‘Really upsetting’: Family pays $15K to get home after WestJet cancels Puerto Rico flights

Chris Ma and 13 of her kin schooled their WestJet moody home had been cancelled when they arrived during a San Juan airport. 

Unbeknownst to them, a moody had indeed been cancelled nearly a month progressing when WestJet dangling use to Puerto Rico. 

“We were super shocked,” says Ma, who lives in Toronto. “It was only unequivocally upsetting.”

The family had just finished a Caribbean tour that docked in Puerto Rico’s capital on Nov. 4. 

“We were stranded,” Ma says. “We were only so worried.”

The family scrambled and eventually did find a way home — 4 days later, and during a outrageous cost. 

They had to bombard out $15,550 sum to book last-minute flights on choice airlines and stay 3 additional nights in a San Juan hotel.

“All a income and time that we wasted,” Ma says. “It was unequivocally unfortunate.”

Chris Ma and her family on a day outing during their Caribbean cruise. Fourteen of them were set to fly home to Canada on WestJet. (Chris Ma)

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, Southwest and JetBlue are still drifting to a island.

WestJet says it supposing “ample notification” about its moody cancellations by posting an advisory on a website on Oct. 8, and promulgation out notices.

However, several WestJet travellers who spoke with CBC News contend they got a news really late, withdrawal them scrambling to find choice flights.

‘Can’t do anything about it’

Ma and her family had flown to San Juan on American Airlines on Oct. 28 to locate their cruise. They didn’t learn about about a termination of their lapse WestJet moody until a week after when they couldn’t find a WestJet counter during a airfield and Ma called a airline. 

“They only pronounced that they’re sorry, it’s unfortunate, though they can’t do anything about it,” she recalls.

Next, Ma called EC Travel, that had requisitioned a family’s tickets and positive them before depart that a outing was still a go. She says a Toronto group was only as repelled as she was, and suggested her a fastest approach home would be to book with another airline during a airport.

During a family’s tour home from San Juan, they had a 13-hour stopover in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where some of them attempted to get some sleep. (Chris Ma)

The best a family could get were mixed joining flights on 3 opposite airlines. They also had to stay 3 nights in a hotel in San Juan before they could start their tour home to Toronto and Montreal.

“I feel like WestJet is to blame,” Ma says. “If they’re going to cancel flights that we already bought tickets for, they should have been means to assistance us more.”

Who’s to blame?

WestJet says it alerted transport agencies about a moody cancellations both on a website privately for agents and by emailing them notices. The airline also pronounced that while it will reinstate a cancelled tickets and relinquish change fees, it’s adult to a agencies to arrange new flights.

Travel representative Nick Wu with EC Travel says a association never perceived an email from WestJet. CBC News asked WestJet if it could yield a duplicate of any presentation sent to EC Travel. The airline hasn’t responded to a request.

Wu also says an online posting isn’t sufficient notice for agencies traffic with high volumes of passengers, especially considering the whirly hazard had already upheld and many airlines continue to service San Juan.

“How could we theory that when a hurricane’s gone, they start cancelling a flights?” 

He also says a yet-to-be-refunded $2,122 for a family’s strange 14 WestJet tickets home won’t go really distant to cover their new $15,550 bill.

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“This is a many terrible knowledge that I’ve had,” Wu says.

He sent a censure to a airline asking for remuneration for the family. “They sell a ticket, they should take responsibility,” he says. 

‘They only forsaken us’

Other transport companies also missed WestJet’s alerts. Online engagement agencies Flight Network and Kiwi.com sensitive passengers only dual days before to depart that their Nov. 4 moody from San Juan to Toronto was cancelled.

Both agencies took shortcoming for a late notification.

But, like EC Travel, Aspire Travel in Ajax, Ont., believes WestJet blundered by not contacting a group progressing and assisting it make choice skeleton for passengers.

“They only forsaken us. They only forsaken a passengers,” says transport representative Andrea Thomas.

She requisitioned 3 clients on a lapse WestJet moody from San Juan to Toronto for Nov. 4.

Thomas did get an email notice from a airline about a moody termination — on Oct. 18, 10 days before a passengers were set to fly to San Juan to locate their cruise.

“This came as a shock,” she says. “It was very, really frustrating.”

WesJet says it gave everybody ‘ample notification’ about a San Juan moody cancellations. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)

Thomas eventually did find choice flights for her 3 clients and got a reinstate for a cancelled WestJet flights.

But since it was a late engagement that now enclosed a night in a hotel, she says her agency paid about $4,000 out of slot to pledge the passengers a moody home.

Thomas wants WestJet to yield compensation.

“It’s a relapse in service,” she says. “It had financial repercussions to contend a least.”

CBC News asked WestJet about compensation.

“We understanding directly with a guest/travel representative on these sorts of matters,” orator Lauren Stewart pronounced in an email.

She also offering an reparation for inconvenienced customers.

Passengers like Chris Ma and her family are hoping for something more. 

• Family forced to compensate additional $4,000 for new tickets after Air Canada bars them from flight

Article source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/westjet-cancel-flight-san-juan-puerto-rico-1.4402401?cmp=rss