed around with our flight times mercilessly the last 5-6 trips we had with them. Then, they decided on leaving Atlantic Canada out to dry and re-regionalized themselves back to their western routes. Flights from the east coast are scarce, expensive, and ridiculously routed. I am cancelling my WJ credit card because the companion pass is now basically useless to me.

 

[Donald - my hero]

After years of loving WJ, I am done with them. They screwed around with our flight times mercilessly the last 5-6 trips we had with them. Then, they decided on leaving Atlantic Canada out to dry and re-regionalized themselves back to their western routes. Flights from the east coast are scarce, expensive, and ridiculously routed. I am cancelling my WJ credit card because the companion pass is now basically useless to me.

We did the same thing for most of the same reasons. We were WestJet loyal to the core but no longer able to tolerate the same problems over and over and over. Won't fly even if they paid me so the super $$$$ companion pass is not enticing.

BTW, changing the credit card was super easy, did it on the RBC app, picked a different one (Visa ION i think?) so that we don't have just one card in case of service outages. The statement date is the same, the balance switched over, and bonus, the extra card for this one is free.

 

[Lesverts]

I just booked a westjet flight because I had a 700 dollar credit to use. I am not looking forward to it. Moreso WJ's MCO service.

 

[I Run Long]

Yeah we gave up on WJ too. On our last trip to DW, they changed our return flight no less than 4 times and always on the return portion. I can understand adjustments in time but each time, they changed our return not by time but by date! One time, they had us returning 3 days early! The other times it was no less than 1 day early! Then I always had to get on the phone with long wait times to explain that we would like to return on the date we had planned. The return call feature never worked, as any time I pressed 1 to say it was me on the phone, the autoreply would keep asking me to press 1 until it would go on to say we tried to call and you weren't there!! We used them for our last 2 trips and we fly out of Victoria, BC so it wasn't the most convenient having to fly through Toronto or Calgary, but I thought I'll support a Cdn airline. No more! We've returned to flying with Alaska since we only have to change once in Seattle, then we're on our way!

 

[deedubb]

We just flew back from Disneyland and never realized how uncomfortable the WJet seats are until having to sit in them for 5 hours. Just went to book our WDW trip for next summer only to find the price >$6K for 4 people. Insane. Hard pass on that. Thinking about cancelling my WJ credit card at this point. The companion flight sounds like a good deal, but it really isn't. Our recent flight was $729 per person. The companion flight still ended up being $439 when you add in all the fees, and when you add in the cost of the companion fare, I only saved $164 on that ticket.