WestJet Airlines
reviews and complaints

Both my wife had reservations for the above named flight on Aug 30, 2021.

On the boarding pass it states the gate closes at 08:45. Due to back up in security we arrived at the gate at 08:47 (I checked the time.) There was no one agent at the gate. Contract employees who deliver wheel chair passengers finally made contact and an agent appeared at 9:10.

The flight had pushed back and we were advised that there was nothing the Airline could do.
I requested to reroute our tickets through Calgary to back track to Regina AND WAS advised that my tickets were not negotiable or transferable and that I was out of luck.

I then asked to status of our checked baggage and this agent advised us that the luggage was on board the flight. That didn't sit well and I sought out WestJet Baggage and found our bags were not on the flight.

I suggest that this crew was anxious to get out of YYZ and closed the gate early.
To get home to Regina I had to purchase last minute tickets with Air Canada at a cost of 2, 000.00.

I believe Westjet should be held accountable and refund the cost of the Air Canada flight at 2, 000.00 and issued a formal apology.

We were scheduled on Westjet F 3529 Aug 18, 3:15 pm fromMontreal to Toronto and the with Sata until Madeira.
Because of overbooking, Westjet sent us at 19:15 to Toronto and then with BA. But the time was to short and we did not be accepted atthe gate at BA.
So we had to sleep in Toronto en 24 hours later take the plane for London Heatrow.
It costs us one day lost of vacation and calls to the hotel and the rental car company to explain the situation.
Finally, we had been also obliged by Westjet to take the COVID test and pay for that while it was not necessarily (we were both vaccinated in Canada and we had MAdeira safe confirmation).
Annie Reddy
Jacques Turgeon

I had 2 bad experiences with your flight while trying to get home from England. The first time I had gotten to the airport 45 minutes before my flight took off, but the gates were closed already and your staff was very rude. Then after talking to someone I was able to rebook my flight for 3 days later. This time got to the airport on time had all the proper documents but was still not allowed to fly home. Cause I wasn't able to fly into Toronto then purchas a ticket from Toronto to Detroit. So I lost money on the flight. And again I was treated rudely again by staff. I would like a full refund on my flight, cause there was no indication when I rebooked my tickets that I being an American citizen couldn't fly home. You just took my money. Now I'm out 900.00 dollars. I will never fly or recommend your airline again

WestJet,

I am writing to tell you how horrified and disgusted I am in regards to the disability assistance behaviours of Westjet staff during our entire trip home last weekend.

My 2 children and I flew back from Las Vegas to YEG with a stop in YYC on Saturday August 21st. Our reservation code was ILOVGP and our booking number was 2660924. My daughter had a special coding request for her trip, as she travels with her wheelchair. She uses her wheelchair right up to the plane, it gets gate checked, and it is usually waiting for her when she gets off the plane.

I have never waited hours to get a hold of anyone over the phone to add her special coding request. This trip, I had to call 3 separate times and waited on hold for over 6 hours. The first person I spoke with had NO IDEA how to add the coding, spent 45 minutes discussing with his superior how to add the code, couldn't do it in the end, and told me to call back the next day to a different number so that I could fill out the right paperwork with a different office. I could not have explained to him in any other way what I needed and how his methods were not how it ever went for us. The next day, I waited on hold for almost an hour, asked for the special department he said I needed to speak with and got disconnected during the transfer of calls! I phoned back, to wait on hold for even longer and the gentlemen who took my call was able to add the code without issue in minutes. Why the inconsistency?! We've travelled with Westjet before and this has never been such a hassle. Typically, within minutes, her code is added, seats are assigned, and we are good to travel. This should be something that is easily done online as well and shouldn't require me to have to call the general line to wait on hold forever to add a disability code. Surely there are enough guests who require assistance to be able to create a special phone line, email address, or online booking for quicker assistance. After our experience, however, it was clear that Westjet doesn't value their disabled customers as they do "normal" people.

Our flights to LV Mccarren from YEG with a lay-over in YYC were without issue. We boarded the planes ahead of other passengers, her wheelchair was taken, and then her wheelchair was waiting when she got off the plane. Westjet staff were kind, extra friendly towards both of my children, and made sure our needs were taken care of ahead of everyone else's boarding. I have usually experienced this as proper protocol from Westjet. My daughter's wheelchair has been damaged in the past and the odd thing has arose, but generally customer service is bang on.

This bring said, our flights home from Mccarren to YEG with a lay-over in YYC were a disaster and I'm not sure I will fly Westjet again or in general for a while unless my complaint is appropriately handled.

When we arrived at Mccarren, we went through check-in and security no problem. During check-in, there was a Westjet employee who was also going to be at the gate when boarding was happening so he was aware of my daughter and her wheelchair needs. We waited to board the plane, which was delayed. The Westjet app informed me that the plane was delayed due to staffing shortages. In the airport, the screens continued to say "on-time", "boarding", and "final call" meanwhile the entire group of passengers were still sitting in the airport. There was an elderly lady in a wheelchair, my guess would be in her late 70's or early 80's, waiting to board the plane with my daughter. Once boarding could occur, Westjet loaded their "priority first class" passengers on the plane first, ahead of the wheelchair users who had the special coding. The lady and myself were shocked at the behaviour we were witnessing. The next call was for all remaining passengers. WHAT?! I was so upset that I rolled my daughter over to the disabled gate side and informed the staff that the elderly lady and my daughter should have boarded first. I said that the passengers with mobility issues were a priority (as they are on every flight we take!) and not the first class passengers. One employee agreed, however, their actions said otherwise. They let both of us get in line ahead of who they could but didn't think this was necessary based on the looks on their faces. The impatient looks of passengers waiting in line to board, as we were dismantling as much of my daughter's wheelchair as we could on top of the time it took for flight deck staff to assist the elderly lady to her seat, were crippling. That is not my fault- that is the fault of Westjet's protocol and how their staff follow it. I will not apologize for my daughter's disabilities. I asked flight deck staff if someone was going to take my daughter's wheelchair and get it on the plane below, they seemed to have no idea what I was talking about. How was no one waiting and prepared for this when she had special coding? There is usually someone waiting right there and then who takes it swiftly to be stowed below.

After neglecting their passengers with mobility needs during boarding, a flight attendant made her way to our row with her tablet asking who my daughter was. She had noticed the special coding. Rarely does this type of introduction and interaction happen on the plane. I was asked if we required anything extra from the flight attendants during the flight, to which I answered that we did not. The flight attendant continued on to say that "in case of an emergency evacuation, you would wait for the first rush of people to get out and then you would try to make your way out...with her." Ummmmm...WHAT?! The flight attendant continued, her voice crackling with fear that I might say yes, asking if we would need any special assistance from the flight deck staff in the event of evacuation. I was in such shock that I said, "no, because I would have grabbed both my children and would have been trying to get out already." She nodded awkwardly and walked away. I looked immediately at my two children not knowing whether to cry or scream. My son said, "why would we need to wait for the first rush of people to get off first?" I was honest with him as much as it killed me to say out loud. Why should I have to explain to a child, my child who watches his sister struggle everyday with her disabilities, that the world unfairly doesn't value a person with a disability's life equally to that of a "normal" person? Why should my "neuro-typical" child be left with polar opposite emotions of hurt for his sister and confusion of why his life would be affected in the mix during an evacuation. He is only 6 after all.

The rest of our airport and airline trip home was a disaster. When we were deboarding the plane, my daughter's chair was not waiting for her and came up long after the plane had deboarded. This caused a delay for us. When her chair did arrive, the pilot himself assisted in wheeling her up the corridor as you could tell he felt terrible for the series of events. It was almost 10PM, I was alone with 2 little kids, had a terrible flight experience, and still had to find our luggage to bag check it, go through security, and catch our flight to YEG. I have never had to grab my luggage in between fights like that.

I had done everything required on the ArriveCan app so the process through the airport/immigration was easy. Luggage took forever to get on the baggage carousel which caused us a second bug delay for us and no time to use the washroom. I then had to register my kids as quickly as I could for testing and have them tested. I explained to them that I had a flight to catch that was going to leave in 45 minutes. No one cared and said I had time. The super wonderful lady who tested my children was also an airport employee and told us to check our bags close to where we were testing. I explained to her that other airport staff told us that we had to check them in on the second floor at the westjet counter as it was domestic and not international. She let me know that this was on the opposite end of the airport. So off my children and I ran to the opposite side of the airport to drop our bags at a westjet counter. Why was there nothing closer? When we got there, it was final boarding for our flight on the monitors. Then we had to run to security and run to the gate. No one from Westjet called to let them know that we were coming. After security, the sign to the gate number said an 8 minute walk to the gate so we ran as fast as we could. We got to the gate with no time to spare. We thankfully JUST caught our flight to YEG. Even though we were super late, my daughter's wheelchair and our luggage did make the flight to YEG.

In society, a person with a disability's life is less valuable than someone without whether you want to believe it or not- look at how inaccessible life is let alone hearing a hierarchy of who's life is of more value. I advocate and I advocate hard, not just for my family, but for the next family because no one should have to experience what we did with Westjet. One day my daughter may travel alone and she deserves to be treated with respect and have trust in humanity. She will not apologize for her disability. She has a right to travel and fly to destinations like anyone else. It is Westjet's job to ensure that it is a seamless process.

Westjet needs to formally address and apologize for the discrimination and abuse that we, my daughter in particular, experienced. The Westjet crew from boarding to flight deck attendants need to be held accountable for their actions. Covid cannot be blamed for this either. What happened was NOT covid related. I made a post to facebook and instagram detailing our experience and no one from Westjet reached out no matter how many tags it received. Action needs to be taken on your behalf to ensure that my family can trust flying with Westjet in the future and so you do not lose more customers.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to a prompt response.

I have a Westjet voucher which I paid over $1, 000 for at a MADD Canada fundraiser. It's for a flight for 2 people anywhere that Westjet flies. Due to Covid, the expiry date on this voucher has been extended. The current expiry date is Dec. 31, 2021. I am a senior citizen with compromised health, and I do not feel that it would be safe for me to fly and travel while Covid is still around. The 4th wave is coming on strongly, and I (and my children - I am a widow) do not want me to travel until next year. I have requested an extension until June 30, 2022 to be able to use this voucher. My request was initially ignored until I followed up with the Westjet Special care Desk. Despite sending 2 more emails explaining my health situation, this was their only reply: Thank you for your email. We apologize, however currently the maximum extension we were able to offer is to December 31st If you are unable to use the voucher you may gift it to family or friends to travel before the end of year.

Thank you for looking into this for me,
Nancy Stewart
nancy. [protected]@gmail.com

Landed in calgary from firebag just before 10pm. Sat on tarmac for an hour. Missed connecting flight to saskatoon. Offered 0 hotels or options besides moving my flight to 12 hours later and telling me to sit in the terminal. Nothing says absolutely piss poor customer service and disregard foe their customers like refusing to take any responsibility for their terrible planning.

I missed my flight due to an unorganized gate departing for flight qmidil friday aug 20th. The agent was rushing people through and was very short and rude to me. Would not help me, and actually insulted me. It's my first awful experience with westjet. I didn't get my checked bag back and have been waiting with no feedback on when my personal belongings will be back in Calgary for pick up. I'm not from Calgary so I've been waiting for a call. My name is Lisa Trafiak my email is [protected]@hotmail.com. Appreciate a response it's been an emotional time. Thank you.

Westjet does not recognize my reservation code number, tried calling several times to talk with customer service at Westjet ...no luck . Tried the Westjet call back service no success either...I cannot cancel this flight therefore no refund. Had to call Visa and issue a fraudulent charge. What terrible customer service will not be booking with Westjet ever again if I can help it.

I've been trying to add my pet to my flight for 7 days. On hold for 6.5+ hours without success. Callback scheduled for this at 9:45 am & the call came through &I did what was asked and pressed "1". Did not recognize my 1 & asked me a second time before hanging up on me. There was a second callback with the same result. How do I get assistance from WestJet?

I booked a party of 5 for return flights to Vancouver, leaving London Gatwick on the 6th September 2021, returning on the 13th September
We need to move this booking to 2022 as we have learnt that we will not be permitted to enter Canada on the 6th.
We have tried to contact Westjet to resolve this issue for the past 3 weeks without success as follows:

Telephone: Over 5 hours on hold over several calls, costing us nearly £100.00 in call charges

Email: 3 attempts - 25/07/2021, 27/07/2021 and 05/08/2021 - no reply or acknowledgement for any of these

Facebook messenger: 2 direct messages; first on 12/08/2021 and second on 13/08/2021, no response from either.

I even requested a refund on line which they said would be processed, but nothing has materialised.

I requested a call back on line, they gave me a timeslot of 11:45 on Saturday 14/08/2021 - no attempt to call me was made.

Westjet has all of our money and also has changed our lientery - not dates - several times - we had direct flights and chosen seating, now they have changed these to indirect flights and random seating on all flights (they have no problem contacting me to tell me of these changes)!

Unless we resolve this within the next 5 days we intend to take further action as we cannot understand why a company of their size has not got the decency or staff to be able to make the effort to contact us.

If we don't receive conformation of our proposed changes and / or options, we will loose all of our money as we will not be able to enter Canada,

Please do all you can to assist us
.
Many thanks

Two summers ago, before edible marijuana was legal, Krista Ripley was flying from Calgary to Victoria or Vancouver, I believe it was to the island. She would buy edible pot gummies, and put them in candy wrappers and transport them back to Calgary for her personal use. There was a store that sold them near where she was staying on the island.

I believe this to be a security risk, because although it's just pot edibles, they were still illegal at the time and she chose to conceal them as candy to get them home. So what's next, harder drugs and or any other kind of contraband? I knew of this two years ago, and I don't know if she's still doing it now in any other way or form.

Furthermore, Krista has a medical pot card which she abuses. She vapes before and after work. She flies high, works high. Now if this was alcohol, she would be fired. Being that she works in a safety sensitive position, I find this to be very concerning.

I would suggest randomly drug testing her, and have her take a polygraph to know that what I'm telling you is the truth. Otherwise it's just my word against hers.

I'm coming forward now because in my dealings with her she has become very unstable. The reason for her pot medical card is to treat mental illness.
And being that she works in a safety sensitive position, I do think that this is information that WestJet should have.

Hello I'm writing to find some sort of resolution to a situation that happened at Edmonton International Airport yesterday august 12th. My daughter 11 years old was booked to fly direct from Edmonton to Penticton BC, as an unaccompanied minor I had waited on hold for 2hours and 55minutes when this was booked to confirm that a westjet agent would take her from me after check in through security and to the gate. When I arrived I was told this was not an option for me as they were short staffed (the paperwork for this was in 2 weeks ago so they knew an unaccompanied minor was going to be on the flight. I was left with no assistance from westjet employees and made to run all over the airport with 4 children and luggage in tow trying to figure out what to do. I finally arranged with airport guest services to watch my children while I took her through security, upon making it back up to the westjet counter I was made to wait back in line (keep in mind this is well over an hour after us arriving at the airport) got to the desk and was told her luggage couldn't go because the plane was boarding, I made a split decision that I would send her without any luggage just to get her on that plane, after this decision I was told sorry she won't make it. I had been running all over the airport trying to figure this out without any help from westjet agents resulting in her not getting on the plane. We live in a remote community it's a 6hour round trip to the airport and back, this was not a minor inconvenience. I am so disappointed and disheartened by the agents, we love westjet and have been traveling all over the continent with westjet for well over 10 years in the next month we have 6 flights alone booked with westjet! Nothing can be made right now, I was given no other options but to try and rebook her on another flight 4 days later, the flight is gone and that trip is ruined however I expect some sort of resolution for this nightmare to restore my faith and allow my family to confidently continue to travel and give our business to westjet. I look forward to hearing from someone, and I apologize if this message comes off as rude but to be honest I am extremely dissatisfied and disappointed in the events that took place yesterday.
Shannon Johns
[protected]@gmail.com
[protected]

They suspended my open tickets for no reason and aren't reopening them even though I have another year to use it and they won't answer and phone calls, emails, messages nothing. I want my money back. This is such [censored]. People don't just have money to throw at flights. I need that money back

Hi I spoke to agent Jason agent number he said is 12825. I asked to speak to a supervisor and he denied me speaking to any body other than him. It sounded like he was swipering the whole time said he was going to end the call he was extremely rude no type of customer service. When we booked these two tickets for my husband and daughter they were booked separately and he said no that's wrong they were booked as round trip as if we were lieing. We booked these ticket separate reservation numbers are AMCTAX and VMRQFU these were two flights from Montreal to toronto they were booked at different times from the flights from toronto to calgary and this agent said they were booked together and we couldn't even get credit for the montreal to toronto flights which is all that we were asking for. But I just want this agent to be taught some customer service skills because this will be the last time I use westjet.

Wouldn't let me nor my sister board a flight because we were "late" as there was still almost an hour until departure, I was told I wouldn't be able to make it through security (as it take 2 minutes to go through security). The plane was still on the ground when I had to leave the airport(Kelowna regional airport). I was treated very very poorly and am not happy with the service I was not provided. And before this happened my original flight was changed less than 3 hours before my departure and I was not informed until just before I was supposed to leave and my flight was changed for 3 days later, I had booked time off work for my vacation it is a very very big inconvenience. This trip was to help my disabled airforce veteran grandparents, this is a lot of money that has been taken and put nowhere.

Our flight has been cancelled 14 months now and still have not got our refund, we were to fly to calgary on the 22nd of June 2020. I have emailed numerous times, I have called the call centre numerous times and have not been answered to. All I want is the refund were are legally entitled to, westjet were happy enough taking the money for the flight but dont seem to want to give it back.
We have lost all faith in westjet at this stage. There customer care is basically non exisitant

According to Canadian Human rights Service dogs do not have to be formally trained or tested to be a service dog. They just need to be well trained and perform a job for the handler and have a Dr letter saying you require one. West jet is saying that due to our dogs being self trained they can not be considered Service dogs even thou they are registered as such and we have traveled with them on Westjet the last 6 years as service dogs. No formal training is required as per my Human rights and Ontario law and they are interfering with my Human rights to travel with my support aid of a service animal required for my disability.

For close to three decades I and my family have almost exclusively flown on Westjet. Starting in the days when the Flight Attendants told jokes over the loudspeaker and gifts were often given in December for travellers, until today I would say that almost 100% of the time we have used Westjet and have been very happy with the airlines, the service and the communication.

In addition, my wife and I are front line workers. We have not had a day off. Literally, a day off since the Pandemic started. We were able to get five days off to get a break, and this was it.

Sadly, this occasion, the trip we have just returned from, I cannot say the same praise.

It started with the loss of all of our luggage. We had two suitcases, one for each of us travelling and even though they went about 15 minutes apart, were tagged by the Westjet agent and placed in different chutes, they both were lost and did not appear when we arrived in Orlando.

The agent in Orlando who took our information told us that because we were only staying five days, from Sunday until Friday, and that there were no flights before Friday, that we would not be receiving our baggage until we were leaving.

On that basis, she offered each of us $100 each in reimbursements. Now, EVERYTHING was in those bags, every piece of clothing we had, including our suitcases, there was absolutely no way that we were going to be able to purchase nearly what we needed in a foreign country at a mall that we would have to discover.

We were given a report and that evening I began to call the department that handled lost luggage. Finally, we were able to get a call back late that evening and we were told that, in fact, the bags were sent with a different carrier and that would arrive that evening. We were told that we should expect them the next day.

The next day came and went and then, on Monday night called again. Still, everyone was calm and helpful, but the agent said, since the bags were handed to a different carrier, we would have to speak with them. That was not only incorrect, but not even a reasonable thing to say.
So, now Tuesday morning comes and we are told that the bags must be at customs, which also makes no sense, since we had cleared customs leaving Toronto. Yet, still no bags, and at this point, no assurances or information. They did say that because the bags were missing for over two days that we would be reimbursed reasonable expense up to $250 each. No explanation about what is reasonable.

Yes, at the end, one of the agents, after I asked that they please check with Delta, sent them a message asking them to call me. Which, if she actually did, I received no contact from Delta.

The bottom line, we gave up a significant amount of time from the first and only time off we had for over a year, spent a significant amount of money on cabs getting to a mall and to a discount pharmacy for toiletries, even thought the agents and I were polite and held reasonable conversations the entire time, the information that your recordings will show was erroneous and sometimes just foolish. We ended up giving up almost half of our vacation buying, worrying and being available for phone calls due to this misadventure of the airlines losing all of airbags.

As I said at the start, we have been very loyal and happy customers of Westjet for many, many years. However, this trip was greatly effected in a negative manner by the responses we received, the direction we received and the lack of assistance.

The bottom line, my wife and I are not complainers, we do not write whenever a flight is delayed or someone is not friendly. But, we both felt it was necessary to write on this occasion since the loss of all of our luggage and the misinformation and difficulty receiving assistance made the entire episode much worse.

Hello, I'm writing in today to voice my concerns about about several aspects of my recent experience with WestJet. My family and I flew to and from New Brunswick and Alberta this week for a funeral. Right off the bat, getting through to anyone to book bereavement flights was a ridiculously long and frustrating process. We waited on hold for five hours to get through to anybody to get the flights booked—considering the nature of dealing with family deaths, this is already unacceptable. People dealing with death do not need the added frustration of being forced to call in to ludicrously long wait times to try to get somewhere on a short time line. Your bereavement calls need to have their own queue so people get through faster during these time-sensitive situations—or better yet, allow people to book these flights online. The website cites the need to provide particular documentation to book bereavement flights as the reason we HAVE to call, and yet we were not required to provide any of the documents the website or online chat specified. If the flights can be booked without needing to provide those after all, then there's no reason people shouldn't be able to book online. There's no need to make an incredibly hard situation on families any harder than it already is.
Our flights were also delayed both headed to our destination and headed home. Yet again on a very time-sensitive issue, we were delayed around 40 minutes on our way out of Calgary, adding the stress of potentially missing our connecting flight to our existing stress. On our way home, it was the same story, being delayed over an hour—this may have been a failing moreso on Moncton Airport's part, I'm not sure, but we barely made our connecting flight to get home as well.
Now that we're home, we open our luggage up to find a number of priceless family heirlooms left to us from our family member's estate shattered into pieces, a few of them irreparably so. These items were wrapped in clothing, towels, and blankets in a manner that would prevent them from moving as much as possible and were put inside hardcase suitcases that were labelled "fragile" at my request to the airline. It's not my first rodeo bringing breakables home on a plane, and I am confident our packing of these items was more than sufficient to prevent these items from breaking. There are members of our family left behind now that are heartbroken to have lost these things, and it begs the question of how rough WestJet's employees handle your clients' luggage. We made sure these bags were appropriately labelled so this wouldn't be an added sadness on top of existing grief, and somehow someone in the WestJet line made sure it was for naught. I've previously never had an issue with flying with WestJet but the level of disappointment my entire family now has in this airline likely means we will not be continuing our business with this airline.

Booking# [protected]
Ticket# 047-[protected]
Tag1# TP751937
Tag2#TP752197
Tag3#TP752198
Trip from DSS - LIB - YYZ - YUL arrived on 2021/08/05
Baggage is originally from TAP Portugal fight TP257 until Toronto and then there was a switch to Westjet from Toronto to Montréal. My baggage was checked for Montreal. I arrived at Montréal on August 5th at flight # WS3534 but none of my tree cases was found. I need to know what happened