Passengers hasten after WestJet, Air Canada cancel Puerto Rico flights. Who’s to blame?

​Just dual days before Rick and Joan Hughes finished their Caribbean cruise, a Ottawa integrate got bad news: WestJet had cancelled their moody home, withdrawal them stranded in Puerto Rico.

“We were pissed,” pronounced Rick Hughes. The couple called a airline to complain.

“WestJet fundamentally said, ‘You’re on your own,” pronounced Joan Hughes. “We were not impressed.”

Many Canadians have had their transport skeleton disrupted since both WestJet and Air Canada have cancelled flights and dangling use to Puerto Rico due to repairs caused by Hurricane Maria in September.

Other airlines such as American, Delta, United and JetBlue are still drifting to a region.

Hurricane Maria pummelled San Juan in September. Air Canada dangling use to Puerto Rico on Oct. 29, citing whirly repairs to a terminal. (Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press)

Rick and Joan Hughes flew to Puerto Rico’s collateral city, San Juan, on WestJet’s partner airline Delta on Oct. 28 to locate their cruise.

On Nov. 2, they got an email from their online engagement agent, Flight Network, informing them that WestJet had cancelled their Nov. 4 lapse moody to Toronto.

They started frantically job other airlines.

“At slightest 10 hours of a tour to arrange this out,” pronounced Joan Hughes.  “I was utterly anxious.”

The Hughes were anxious to learn that their online engagement agent, Flight Network, would cover a additional costs of their tour home. (Rick and Joan Hughes)

The couple eventually managed to book a moody with JetBlue Airways.

It would be a two-day tour that enclosed dual overnight stays in hotels and stopovers in a Dominican Republic and New York City. Their son also had collect them adult during their final destination, Syracuse, N.Y., and expostulate them behind to Ottawa.

Nonetheless, a integrate was relieved.

“I started to cry when we was thanking a male from JetBlue for removing us out,” pronounced Joan Hughes.

The integrate estimates they shelled out roughly $2,000 to compensate for final notation flights, dishes and hotels on tip of what they paid for their cancelled and refunded WestJet flight.

“If we had famous this, we would have cancelled a cruise,” pronounced Joan Hughes.

‘It was traumatizing’

Fellow newcomer Michelle Robinson agrees. She was on a same tour and was ostensible to locate a same WestJet moody home.

She also perceived an email from her online engagement agent, Kiwi.com on Nov. 2, informing her that her Nov. 4 lapse moody had been cancelled.

“It was traumatizing,” pronounced Robinson, who lives in London, Ont. “To leave someone stranded like that, we can’t do that to people but charity some arrange of alternative.”

Robinson finished adult drifting home over dual days with an overnight stay in Panama City. Kiwi.com requisitioned a moody and lonesome her expenses.

Michelle Robinson and her fiancé Michael Weldon during their Caribbean tour that left from San Juan. (Michelle Robinson)

WestJet told CBC News that it cancelled flights to Puerto Rico since of “concerns with reserve of a infrastructure” following Hurricane Maria.

Spokesperson Lauren Stewart offering an reparation to passengers “for this hapless situation.”

However, she says a airline gave copiousness of notice since it had posted a transport advisory on a website on Oct. 8 that it had dangling San Juan service for a winter deteriorate starting on Oct. 30.

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Stewart pronounced that when a newcomer books by an online agency, that group is obliged for notifying a customer.

Both Kiwi.com and Flight Network told CBC News that they were traffic with a high volume of passengers during a time, and took shortcoming for not notifying their clients progressing of a moody cancellation.

Flight Network also apologized to Rick and Joan Hughes and says it will cover a full costs of a couple’s tour home.

“We’re many happy about it,” pronounced Rick Hughes. “It’s awesome.”

‘Flabbergasted’

Air Canada newcomer Marilyn Duhaime also found herself in a bind after she schooled that her turn outing from Toronto to San Juan had been cancelled.

Duhaime and her father Dave were ostensible to fly to a city on Nov. 25 to locate their Caribbean cruise.

She says she schooled of a moody termination on Nov. 4 from her sister, who was set to transport with a couple but had requisitioned her flight with a opposite transport rewards program.

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Duhaime says conjunction Air Canada nor Aeroplan, a rewards module she requisitioned her moody with, had told her.

“I’m usually flabbergasted,” says Duhaime who lives in Dorchester, Ont. She says that when she called Air Canada and Aeroplan to endorse a cancellation, no one offering to assistance her get another moody to San Juan.

“I felt sick,” pronounced Duhaime.

Marilyn Duhaime says conjunction Air Canada nor Aeroplan told her that her moody to San Juan had been cancelled. (Air Canada/CBC)

She scrambled and requisitioned dual tickets with American Airlines so she and Dave could still make their cruise. The late engagement cost a couple $1,781. Plus, they’ll have to bombard out for dual overnight hotel stays since they’re now drifting out of Detroit.

The couple got their points behind from Aeroplan. When they used them six months ago to book their Air Canada tickets, they usually had to compensate a $228 combined fee.

“Now we have a $2,000 bill,” pronounced Duhaime. “I’m not happy during all.”

Air Canada told CBC News it suspended use to Puerto Rico for a deteriorate starting on Oct. 29 because of whirly repairs to a depot it uses in San Juan.

The airline also pronounced it’s assisting influenced passengers make choice arrangements during no additional cost.

Air Canada pronounced we should speak to Aeroplan about Duhaime’s case. Aeroplan pronounced that Duhaime cancelled her moody before a module had a possibility to forewarn her about a termination and assistance her make choice arrangements.

Following a inquiry, Duhaime told CBC News that Aeroplan called and pronounced it was looking into possible compensation for the couple.

“We’re hopeful,” said Duhaime.

Article source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/westjet-air-canada-san-juan-puerto-rico-cancel-flights-1.4397776?cmp=rss