Swoop/Westjet review: Cancelled flight with no rebooking option

Mar. 20, 2023 Swoop/WestJet Complaint

On Mar. 2, 2023 our Mar. 3, 2023 SWOOP flight from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to Hamilton, Ontario was cancelled. The original email indicated that a rebooking would be offered. The next email nullified that, leaving no options other than a $475.00 refund. The SWOOP website showed no flights for the rest of March. I did email SWOOP at [protected]@flyswoop.com with our concerns and have received no reply.

I spent all night Mar. 2 and most of Mar. 3 trying to find flights home. For more than 14 hours I was online and on hold with several airlines. I finally was able to get through to WestJet (5:40 p.m. Mar. 3). As they are the parent company of SWOOP, I was hopeful that they would honour our original booking with SWOOP. They would give us no credit towards the SWOOP flight and we had to do a new booking at a cost of $2241.56, more than five times the cost of our original flight! It would leave Puerto Vallarta Mar. 6 at 15:25, get into Calgary, Alberta at 19:22 and leave Calgary Mar. 7 at 00:05, getting into Toronto at 5:52 Mar. 7th! Preposterous! It was a red-eye from Calgary to Toronto, yet we had to pay a huge premium for the flight.

Upon returning home (London, Ontario), we learned that SWOOP did fly out of Puerto Vallarta Sunday, Mar. 6th. Why were we not given that option? We originally booked May 5, 2022 and were repeat customers! Was it more economical to refund us our measly $475.00 and accommodate those who booked later at a higher cost? That is just unethical!

Neither airline offered accommodation, meals or credit for incidentals! It was a huge inconvenience and out-of-pocket expense for us to find accommodation for 3 nights, meals, taxis, phone calls etc. etc. etc. There is absolutely no excuse for this kind of irresponsibility and lack of accountability by a major airline and its subsidiary! It is both indefensible and reprehensible! There should be compensation from both SWOOP and WestJet!

Denise and Ronald Moreland

43-30 Doon Dr.

London, ON N5X3X2 Ph. [protected] [protected]@rogers.com