West Jet stole our money

Do NOT accept the credit! If your WestJet flight was cancelled because of the travel ban you are entitled to a FULL refund for your flight.

The government’s advisory against travel abroad and the COVID-19 pandemic is an unforeseeable circumstance that makes it impossible to perform the contract for travel services, such as flights and vacation packages. In legal language, such contracts are “frustrated.” The law is that when a contract is frustrated, the sums paid or payable may be recovered from the payee. In your case, it means that you are owed a refund of all unused services.

WestJet's "policy" of issuing credit for future travel is NOT acceptable:

Passengers who give up their travel in response to health authority advisories are entitled, not only as matter of fairness but also as a matter of law, to a full refund to the original form of payment. Various credits for future travel or services by companies that may or may not exist when the pandemic is over do not meet this requirement.

And again, crucially:

Remind [airline] that “policies” cannot override the law.

The above quotes are from this webpage written by a Canadian air passenger rights advocate, which clearly details your rights to a refund and steps towards getting it (in Canada). Hope it helps.

Eugh, thats awful. I would throw that up on Twitter. Seems to be about the only place airlines stay accountable through bad press.

I was able to do a chargeback on my visa for one of my cancelled westjet flights, have you tried that?

May have been a little different in that I had email confirmation they would be proceeding with a refund and then never followed through, but an option to consider.

I'm pretty passionate about helping others out with getting their money back after going through basically the same thing earlier in the year and spending hours on the phone and online trying to get the refunds I was owed - which I eventually succeeded in doing! The big Canadian airlines have hundreds of thousands (maybe millions) of Canadians' money as interest-free loans and it's not (morally) right nor is it legal.

My own situation: My partner and I booked flights through Expedia to go to Las Vegas in April. Our flights to Vegas from Vancouver were operated by United Airlines while our flight to Vancouver from Vegas were operated by WestJet. After many calls and online discussions, I was eventually able to get a refund directly from United Airlines and got my money back via a credit card chargeback against WestJet.

My advice to you (and anyone else involved in a similar situation):

1. Check out Air Passenger Rights:

   1. There is a website and Facebook group that I found incredibly helpful in helping me to navigate this situation. Take some time to do research before jumping into action.

   2. On the Facebook group, check under announcements. It provides steps to getting refunds and hyperlinks to additional resources.

2. DOCUMENT AND RECORD EVERYTHING:

   1. If it's a phone call, record it. Either use an app or use a second device that can voice record and then talk on speaker phone. This is legal in Canada as long as one person (you) consents to it.

   2. If it's an online chat (like Facebook Messenger) or an email, screenshot it.

   3. Make notes and document every interaction. I personally have a document that's about 25 pages long that includes references to voice recordings, screenshots, and notes about interactions.

   4. It's important to have documentation for any future interactions. If you ultimately initiate a chargeback, most banks/credit card companies require documentation and proof that services were not rendered.

3. DO NOT ACCEPT A CREDIT:

   1. Tell WestJet when offered that you refuse the offer for a credit and that you demand a refund to the original form of payment. You are not legally obligated to accept a credit in place of a refund. This is every major Canadian airline's method of "making customers happy and think that this is their only method of receiving any sort of compensation."

4. Contact WestJet:

   1. Contact WestJet via phone and Facebook messenger. The more you try to get a refund directly from the vendor, the more likely you are to be able to initiate a chargeback.

   2. When contacting WestJet, state that you are requesting a refund to the original form of payment as entitled under the Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR). The APPR is law. It's a legally binding document. The APPR Subsections 17(2) and 17(7) basically state:

      1. "If the reason for the flight cancellation was “schedule change” or something similar within the airline’s control (including maintenance issues), then,

      2. "Refunds under this section must be paid by the method used for the original payment and to the person who purchased the ticket or additional service."

   3. Since you were to fly to and from the USA, you can also cite the US Department of Transportation's (US DOT's) enforcement notice that basically reminds airlines that as per US law, airlines are legally required to provide passengers with full refunds to the original form of payment. It does not matter what your own citizenship is, it does not matter where the airline's headquarters are, all that matters is that a US city is involved in your itinerary.

   4. It's important to note that the travel advisory by the Canadian government is only that. It's an advisory. There is no ban against flying to the USA. Canadian airlines are cancelling flights because there is decreased demand and therefore it is not economically feasible for them to run the flights.

   5. As well, when WestJet rebuttals by saying that the Canadian Transport Agency (CTA) issued a statement that basically says credits/vouchers for future travel are appropriate, remind WestJet that this is only a statement and therefore does not override law (the APPR or US DOT*)*.

   6. When WestJet rebuttals that their policies do not allow them to provide refunds to the original form of payment, remind WestJet that this is only a company policy and therefore does not override law (the APPR or US DOT).

5. Assuming WestJet refuses a refund, file a formal complaint with the US DOT.

   1. Find the complaint form here. State that you were illegally refused a refund.

   2. The US DOT has massive influence and can hit airlines with massive fines and/or bans and/or other penalties. Because basically every airline in the world flies to and/or from the USA, they do not want to be on the US DOT's bad side.

   3. The US DOT tallies and tracks complaints. The more complaints against an airline, the more likely the US DOT is to penalize the airlines.

6. Assuming WestJet refuses a refund, after completing steps 4 and 5, initiate a chargeback with your credit card company:

   1. Refer to the Chargeback Draft Guide under #4 of the Air Passenger Rights announcements.

   2. Contact your credit card company and state that you are requesting a chargeback against WestJet because services paid for were not provided. Also state that you contacted the merchant (WestJet) multiple times, explained your legal rights, and were still refused a refund.

   3. If you have a MasterCard, see their Dispute Resolution Management During COVID-19 document and specifically point 1 of Merchant Cancellations on page 4. It basically states that cardholders have the right to initiate a chargeback when the merchant was unable to provide the goods/services. HOWEVER, you do not have this right if you (the cardholder) cancel the flight.

      1. Note: I believe a similar document exists for Visa as well.

NOTE: I've bolded and capitalized points 2 and 3 as these are by far the most important.

I've seen some Redditor comments that you should complain on Twitter and contact media. Unfortunately, however, these airlines are the scum of the scum and manage to limit public exposure online. Often they'll respond to tweets by saying something like "Please DM us with your flight # and information and we'll help out!" and then it goes nowhere from there. As well, there's been lots of media attention, news articles and reports regarding this issue but the airlines have pretty much managed to avoid providing refunds at all costs.

I wish you (and everyone) luck in receiving the refunds you're owed! And remember: always document, and never accept a credit!

If they cancelled your original flights, and you're still within 60 days of when you were supposed to travel, you should be able to do a chargeback for services not rendered through your credit card. They do not consider future travel credits to be "services rendered". Only pain in the butt was that I had to send a signed dispute letter via fax due to Visa policy as I was disputing 3 high value transactions.

I went through the chargeback process through TD because Turkish Airlines & Expedia dragged their feet in issuing a refund, and wouldn't put it in writing that they would. No proof of trying to resolve it directly with airline or Expedia was needed. Tickets were for family members so didn't qualify for cancellation insurance included with the card.

On a related note, ANA (All Nippon Airlines) issued me a refund for non-refundable tickets in late February prior to cancellation of flights or any official travel restriction. Some tourist attractions in Japan starting to close was enough for them. Experience with them was so good I'd buy any flights i can through them, even if it's a codeshare not operated by them. Sure it was about an hour on hold, but only about 5 minutes total with the agent. Immediate written confirmation of refund, took about a month to actually get processed due to high volumes of refunds.

It's the definition of theft. They break there contract, don't provide you the service. But because they can give you a short credit that's not even the same ticket value they can escape all legalitys. Why are mega million corporations able to get away with this?

You're not alone - they wont refund me $6,800.

Yes my wife and I booked a WestJet vacation for April at a cost of $5,000. The trip was cancelled by WestJet. We can not get our money back only credit.

Total garbage, it's theft.

Learned the hard way myself. Always get a refund and not a credit. My loss isn’t comparable to many others here, but still sucked nonetheless. Getting a credit issued by Air Canada as a result of COVID was breezy; was hit with a surprise charge when I booked new tickets with the credit.

My original trip was booked for London for early April and the tickets were $780 round trip. I tried contacting AC daily starting mid-March, but obviously had no luck speaking to a human. After struggling to figure out what options I had around my trip, I got an email saying I have two options: cancel for a $270 refund and lose the non-refundable fees ($510) OR cancel and accept a credit for the full amount future travel. Took the credit since AC’s website was acting clunky and a new policy change stated that I can use the credit towards a flight as long as it’s before March 2021. Another important thing to note is that the credit can be for another person (family) and applied towards any AC flight before the expiry.

At the end of July, a family member returned to Japan. Noticed that the only direct flight to Tokyo was a code share by AC and ANA and remembered my credit. Called AC customer care to book using the credit for the new flight. Checked online before calling that it was $815 and the customer service rep confirmed it herself (I even took a screenshot), but all of a sudden tells me there’s a surcharge of $580 because the flight is for Asia and no longer for the EU.After I ask her to explain why it’s not an additional charge of $35 (the difference between the new and cancelled flight), but she wasn’t really able to do so. She kept saying it’ll be over $1k and repeating that it’s because there’s different taxes per region. Made no sense since I was told it’s a credit with no restrictions - still doesn’t. Eventually she says she can refund $270 aka my original refundable amount and that I’ll still be charged to book the flight $580.

What should’ve been $815 (including my credit) ended up being $1,090 total due to an unexplained charge. Asked the rep who was “helping” me to send an email breaking down the extra costs or someone that might be able to explain this, but told me she can’t and directed me to submit a customer care claim online and they’ll get back to me in a couple of days (spoiler alert: they didn’t).

I wasn’t sure if I’ll even get to use the credit before it expires, so I went ahead and booked the ticket to see if there’s anything that can be done by my CC. Back in March, I contacted my CC to see if I’m protected with my card’s travel policy and was advised I have to accept what the airline is offering (aka a credit). Since there was an unexplained additional surcharge, I took it up with my CC and was passed back and forth between the travel insurance team and the fraud team. After spending hours talking to different people and on hold, it just wasn’t worth it anymore despite leaving a bitter taste.

A week later, AC’s customer care team responded to me by email and confirmed that I’m SOL: “When you changed your ticket, the new flight you selected had a more expensive fare and you needed to pay the difference. But I want to assure you the additional money you paid was for the lowest fare available at the time you made the change. The normal change fee was waived. Because of this, we are unable to offer a refund.”

Checked AC’s websites for the same tickets and they were still $815 and not $1,090. Still have no idea where the extra charge came from - the math doesn’t add up!

Good luck everyone!

This seems pretty par for the course with most airlines. I know someone who came here from Australia in December 2019 with a return ticket for May 2020 on Virgin Airways. They don't have a safe way to quarantine when they get back to Australia so they couldn't use the "voucher" Virgin gave them before it expired this month. Now they're just out $2K *and* still stuck in Canada (luckily their Visa is for 2 years).

TLDR: Airlines are sleazy bastards.

I was suppose to fly on Sept 9th. They gave me a travel credit good for 24 months from my travel date. They also said that on Nov 16th I can apply to have a refund instead of travel credit.

Airlines are definitely playing the game of "only issue refunds to those who complain enough", so I would keep trying. I know a couple who cancelled their Europe trip back in March and they finally got their airline to agree to a refund (and not a credit) last week - they are still waiting for their cheque. A chargeback is the easiest option if that's still available to you guys.

I was supposed to go to Germany with air Canada and accepted credit. Now I'm wondering if that was a mistake

You and literally everyone else who booked Westjet/Air Canada have the same problem

I personally haven't had that experience. I just asked for a credit for a flight to Boston in June for a wedding with Delta because I know I'll need to book domestically for next year anyway.

My best friend was supposed to get married in Costa Rica in December. She has been fighting with Air Canada since the Pandemic started. We all paid a $250 deposit on or before March 10th (so basically just before everything happened) in order to save our spot with the preferred pricing of the package. The rest of the package was set to be paid this month ($2300-$3500 depending on the group/person). Air Canada was essentially telling her that everyone would lose their deposit if they don't pay for the rest of the trip and go either in December or next year! There is no good reason to go to South America right now, it's just as bad as the US!

It's basically has gone from "You'll lose your credit" to "okay, you can have credit but you have to go back to the exact same location/ resort in Costa Rica" to "Okay your guest can also transfer the credit to someone else" to "you can use the credit anywhere and it doesn't expire". Like holy moly, just give us our $250 back for crying out loud, who cares if they are losing 20 million a day, some people can use that money to buy food or pay their rent!

Just keep kicking the little guys while they are down, seems to be the going theme.

Edit: I actually just got off the phone with Delta Airlines and requested my credits to be a refund instead and the guy was really nice and gave me my money back!

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Can you make a claim on your travel insurance?

Airlines are largely responsible for this being a pandemic, as opposed to an epidemic.

Time for some heavy regulation on this industry.

Just got a full refund for two flights to London via a chargeback through Visa. Spent 2 hours on hold with the CC dispute line but they were very helpful and we received our money back in about three days. Trip.com however were very obstructive and refused a refund every step of the way since March. Proper scumbags. Just be sure to get documentation of their refusal if you can - it helped us when pursuing a chargeback.

Do a charge-back through your credit card company. I got my money back from WestJet about 2 weeks ago.

damn, i am a westjet platinum member, i am wondering if they would treat me the same way.

This happened to me! Thankfully I bought the ticket on my amex and contacted them to issue a charge back for services not rendered. Within a few weeks amex had credited my credit card with the amount.

Contact your credit card company and ask for a charge back for services not rendered.

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I was a dummy and accepted the credit, wish I didn’t...

You might get better results on Twitter then on Reddit. WestJet has a twitter account which they monitor & respond to.

Lost $3200 for a trip in may. Airlines treat us like cattle, they could give 2 fucks about customer service, all they want is to be able to fly their plans and burn that oil. Look at the quantas flight they just sold to nowhere.

Try a chargeback on your credit card and failing that, contact the head office and/or protest on their official account on Twitter. They'll respond quickly, usually.

I had to put up a huge fight with KLM to get refunded for flights in June. I refused to take a voucher. RBC Visa was more than happy to issue a chargeback to KLM. Months later, KLM finally agreed to give me a cash refund. No action was taken since I already received the refund via chargeback.

Contact Consumer Matters at Global BC.

or

Gabor Lukacs, founder of Air Passenger Rights, a non-profit consumer group focused on air travel issues.

WestJet has had very bad press during the pandemic.

Wow this sucks. I've seen a few threads on r/personalfinancecanada maybe worth looking there to see if anyone found a solution. Totally not surprised that airlines are robbing people in broad daylight, such a shitty industry to begin with. :(

Let’s wait for cbc to pick this Reddit post uo and turns it into a story.

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Oh well.