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Vancouver Deals Blog
2020
3
February
Mistake Fares - Vancouver to London, UK for $275 to $314 CAD roundtrip (non-stop flights)
3
February
NOTE: These are a mistake price that are only showing up on the Sell Off Vacations website.
Normally that would be an indication that the flight can't actually be booked at that price.
But I have heard from a few people who confirmed their ticket and have an actual ticket number.
The #1 rule - DON'T CALL Sell Off Vacations or contact them. This will kill the deal.
If you do book this, wait at least a few days to make sure all is well. Don't book anything non-refundable in the meantime.
Update Feb 12 @ 6 AM PST - Success! Sell Off Vacations and Westjet officially confirm that they will be honoring all bookings!
Well that was an agonizing roller coaster ride they put everyone through, but the bookings are being honored! A big thank you to Sell Off Vacations and Westjet for coming to an agreement that works out positively for travelers.
Personally, I've never seen a mistake fare situation quite like this one.
Here is the e-mail that SellOffVacations has sent out to everyone:
Dear SellOffVacations customer,
We apologize for the confusion regarding your recent booking on WestJet. Westjet has advised us that your booking will be honored.
Due to a technical issue with WestJet’s third-party software provider that supplies fare information between WestJet and ourselves, SellOffVacations was one of a few travel agencies affected by an incorrect fare for bookings on WestJet. The issue was corrected by WestJet’s third party software provider as soon as it was discovered.
Both WestJet and SellOffVacations have been working diligently to come to a solution for the benefit of our mutual customers. We previously advised that your flight booking could not be processed and that a refund was to be made however, WestJet will now be honoring all flight bookings made during the technical issue.
Westjet has confirmed your booking has not been cancelled and SellOffVacations will be sending you an updated invoice. Please do not contact WestJet as the booking is held with our company.
Thank you for your patience,
SellOffVacations
Update Feb 11 @ 6 AM PST - Sell Off Vacations and Westjet continue to blame each other. SOV taking legal action against Westjet?
Throughout the weekend, and even through Monday, there wasn't a whole lot to report. I did see an interesting comment posted today...
I'm on the phone now with selloff vacations. They are saying westjet are having a meeting today and selloff will have something binding today. Selloff are strongly blaming westjet and saying they are taking legal routes because of westjet publicly blaming selloff. Everyone should flood twitter - tweet westjet and selloff. nobody has received any refund and it could still be a few days away if WJ have not started that process. Maybe a big effort today will get WJ to honour these flights.
Twitter: @SellOffVacays - @Westjet
Other notes:
1. Travelers are still showing official, ticketed flights and ticket numbers through the Westjet website, app, etc. They've now had these tickets for nearly a week.
2. Gabor Lukacs of Air Passenger Rights Canada (Facebook Group) has indicated this situation may be against provincial consumer protection laws.
3. Westjet has allegedly been blaming a company named Farelogix (a company that WestJet uses to post their fares to third party sellers such as Sell Off Vacations) for this situation.
Sell Off Vacations allegedly blames Westjet for not being able to honor the price that the 'SOV wholesaler' provided for these flights.
I have not seen an official statement from any of the parties involved.
Here's an example of what people were hearing from Westjet agents in regards to their bookings:
Update Feb 7 @ 6 PM PST - the plot thickens...
I called SOV and an agent told me that they are trying to decide what to do, and probably won't have an answer until probably Monday? Lots of departments working on it over the weekend. He didn't have an answer for me but was helpful in explaining that FlightNetwork is the wholesaler selling the tickets to SOV and who has actually taken money for the tickets. They have not gotten a response from FlightNetwork yet. When I messaged WestJet, they tell me they are not in control of the ticket; they just show a valid ticket right now (but that could change if SOV cancels the tickets). It seems that this is a big problem involving SOV, FlightNetwork and WestJet. My understanding is the tickets can be cancelled at any point (and refunded) until such time as SOV/FlightNetwork advise that they will honor the price or not.
For what it's worth I do believe this is very plausible. Flight Network used to be Canadian but was bought by a Swedish company, Etraveli Group, in June of last year.
Is there anything I can do right now?
If you don't have your actual booking confirmation code from Westjet yet, it can be worth calling them to ask for it.
The one from Sell Off Vacations is a different code that won't work to access your booking on the Westjet website.
If you call Westjet and tell them that you bought the tickets from a third-party then they will look it up for you based on confirming your identity (name, flight date, DOB, etc). You can then enter this reservation code on Westjet's website (under Manage trips > Manage flights) to see your flight.
Other than that, well, if you have any media contacts, they might be interested in this story.
Update Feb 7 @ 2:30 PM PST - glimmers of hope?
I'm trying to be very careful not to get anyone's hopes back up, it's been enough of an emotional roller coaster already. But I am starting to see 'glimmers of hope' messages come in from people....
Hi there, I just spoke to a WestJet agent. She confirmed that contrary to the email that I received from Sell Off Vacations my reservation is in the system and would be honored. To be honest I’m not impressed by Sell off vacations as they sent two emails to me - one with the Westjet logo on it which I suspiciously suspect was perhaps to have me assume that Westjet was the sender of this email.
I just spoke with Westjet via Facebook Messenger to express my displeasure, and sent them screenshots of my booking as well as credit card charges. They issued me a new confirmation code, and now my flights are showing up online and in the app. They told me they were aware of the SelloffVacations email. So not sure if they just gave me a new confirmation code to appease me, or if they actually were able to find me even though I didn’t have a ticket number and it was an error email? No clue!
earlier today I got the email saying the booking would be cancelled. An hour ago, as I was on the phone with Sell Off Vacations listening to the agent repeat over and over that it was a "Westjet internal system error" and "there's nothing we can do about it", I received another email from Sell Off Vacations with an invoice attached, saying here's your invoice, please check to make sure all information is correct, and have a great trip. I just called Westjet and was given the Westjet confirmation code for our flight. All very confusing, but at this point, I'm hoping it means that SOV has given in and is honouring the bookings. Fingers crossed! Thanks again for all your work - I check the website nearly every day!
** but I've also received this one ... **
I've been on the phone between Sell Off Vacations and WestJet all day. The latest, is WestJet has given us ticket numbers, but claimed if selloff were to cancel (which they said is a very strange situation), WestJet wouldn't honor the price. Selloff is still claiming this is on WestJet. I told them WestJet went public on twitter about this, and they said they couldn't see anything about it and actually had me send a screen shot of what they had said on twitter! Then, the person I spoke with essentially said they were telling the public something different than what was told to them... They said essentially that WestJet has told them to cancel due to a system 'glitch' with the price. I've asked to see that email, they said it's 'internal', so won't send it to me.
Update Feb 7 @ 1 PM PST
Checking out the @Westjet twitter feed, I'm seeing this:
Westjet seems to be claiming that they are not canceling any bookings and are blaming it all on Sell Off Vacations.
Nothing posted about this on the Sell Off Vacations Twitter feed (which only has 4,000 followers).
In terms of social feedback, I'd probably focus on @Westjet
Twitter - Facebook - Instagram.
In my opinion, they're the ones with the real power here to make any changes in this situation. Even if they are trying to blame it on Sell Off Vacations.
But it can also be worth calling Sell Off Vacations and getting them to contact the Westjet travel agent support team.
It does seem strange to me that Sell Off Vacations would send out an e-mail where they apologize 'on behalf of Westjet Airlines', with the Westjet logo at the bottom, and that Westjet seemingly has no knowledge of this e-mail. Or maybe they drafted it up together, but SOV wasn't supposed to hit send.
Here is the e-mail people have been receiving from Sell Off Vacations:
I've also received this e-mail:
Just to let you know where things are at - after a few hours on the phone - both WestJet and selloff have been blaming the other parties and saying to contact the other one. However WestJet has confirmed multiple times with us at least that the flights do still exist and our tickets are currently valid in their system.
And this one:
I called Sell Off Vacations and they repeated that all their information is direct from WestJet and would only repeat that when I asked why, they said WestJet was telling customers differently both publicly and privately. We shall see, thanks for your hard work!
Update Feb 7 @ 12 PM PST - Damn it
Since posting the update below, I've received e-mails from people saying their booking was cancelled by Westjet this afternoon and that they would be issued a refund.
It is a little unusual for an airline to take this long to decide to cancel a mistake fare, especially since the tickets were issued nearly 2 days ago.
I'm sorry everyone, it really did seem like Westjet was going to honor these, and I know from personal experience it's a real emotional punch to the stomach to have a trip cancelled.
Airlines sometimes take the financial hit on a mistake fare and view it as good marketing buzz, or at least, to avoid social media outrage. I think the old, friendly Westjet might have done that. Maybe things have changed since being purchased by the Onex Corporation.
Update Feb 7 - For those of you that booked this, here's what I can tell you...
a) I haven't heard of any cancellations, and by all accounts, it appears that Westjet is honoring these mistake fares. Ultimately, it's the airline that gets to decide whether or not to honor the fare in a situation like this. So a big kudos to Westjet for (apparently) doing so. I'm not so sure our other national airline would have done the same. Try and be extra nice to their employees on your way to London! Give them a shout out on social media.
b) I often hear from people that are worried up to the day of their flight that the airline suddenly won't honor their fare. It doesn't really work like that. A decision is made by the airline in the 24-48 hour period after the mistake whether or not to honor the bookings or give a refund. It's been about 36 hours now, and all appears well.
c) The confirmation code you received from Sell Off Vacations isn't the one that works to check your booking on the Westjet website. I have heard from some people who have called Westjet and they were able to provide the actual booking code based on other details (name, etc). Although I've also heard from others who called and Westjet couldn't retrieve it. It might depend on the agent you get. Yes, it's ok to call now :)
------------
Update @ 10 PM PST - The Sell Off Vacations search engine seems to be dead. I'm getting a lot of Gateway Time Out errors when searching. Either it was overwhelmed with the traffic or they've purposefully taken it offline.
Update @ 7 AM PST - For all intents and purposes I would call this deal dead. I have seen some for $489 on the Cheapoair.ca mobile site. It *only* works on the mobile site. But it's really difficult to find working dates. Essentially luck of the draw. I've heard from people that have had success recently with Sep/Oct/Nov dates, but I haven't seen any for a while.
So far, from the large number of people I've heard from who booked through Sell Off Vacations last night, there haven't been any cancellations and their bookings are showing up as confirmed on the Westjet website.
How to find and book this deal
1. Go to the Sell Off Vacations website
2. Click on the 'Flights' tab
3. Search for a flight from Vancouver (YVR) to London Gatwick (LGW)
Try one of the following example date combinations:
Apr 27 to May 5 -- $275
May 6 to May 13 -- $314
Sep 22 to Sep 29 -- $314
Oct 8 to Oct 15 -- $314
NOTE: These are just example dates I've tried. To find your own dates...
1. Try a Google Flights search like this one:
Google Flights: Vancouver to London Gatwick
- click on the departure date box to open up the calendar view
- browse for the cheapest dates throughout 2020. Look for the dates in the $600s roundtrip. These are mainly in late April, May, September, and October.
- try those same dates on the Sell Off Vacations website
You can also find one way flights from Vancouver to London for as low as $99
1. Try a Google Flights search like this one:
Google Flights: Vancouver to London Gatwick (one way)
- click on the departure date box to open up the calendar view
- browse for the cheapest dates throughout 2020. Look for the dates that are around $273 one way. These are mainly in late April, May, September, and October.
- try those same dates on the Sell Off Vacations website
Other Westjet flights to Europe (Paris & Dublin) are also cheap.
Try starting with the Google Flights link above, but change the number of stops to 1 stop.
Search for the lowest prices.
And then search for the same dates on the Sell Off Vacations website.
Here are the cheapest prices I've seen...
Paris, France (CDG) - $356 roundtrip
Dublin, Ireland (DUB) - $359 roundtrip
screenshots from the Sell Off Vacations website
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I got a cancellation email from WestJet "ear Valued Client
Thank-you for your recent Westjet Airlines flight booking, unfortunately due to an unforeseen system issue at Westjet Airlines your recent flight reservation cannot be processed. We apologize on behalf of Westjet Airlines and this email is to advise that you will receive a full refund to your credit card in the next 3-5 business days.
Should you wish to rebook any flights, please visit our www.selloffvacations.com or call 1-877-735-5633.
"
Is there any recourse here?
we just received email from Sell-Off Vacations saying flight has been cancelled!
Same deal. Just got an email saying my flight was cancelled. I’m about to tweet WestJet and sell off to call them out on it.
With the Canadian Air Passenfer Protection Laws are we entitled to compensation from WestJet?
Hey guys, so it looks like sell off is saying WestJet cancelled our flight.... does anyone have confirmation it was WestJet ¬
There must be some way we can get them to honor it!
Keep us posted of any news everyone!
Compensation for cancelled or delayed flights
The compensation rules related to flight delays and cancellations for reasons within the control of the airline will kick in as of Dec. 15. Passengers on large airlines will get $400 for a delay of between three and six hours, $700 of a delay of six to nine hours, and $1,000 for a delay of nine hours or more. Small airlines must pay $125, $250 and $500, respectively, for those same delays.
Does this mean we should get compensated at $1000/ticket?
Same cancellation notice. I am utterly gutted and disappointed. Airlines should and must honour their bookings irrespective if its a mistake fare or not.
I had good impressions of Westjet up till now but not anymore. That's a BAD corporate move.
Incredibly disappointed. WestJet waited quite a few days to cancel, which added to a false sense of hope. My credit card was charged too, so to blame the system is a terrible explanation. Others who have booked their flights on cheapoair hasn’t had their tix cancelled yet..so that would be interesting.
I just want to clarify, that the email is from SOV not from West Jet.
They’ve also added a west jet logo at the bottom of the email. Another point is that the flight is still showing in my itinerary on my West Jet app.
As mentioned above, I have a feeling that this is a SOV decision. I have a feeling that Westjet wouldn’t have cancelled this. I’m going to reply to the email and CC Westjet. They absolutely should honour this especially since we had confirmations. We were about to book flights to Italy from London too and we had our vacation time Confirmed from work. I’m going to ask about compensation too. I do feel like we will get the run around tho because we booked through a third party but if I CC Westjet maybe something will be done about it
Hi everyone, please see the latest update at the top of the blog post.
Westjet is claiming on Twitter that no bookings have been cancelled, and that Sell Off Vacations quote "sent out an incorrect email."
I received the same email from SOV. I called Westjet to find out, and I received the Westjet booking confirmation code. Everything still seems to be confirmed according to the agent I talked to at Westjet.
Does this mean everything is ok or can SOV somehow still contact Westjet to cancel this? Has anyone else contacted SOV or Westjet?
I called my credit card company and they said there was a pending charge from WestJet (Not SellOffVacations) so I called WestJet directly
and gave them my original WJ booking ID and my last name. They were unable to find me *BUT* asked for the dates, locations, flight numbers, etc and they were able to find my flight and gave me a new reservation code! I immediately went to the WJ website and I can see my flight!
Might want to tell people to do the same if they see that the charge is from WJ!
There is a lot of finger pointing in this matter. I called Westjet last night and the agent there said there was nothing wrong with the booking. As far as he was concerned, this is a good booking. I also emailed SoV last night about this situation, and they said:
"Its unfortunate WestJet has not filtered the important information to their front line agents. The WestJet executive is working diligently on the matter
Please allow 5-8 business days for the refund to be process. If you are wanting to rebook- Please call in to our call centre an one of our agents will be happy to assist you. If you have made any kind of arrangements for your trip you may put in a complaint on the WestJet website regarding compensation for your hotel/tours etc for the cancelled booking.
If you have not received it by that time, let us know and we will follow up on your behalf."
i think SoV is laying the blame on Westjet because their terms and conditions say SoV is not liable if the negligence is from the supplier (Westjet). On the other hand, I'm surprised Westjet phone agents haven't a clue as to what's going on. Someone's lying - my suspicion is SoV. I also think the original email they sent about Westjet's system issue is a legal misrepresentation of Westjet.
I don't have the social media presence to do so, but I hope more people make a ruckus of this situation.
Received this email from Selloffvacations 3 minutes after I emailed them about this
Good morning,
Its unfortunate WestJet has not filtered the important information to their front line agents as of yet. The WestJet executive is working diligently on the matter
Please allow 5-8 business days for the refund to be process. If you are wanting to rebook- Please call in to our call centre an one of our agents will be happy to assist you have not received it by that time, let us know and we will follow up on your behalf
I contacted WestJet and SOV this morning. WestJet has confirmed my flight but said that it’s ultimately SOV who needs to provide an update on whether the reservation will be cancelled as they are the travel agent in the transaction. When I spoke to SOV they said that it has been cancelled and a refund will be issued and that the pricing error was WestJet’s system and not SOV and that I would need to speak with WestJet on the manner. I called WestJet back and they said I need to deal with SOV. There’s definitely a lack of communication between the two companies which is unfortunate. I haven’t seen the refund come through yet but I hope that WestJet steps it up and honours the booking especially if it was a system error on their end.
I tweeted about this and is hoping this if everyone expresses their concerns online, then there would be favourable outcome for us. At this stage, every company is pointing fingers at each other. We purchased the ticket on Wednesday and it’s extremely frustrating how everything is still up in the air today (Saturday). If the company doesn’t cancel within 24-48 hours (and our tickets on WS is still valid and credit card is still charged), then I think it’s only fair that they honour this. Most of us have jobs and have to plan everything around this.
As expected, they’re blaming each other and nobody is taking responsibility. SOV emailed me AGAIN even though I hadn’t replied to their response. Maybe they saw me post on Instagram stories and tag them. It’s annoying that we have to take things to social media in order to have a resolution!
Please contact WestJet for their manager.
We apologise you are getting conflicting information, However we can assure you WestJet are in fact the Supplier of the flights and they are the ones that have or will be cancelling your flights. SellOffVacations can not cancel flights due to a WestJet system error. Since they are the ones that receive your money it does not even make logical sense that SellOffVacations would be cancelling it, as its there money and if SellOff did WestJet would be questioning why we are cancelling their flights and taking revenue away from them. The only way SellOff would cancel anything on a booking is when a client requests it.
WestJet has advised SellOff that other then a full refund there will be no compensation and no other resolution will be held.
Previous comment from “anonymous” is actually from Katerina
Time to unite everyone and let our case be heard on all platforms. Sell Off Vacations, Flight Network and WestJet should not be allowed to get away with this treatment of customers. If a customer misses their obligations the consumer is at a loss. In this case this corporate missed their obligations and they should not pass this down to the customer. Let’s not be pushed over and spread the word on social media and other platforms. The negative publicity will hav an impact!
The way I see this situation is that this is a series of twisted truths by all parties involved.
1) Westjet is indeed honoring the bookings currently and sees no issue with bookings because they have not been cancelled from the system.
2) Because the bookings were made through third party travel agencies and not directly from Westjet, Westjet probably needs the travel agency to initiate the cancellation. It is also likely it is pushing the liability to third party travel agencies because most of these travel agencies terms and conditions would say it is not liable if the supplier (Westjet) messes up.
In effect, what both parties are saying is true from their perspective. Westjet says contact Selloff Vacations because you booked from them and they are the ones cancelling the ticket. Selloff Vacations says this is Westjet's fault and we are not liable due to our terms and conditions.
I called westjet and our flights are confirmed. Even got a window seat. I have a flight confirmation number with Westjet and it sounds like only the customer can cancel this booking once confirmed and paid for.
At 1:01 pm PST today I received an email from SOV and got my invoice for the flight as if they are honoring everything. I recommend everyone check their emails to see if they received their invoices. I would assume this means they are going to honor the tickets afterall.
Duke of Dabar,
I also received an email today, February 8 2020, from SellOffVacations.com with an invoice and terms and conditions. Did you look at the invoice closely?
Mine has a quantity (QTY) of -1 (negative one) and negative price totals as if meaning that they are cancelling the flight booking without actually saying that this is what they are doing on the invoice or email.
This is all very confusing.
Very strange. I received 2 invoices from SOV today (1257 PST and 1258 PST). One went to my inbox and the other went to my junk mail. I thought they were identical..but I took a closer look after reading Sam's comment above. One shows a positive amount, however the paid section indicates $0.00. Further, it states balance due on July 02, 2020 is $6xx.xx. This is odd as I have a pending transaction showing through my bank. In the second invoice from SOV, it shows a negative amount. Not quite sure what is going on..
I know others have received an invoice yesterday prior to Chris' update. Tons of discrepancy and I don't know what is real or not.
I also received the email. However, my credit card account still has the full amount pending without the reversing charge. Westjet still has my itinerary on their site. In any case, this seems to be a foregone conclusion that they will cancel the flights.
We all knew this was a mistake fare when we signed up - it says so right in the heading. So I am not sour. I knew this was a possible outcome. You win some, you lose some.
Yes, we win some and lose some. However, pointing fingers and informing customers after 3-4 days of booking is unacceptable. Also, other people who booked on CheapoAir for the SAME deal appeared to have their flights honoured. Where is the consistency?
Anyone else just get a PDF regarding confirmation of the flight? I can’t call customer service to argue again lol.
I spoke to a super nice guy at West Jet today. After speaking time the first guy who had no clue about squat.
The second guy put me on hold for almost half an hour. He came back and said he had read the email about the situation. He said there was 2-3 other flight providers that are involved. He said Mon or Tues the flights should be cancelled.
He then gave me a $250 credit and rebooked my flight. He added a couple extra days (at my request and gave me preferred seating) also included baggage.
Out of pocket I paid 376.00 + 80.00 west jet dollars I had of my own.
I kept saying to him, what if SOV doesn’t refund me and I’m stuck with two flights??
He said, “Tova, there is no way they are not cancelling all of these, I can assure you.”
Fast forward 2 hours....I get an email from SOV with the pdf of my flight details. ????
Guess they have to send that out with the T and C before cancelling it ? I can’t keep up.
Checked my invoice. It’s has +2 adult and +2 children fares and it has the total owing. It does say that I haven’t paid yet so I’m wondering if that’s where the hitch will be. My credit card also shows pending payment, however, pending payment to Westjet and not SOV.
Like mentioned earlier, we know it’s a mistake fare. Nothing ventured nothing gained but would be epic at these rates.
Got the email, screenshotted and sent all the info to WJ. Agent confirmed this morning that all was fine, I was booked, have a conf number etc. Sent back a thank you and a new agent msgs back that my booking isn't valid (its still on their site) and this was due to new info since I talked to the agent this morning. Total BS; this isn't a new issue, I sent her the emails, we all know about it, they have tweeted about it themselves and now it looks like they've turned on themselves! Asked for escalation and am now being ghosted. CC charges have been finalized and I have my invoice from SOV.
I'm very disappointed by this situation, and how unprofessional both WestJet and SOV have been. My emails to SOV resulted in unintelligible and unhelpful responses. WestJet hasn't even responded to my email. I will be boycotting both companies going forward. WestJet has always been my favourite airline, but not anymore. I suggest anyone who feels similarly should tell everyone they know about their negative experience with these companies.
That said, I think part of the reason why the companies chose not to honour the price is because they likely found out it originated on YVR Deals, and the posting title said "Mistake Fares". Had the posting title said "Great Deal" or something similar, they might have honoured it. But they probably figured that since we knew it was an error, they didn't need to do anything about it.
Lower your expectations and you will be surprised. Leave your expectations high and you might be disappointed. There will be more deals in the future. This is not the end of the world.
Is there further updates on this situation as I am still confussed by everything. WJ still showing I have flights bus SOV sending me a cancelled invoice. Chris what do you think.
WestJet just called to say they will be cancelling all the flights and blaming it on a company named Farelogix (a company that WestJet uses to post their fares to third party sellers such as Sell Off Vacations) saying that they distributed prices where the taxes weren't calculated correctly. Even after WestJet clearly told us if a price is posted online there is nothing they can do about it and it is illegal to not honor it. We should all work together on social media to make some noise....
I just talked to an agent at westjet she tells me my flights are still valid and not to cancel them (I can't as i bought the base fare) she said they got an email regarding this situation and that the third party is the one cancelling the transactions not westjet. I asked about compensation she said they don't compensate on fare errors. I seen on here that a person did get a $250.00 comp given to her. As for all getting together to make some noise how would you suggest we all do that Curtis.
We should argue that our agreement was with WestJet, and not a third party. Not sure how a third party can get in between a purchase agreement we made with WJ...?
Westjet has been quite open on Twitter about saying the tickets are in their system and if they get cancelled it would be through the third party, which is Sell Off Vacations through Flight Network and it sounds like we all got the email from SOV with the WestJet Logo to make it look like it was from WestJet but I'm of the opinion that it's SOV/Flight Network. I'm also fairly certain that everyone has e-tickets issued already, you can see the eticket # on the invoice your received...
Gabor Lukacs of Air Passenger Rights Canada (Facebook Group) has indicated this may be against provincial consumer protection and something we may want to look into depending what transpires the next couple days.
While I agree that we knew going into this that it was a mistake fare and that it might not be honoured, the problem is that it WAS honoured and it WAS confirmed. And it wasn’t until a couple days later that they tried to cancel on us. The main issue is that it was confirmed and now nobody has a clue whats going on and it’s a complete shit show. Like, how unprofessional and ridiculous do all parties involved seem? From SOV using the WJ logo to All the conflicting info and the way each company is blaming the other and absolutely NOBODY is taking responsibility, NOBODY....it’s laughable, really...and shocking too! It’s so ridiculous that it’s almost as if they need to just honour all our bookingS because of how ridiculous this has turned out to be. I’d be humiliated if I was one of these companies! Even if it is a mistake fare, it’s not our fault there was a glitch in the system. That’s on them. It’s like false advertising. Mistake fares should always be honoured because again, that’s their fault for the system being inaccurate! Anyways, I’m going on now, but just some of my thoughts...I do feel we deserve some sort of compensation for such a headache and so much miscommunication and for giving us the run around.
It didn't take long for Onex to ruin everyone's favourite airline. Remember the marketing campaign where the entire premise for their exemplary custom service was that the company was owned by its employees? I guess taking away that ownership had some harsh consequences ...
This is interesting....I just checked the Westjet manage my flight section to see if my flight still shows. It does, but my return flight has been changed. I had a direct flight coming back and now I have one with a layover in Calgary. Hmmm. I have no email or anything notifying me of the change ????????????
Just got another email this morning. This one says 8-10 days for refund while the first one said 3-5, the second said 5-8. Seriously, wtf? Just give me my money back so I can utilize it somewhere else.
Good Morning,
We regret the inconvenience you are experiencing.
While SellOffVacations.com can appreciate the disappointment of not being able to take advantage of such an unbelievably low rate, we cannot be held accountable for the cancellation of your reservation.
The issue resulted from an unforeseen glitch on West Jet Airline’s reservation system, and their executive management has been working diligently on the matter. It is unfortunate the important information had not yet been filtered to WestJet Airline front line agents at the time of your call.
Refunds are being processed by WestJet Airlines as quickly as possible. We appreciate your patience and understanding as this issue is dealt with.
Please allow 8-10 business days for the refund to reflect on your credit card statement. If you have not received it by that time, please let us know and we will follow up on your behalf.
Kind regards,
SOV
@Tova,
I have not received that email yet. Have you checked your booking on WJ to see if it is still there?
I've already received an eTicket receipt with a ticket number. Can Westjet or SOV cancel it since the reservation has already been ticketed?
I bet you there’s a delay cause they are working with a legal team to see if they can actually cancel our flights or if we can take action against them if they do. Hmmm. How can it possibly take this long for any sort of resolution??
Is everyone just playing the waiting game right now. All of us hoping our reservations will be honoured as WJ still shows we have confirmed flights etc.
Yep! It’s soooo weird huh?! Like how does NOBODY know what’s going on? How can miscommunication be THIS bad? And the fact that our incoming flight was switched yesterday (without any notification, not even an email), gives me hope!
I'm on the phone now with selloff vacations. They are saying westjet are having a meeting today and selloff will have something binding today. Selloff are strongly blaming westjet and saying they are taking legal routes because of westjet publicly blaming selloff. Everyone should flood twitter - tweet westjet and selloff. nobody has received any refund and it could still be a few days away if WJ have not started that process. Maybe a big effort today will get WJ to honour these flights.
Also notable is that the pre-auth on my credit card was posted today. So these are
effectively paid for.
@Duke of Dabar yes, booking is still live. Sigh...
Hey friends, the more pressure we put on sell off & Westjet the better! Let’s utilize all our social media - Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc. & express our disappointment in them & tag them. Ask your friends to reshare. I bet you we can reach a million people with negative publicity if we all do this. I’m sure a few of us have media contacts as well - can you guys contact them? Be prepared to get them on this story if we all get cancelled... I’m sure our media contacts would love this story!
Sent this story to a few media contacts. I suggest everyone do the same!
Payment has been posted and what’s interesting is it comes up as 5 different transactions (one for each passenger) as opposed to the total paid on one transaction like it was when it was in authorization section. Also, they are from WestJet as opposed to SOV. Not sure if it should have said SOV or WJ tho. It seems like these are being honoured but it would still be great to have an official confirmation
SOV just sent out emails saying all tickets will be honoured by WestJet. We’re going to London mates!
What a roller coaster ride! Definitely made us work for it. I would still prefer if Westjet also sent out some communication about this to show all parties are on the same page. In any case, well done to everyone who complained. It shows our voices matter.
Victory!!!!!
The pints will be all that much sweeter Benjamin!!!!
The way this ended is the only way it should have ended. The process was a mess though....
@Tova, you might want to call back WestJet and attempt to have your second flight booking cancelled. They might give you a hard time, but let them know that you made the booking on their advice, and that your original flight does not appear to be cancelled.
Who knows, you might keep your $250 WJ$$ :)
Wooohooo! Have a fab trip everybody!!
Thank you for this amazing opportunity! Have a great trip everyone.
Yayyyyy!!! Glad it worked for us all! ...my bf and I are taking our first international trip together :)
Thank you Chris!!!
@wolfdale, already on it. Called SOV this morning 0600. I prefer to keep the second booking cause it’s longer and the seating is better. SOV says “they’re working on it.” I said you are the ones that said to me in three different emails you were going to cancel it. Lol.
I’m not too worried. Just happy to be going. Worst case scenario they completely fuck me over, I’ve still paid way less than any trip to UK I have ever had. I’ll just dispute the charge on my CC. ????
A BIG thanks to Chris for notifying us of this deal in a very timely manner. Be sure to help support Chris by clicking the ads each time you visit this website like I do.
Big thanks to everyone who kept on keeping WestJet and SellOffVacations accountable after selling us these flights.
It was hard to believe they were trying to cancel the purchase of non-refundable tickets due to their own issues.
Also thanks to WestJet and SelloffVacations for honoring the sale of the tickets. Wish there was no fingerpointing or confusion as it rubbed our opinions of your well-known companies the wrong way in how this was all communicated to your customers. I sure hope the confusion is behind us and we can enjoy our overseas adventure s.
This series of events demonstrates that there needs to be more clarity in customer protection laws so I encourage everyone to write to their federal and provincial government representatives demanding better consumer rights when it comes to purchasing flights in addition to better passenger protection laws.
Happy travels everyone!
Huge big thanks to Chris let's all click on the adds the least we can do for the brilliant fares....right!
I bought my ticket right away.
Got the confirmation from Westjet.
Got the invoice from SOV.
The following day I got an email from Westjet saying that there was an "error' and that my ticket was cancelled. I called SOV. They also said my invoice would be refunded, and that my flight would be cancelled.
I complained and asked them to look into this further.
A few days later I received an email saying from SOV saying that Westjet are honouring my ticket. I received a new invoice from SOV charging me again.
So it looks like I have the ticket!!
I want to call Westjet too and make sure I truly have a ticket.