Westjet At IT AGAIN

[damo]

Make sure that if you do have a change and you need to get ahold of them you start early.. Ive now waited for 2.5 hours (system hung up), 3.5 Hours (I hung up, couldn't stay awake, it was 12:30am. Dialed in at 7:30am MST, after 4 hours the system automatically tried to send me to a call back for NEXT Saturday. Dialed in again at 11:30am MST, its currently 5:00pm and still on hold.. If I wasn't a 5 hour round trip to the Airport I might just stop by there and see if anyone there could help.

Did you try messaging them through Facebook?

 

[soccerra]

Both Facebook and Twitter.. Told to call, they cant do it via Social Media
Here is what they said
"We kindly ask that you continue to try to connect with our call center if you are not able to use the online tools. The wait times does go down between midnight and 4AM Calgary time"
It was booked with a WJ RBC Companion Voucher.. Regretting that now lol

 

[soccerra]

And after 6.5 hours on hold, the system just hung up on me............

 

[soccerra]

Somehow right now I just got right through.. No idea how.. Customer Service Gentleman on the other end was definitely the "A" Team, thank heavens.. Got it all settled.. Buying a lottery ticket next..

 

[Aug2020distrip]

Slightly off topic but don’t really want to start a thread. Not sure why I’m stressing about it since I am sure WestJet will change the options around before April. What would you rather:

1. leave your city at 5am, but then have a 2.5 hour layover and arrive at Orlando around 1:00pm.

2. direct flight, but leave your city at 4pm and arrive in Orlando at 8:45pm.

with 2 we basically lose a whole day. Get to condo and go to bed essentially.
With 1, we have the late afternoon to swim/go for dinner/grab a few groceries. But we have to wake up and like 3am to get to airport and then I know 1pm is a crazy time at Orlando airport.
What would you do?! I am leaning toward 1 but want to see some thoughts of people who have maybe done both.

 

[soccerra]

A lot would depend on where you layover, where your coming from etc.. How long your going for. For us getting there early always requires a Red Eye to Toronto (Unless you fly with a US Carrier which isn't a thing right now it seems), so while its nice being in Orlando at 11:30-12:00pm, your don't have a whole lot left in the tank. We prefer Non Stop, less chances for missing flights, delayed flights, especially in winter. Right now less chance of a Covid Test Expiring in the 72 hour window etc. Just find less seems to go wrong when we get on a place in our case Calgary, and get off the plane in Orlando.

 

[Aug2020distrip]

A lot would depend on where you layover, where your coming from etc.. How long your going for. For us getting there early always requires a Red Eye to Toronto (Unless you fly with a US Carrier which isn't a thing right now it seems), so while its nice being in Orlando at 11:30-12:00pm, your don't have a whole lot left in the tank. We prefer Non Stop, less chances for missing flights, delayed flights, especially in winter. Right now less chance of a Covid Test Expiring in the 72 hour window etc. Just find less seems to go wrong when we get on a place in our case Calgary, and get off the plane in Orlando.

Ugh I hear you. I am worried about a last big snow storm that would cause a missed connection. Our city is made for winter, but I know our connection in Toronto has a good chance of closing down the airport if a massive storm. But I also know that is more rare. I do love the idea of a non stop flight.

like you said, I think our kids will be tired either way. Either tired from being up at 3am, or tired from a late bedtime from landing at 845 pm. I’m still hopeful maybe the flights change by then, a 9am non stop flight would be perfect haha!

 

[bababear_50]

My wait time to change a flight on Friday was 4 .5 hours.
Just hope when I decide to finally fly that the wait times are NOT this long.

Hugs to all of you waiting on hold.
Mel

 

[2Lunds]

Slightly off topic but don’t really want to start a thread. Not sure why I’m stressing about it since I am sure WestJet will change the options around before April. What would you rather:

1. leave your city at 5am, but then have a 2.5 hour layover and arrive at Orlando around 1:00pm.

2. direct flight, but leave your city at 4pm and arrive in Orlando at 8:45pm.

with 2 we basically lose a whole day. Get to condo and go to bed essentially.
With 1, we have the late afternoon to swim/go for dinner/grab a few groceries. But we have to wake up and like 3am to get to airport and then I know 1pm is a crazy time at Orlando airport.
What would you do?! I am leaning toward 1 but want to see some thoughts of people who have maybe done both.

Flying from Winnipeg, the 5 a.m./1 p.m. flight is the one we always take now.

The first time we went we took the later flight and by the time we got to CBR it was after 11 p.m. Slow check-in, pitch black dark on the property, had trouble finding the room, dragged our own luggage around for about 30 mins - finally in bed around 1 a.m. Totally sucked, and it was hard to get up the next morning.

With the 1 p.m. arrival, we usually drop our luggage at Bell Services, head over to Disney Springs for a drink, late lunch, shop. Head back for check in around 4/430. Have a swim, and a snack and go to bed early.

 

[Aug2020distrip]

Flying from Winnipeg, the 5 a.m./1 p.m. flight is the one we always take now.

The first time we went we took the later flight and by the time we got to CBR it was after 11 p.m. Slow check-in, pitch black dark on the property, had trouble finding the room, dragged our own luggage around for about 30 mins - finally in bed around 1 a.m. Totally sucked, and it was hard to get up the next morning.

With the 1 p.m. arrival, we usually drop our luggage at Bell Services, head over to Disney Springs for a drink, late lunch, shop. Head back for check in around 4/430. Have a swim, and a snack and go to bed early.

Oh my goodness! Ok that settles it, the 5am flight for sure. Thanks

 

[Donald - my hero]

we USED TO Always take the earliest flight possible and start the trip with a night at our airport so we don't need to leave home in the dark to catch the flight. Last year a freezing rain storm threatened to cancel our flight the next day. Soon as the announcement was posted online around 6 am we switched to one that got in at 9 pm that night called and changed the airport limo and quickly booked a room in the Hyatt inside MCO using airmiles. I never sleep well in a hotel and hubby takes a few days to get off work schedule so we were down at the magical express by 7 am, took an empty bus and walked into the empty lobby less than 40 minutes later. It was so perfect that we've vowed to do every trip like that! Latest flight possible for us now!!

We got cast members who were fresh at the beginning of their shifts and able to take the time to find the perfect room, got all our buttons and magic bands squared away, left our luggage with bell services and had hubby's work laptop and my multiple medications locked up in "the cage", went for breakfast and a wander thru the resort before we got on a bus to head to Disney springs. All that was done before our flight was supposed to land and we felt so much more relaxed.

 

[dawnelda]

That is a very interesting strategy, Donald! I will have to consider it for my next trip.

Thank you for sharing.

 

[Tilnar]

We came back WestJet from our recent trip -- they kept pushing back our return flight (3 times, 15 minutes per -- no big), except even after that, our flight out Friday was still another 30+ minutes late -- so what was originally meant to be a 2.5 hour layover in Toronto was considerably less -- and mixed with the long line at customs meant we missed our transfer flight and didn't get home 'til 10pm. Wasn't impressed (especially traveling with a young child), but at least we got home...


...whereas Transat had literally cancelled our depature (only) flight less than 3 weeks before our departure.

 

[shane90]

We booked direct Edmonton to LAX both ways and they cancelled the return and made a stop which adds 2 hours onto our 3 hour flight, so ridiculous

 

[bcwife76]

We leave on Wednesday and I am stunned our flight hasn't changed with WJ (considering the issues we had in July with them). KNOCK ON WOOD OF COURSE

 

[badiggio]

The earlier,the better,for us.

 

[musika]

Slightly off topic but don’t really want to start a thread. Not sure why I’m stressing about it since I am sure WestJet will change the options around before April. What would you rather:

1. leave your city at 5am, but then have a 2.5 hour layover and arrive at Orlando around 1:00pm.

2. direct flight, but leave your city at 4pm and arrive in Orlando at 8:45pm.

with 2 we basically lose a whole day. Get to condo and go to bed essentially.
With 1, we have the late afternoon to swim/go for dinner/grab a few groceries. But we have to wake up and like 3am to get to airport and then I know 1pm is a crazy time at Orlando airport.
What would you do?! I am leaning toward 1 but want to see some thoughts of people who have maybe done both.

With kids? Direct flight, all the way.

 

[TammyLynn33]

With kids? Direct flight, all the way.

Yep we just had to book an afternoon flight instead of our usual am flight because I won’t do connecting flights with the kids. Just too much hassle. Since we are getting in later. We are staying at an Orlando airport hotel the first night , and will pick up our rental car in the morning . ( it meant keeping our $326 CDN rental car or changing that too and paying over $700)
We will sit poolside order a pizza and get a decent night sleep ..

 

[jaceraden]

Swoop changed my flights again! Now I have to change my beginning and end testing appointments. Gaaaaah..

 

[Jabroniville]

GEEZ- I just got home from the airport and indeed, WestJet messing about with my flight time had a really nasty effect- they pushed back the flight just enough so that I only had a 65-minute window to make my connecting flight from Pearson to Edmonton. Now if you know anything about Pearson you'll know that is NOT enough time, particularly when 400 people get jammed into their tiny "scan your passports" room and I of COURSE got randomly selected as for Covid screening to had to wait in THAT line, then an extra line for a test, all as the minutes ticked down towards my flight.

So I manage to argue my way to the head of a couple lines and get rushed through, then sprint halfway across Pearson (wearing a mask and carrying a backpack doesn't make this easier), hitting my gate at 5:57 for a 6:00 gate-closing, sick with stress... and of course the flight was delayed ANYWAYS so I just stand there wiping off sweat for 15 minutes, and then the plane is stuck on the tarmac for an hour over a security concern in the airport.

So yeah, these "little time chances" have a tendency to add up, especially in an airport as bad as Pearson.