Tagged Pages Archive | Western Europe
2023
19
July
Various places in B.C. to England, France, or Ireland - $170 to $343 CAD roundtrip including taxes
19
July
WestJet is showing what appears to be mistake fares from various places in B.C. to Dublin, Ireland or London, England or Paris, France for between $170 and $343 CAD roundtrip including taxes..
The flights have 1 stop each way, in Calgary.
They are available from...
Comox
Fort St. John
Kamloops
Kelowna
Nanaimo
Penticton
Prince George
Victoria
Basically, from nearly every airport in Alberta, B.C., or Saskatchewan except Calgary or Vancouver or Abbotsford.
It's always tough to know if tickets will be issued in a situation like this, so proceed with caution. If you do attempt to book these, do not book anything non-refundable for at least 48 hours.
WestJet's mistake fares to Europe seem to pop up every few years. Sometimes they've worked out, other times they haven't.
Update Wednesday
Well, this story has made it into the National Post.
On Twitter, WestJet has been shifting the blame to FlightHub.
But for some reason FlightHub's account was suspended. Not sure what they said to cause that, or if it's related...
In the Calgary Herald article "WestJet told Postmedia it became aware of the issue last Friday, saying it originated from an update to the airline’s computer system that caused fares to display incorrectly on some third-party websites."
Depending on the numbers, one would think WestJet could swoop in and play the hero here and parlay this into some positive media exposure and word of mouth at a cost that would be relatively small compared to a typical advertising campaign. Especially considering the smaller markets around B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Winnipeg that were involved and are typically harder to reach when it comes to marketing flights to Europe. I know for a fact that people love to tell others about a ridiculous deal they got even 10-15 years later.
Update Tuesday @ 4:40 PM PST
It's becoming clear that what happened this Friday is nearly identical to the SellOffVacations / WestJet incident in 2020. WestJet went on to eventually honour the fares.
It all relates to a company named Farelogix that WestJet uses for posting fares to third party sellers.
Here's a comment from the 2020 incident:
"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..."
And here we are in 2023..
"Friends of mine who work at Westjet have screen shot and sent me what their supervisors told them to tell customers. WestJet claims that surcharges were not being applied correctly due to a FareLogix system error. Farelogix is an IT Provider whose singular focus is to build and deliver innovative and cost efficient NDC-aligned, airline-controlled offer and order management distribution technology as a result, guests were temporarily able to book low fares"
Link to the blog post of the 2020 incident.
Global News Edmonton is apparently running a segment about this story tonight.
Update Sunday @ 1:30 PM PST
Sorry that I could not update earlier. The fallout happened just as I was leaving for a camping trip, and I did not have Internet during the weekend.
On Friday evening, WestJet cancelled these tickets, despite the fact that tickets had already been issued.
Personally, I think either WestJet or one of their data providers is to blame here (they are blaming each other). FlightHub is just caught in the middle. I was seeing similar price errors coming from WestJet on EasyJet's website during the same period of time, which FlightHub has no involvement with.
About the only thing that can help in this situation is media coverage. Some of you may recall WestJet changing their mind and deciding to honour the fares they cancelled during the SellOffVacations / WestJet error fares in February of 2020. But then of course the pandemic hit, and most didn't get a chance to use them anyways.
Tchadas Leo of CHEK News is one reporter interested in interviewing people for this story. He can be reached at: [email protected]
If anyone has any other media contacts that might be interested, comment below or shoot them an e-mail.
Update @ 9:27 AM PST
Receiving reports of WestJet confirmation numbers and eTickets (13 digit numbers) being issued, which is the best case scenario...
Still, keep the expectations low until the dust settles. It typically takes 24-48 hours for things to play out in these situations.
Update @ 10:20 AM PST
FlightHub has gone down for the count...
Update @ 10:35 AM PST
FlightHub is back up, but trying from Victoria (YYJ) I haven't seen any cheap ones in my last 10-15 searches trying various dates.
But trying from other origins, such as Kelowna or Comox, I'm still seeing them. So they are still in the system. They might just be getting tougher to find from Victoria. ?
Update @ 10:45 AM MST
This looks to be over. I haven't seen any cheap ones from any origins in a while. If you still do, comment below!
Tip for those who booked this
- If your confirmation code contains a mix of letters and numbers, it won't work on the WestJet site. That's not a WestJet confirmation code. WestJet's codes are all letters. Some have received an e-mail from ACCELYA with their 'letters only' code. Others have been contacting FlightHub through the live chat function to ask for their 'all letters' WestJet confirmation code and can log into the WestJet site to see their reservation.
Availability for travel
September, October, November 2023
How to find and book this deal
1. Start with one of the following FlightHub searches:
Victoria to...
Dublin, Ireland
^^ $170 roundtrip
London, England
^^ $261 roundtrip
^^ $343 roundtrip
2. Try other origins and dates in September, October, and November.
A lot of the layover times will be terrible on certain dates from some of these origins.
You can try adjusting the dates by a day or two to see if it makes a difference.
The cheapest dates you see on Google Flights should correlate to the cheapest fares you can find on FlightHub. (The price on Google Flights will be much higher)
screenshot from FlightHub
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2022
23
October
Vancouver (or Victoria) to Amsterdam, Netherlands - $494 CAD roundtrip including taxes
23
October
2022
3
October
Open Jaw: Seattle to London and then Amsterdam to Vancouver (or Victoria) - $159 CAD roundtrip including taxes
3
October
2022
18
September
Vancouver to Amsterdam, Netherlands - $563 CAD roundtrip including taxes
18
September
2022
4
May
Vancouver to Paris, France - $490 CAD roundtrip including taxes
4
May
2022
3
May
Vancouver (or Victoria) to London, UK - $522 CAD roundtrip after taxes [nonstop flights]
3
May
2022
1
March
Vancouver to Paris, France - $538 CAD roundtrip after taxes
1
March
2021
7
November
Vancouver to Dublin, Ireland - $607 CAD roundtrip including taxes [nonstop flights in the summer of 2022]
7
November
2021
7
September
Seattle to Greece, Spain, Italy, Czech, Ireland, Holland - $381 to $481 CAD roundtrip including taxes
7
September
2021
19
August
Vancouver to Paris, France and then home from Amsterdam - $491 CAD roundtrip including taxes
19
August
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