It was an prolonged trip in Mexico — the type nobody requested for.
As an alternative of additional hours on the seashore, a whole bunch of WestJet passengers spent the higher a part of two days within the Cancun airport, after dealing with repeated delays starting with their scheduled flight house on Thursday, Jan. 31.
Some 55 hours later, they arrived in Calgary. Then, a weeks-long battle for compensation started.
“The time on the seashore… that’s so distant,” defined Calgary resident Michael Bindman.
“To me the complete journey was sitting within the Cancun airport.”
Passengers have been shuttled backwards and forwards to the airport and an space lodge twice — however solely after spending hours on finish within the terminal, with few solutions as to the explanation for the delay.
“All they needed to do was say, ‘Pay attention, we’ve ordered the buses (again to the resort), we all know you’re going there and you’ll sit by the seashore for just a few hours,” mentioned James Faulkner, one other passenger.
“Did that occur? No. Did we get to sit down on the airport longer? Sure. Did we all know we weren’t going to get on a flight that day? Just about.”
Tons of of passengers wait in line at Cancun Worldwide Airport on Friday, Jan. 31.
Alim Kara / Submitted
Now, six weeks faraway from the ordeal, a number of passengers who spoke to International Information say their compensation claims have been denied — with the airline citing a mechanical situation and security considerations with the plane.
Get every day Nationwide information
Get the day’s high information, political, financial, and present affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox as soon as a day.
“The choice then comes from the flight crew, who make the choice that it’s not an plane they will take,” defined former Air Canada chief working officer Duncan Dee.
“We’re speaking about something from the touchdown gear to points with the engine.
“On this explicit case, WestJet hasn’t been forthcoming with what the precise situation was.”
Roughly 4 dozen passengers are in a gaggle chat, preserving one another updated on their compensation claims.
However past that, passengers are additionally hoping for an evidence as to what actually occurred.
“I believe it was a giant shock to all people to be denied, and everybody would ship a message saying ‘I obtained this response…’” mentioned Penny Lamont, who travelled to Cancun for a forty fifth anniversary journey together with her husband, Glen.
“One younger woman was beginning a brand new job the following day, individuals had jobs to go to, farms to run… I believe it was actually the way in which WestJet dealt with their correspondence with us.”
“Whereas WestJet could consider the travellers weren’t entitled to compensation, absolutely they need to agree the passengers are at the very least entitled to an evidence as to what precisely occurred,” Dee mentioned.
WestJet apologized to passengers on the time of the incident, which the airline mentioned was as a result of “unscheduled upkeep,” however hasn’t responded to a current request for context on the incident or the compensation course of.
However some passengers say they’ll proceed to advocate for themselves within the meantime.
“I wish to come up with the logs, indicating what points there have been,” Bindman says.
“If I’ve to go to freedom of data, I’ll. If I’ve to go to small claims courtroom, I’ll — as a result of I believe their motion is reprehensible.”
© 2025 International Information, a division of Corus Leisure Inc.
Source link