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How to Cancel a WestJet Flight [Points or Cash Ticket]

Jarrod West

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Table of Contents

Westjet’s cancellation policy: flights paid with cash or points, westjet’s flight change policy, same-day changes, how to cancel a flight with westjet, how to use the westjet travel bank, final thoughts.

We may be compensated when you click on product links, such as credit cards, from one or more of our advertising partners. Terms apply to the offers below. See our  Advertising Policy for more about our partners, how we make money, and our rating methodology. Opinions and recommendations are ours alone.

When life happens and you need to cancel a flight, we all know that the process can be both expensive and frustrating.

If you have booked your flight with WestJet and need to cancel, you’re in the right place. Here’s all the information you need to navigate their cancellation and change policies to help you save time and money!

All customers have  24 hours  from the time of their original booking to cancel their reservation without being charged a  cancellation fee , regardless of the fare selected.

Basic Ticket

WestJet does not allow cancellation to Basic tickets unless the cancellation was made within the 24-hour window from booking.

Econo Ticket

After the initial 24-hour window, the fee to cancel an Econo ticket with WestJet depends on the route you’re flying and the number of days before your flight departs.

Canceling a flight within Canada will cost $CA50-$59 (~$35-$41) if the flight is more than 60 days away, and CA$100-$118 (~$70-$82) if the flight is less than 60 days away.

If the flight is between Europe and Canada the fee is CA$100-$118 (~$70-$82) if it is more than 60 days away, and CA$250-$295 (~$174-$205) if it is less than 60 days away.

All other flights are CA$50-$59 (~$35-$41) for flights more than 60 days away, and CA$100-$118 (~$70-$82) for flights less than 60 days away.

Econo Flex Ticket

If you’ve purchased an Econo Flex ticket, there is no charge to cancel a flight within Canada — regardless of the timeframe.

The fee for flights between Europe and Canada is CA$100-$118 (~$70-$82) if it is more than 60 days away, and CA$250-$295 (~$174-$205) if it is less than 60 days away.

For all other flights, the fee is CA$25-$30 (~$17-$21) for flights more than 60 days away, and CA$100-$118 (~$70-$82) for flights less than 60 days away.

Premium Ticket

For those who have purchased a Premium ticket, canceling a flight within Canada will cost CA$50-$59 (~$35-$41) if the flight is more than 60 days away, and CA$100-$118 (~$70-$82) if the flight is less than 60 days away.

For any other flight, the fee is CA$50-$59 (~$35-$41) for flights more than 60 days away, and CA$100-$118 (~$70-$82) for flights less than 60 days away.

Business Ticket

Finally, those that have purchases a Business ticket will need to pay CA$100-$118 (~$70-$82) to cancel a flight within Canada — regardless of the timeframe.

The fee for flights between Canada and Europe is CA$600-$708 (~$417-$492) — regardless of the timeframe.

For all other flights, the cancellation fee is CA$50-$59 (~$35-$41) for flights more than 60 days away, and CA$100-$118 (~$70-$82) for flights less than 60 days away.

Award Ticket

WestJet does not offer a typical award program that you’re probably used to. You do not earn miles, and there is no award chart to base your redemptions on. Instead, WestJet offers a rebate-type program where funds are deposited into your WestJet Travel Bank each time you fly that can later be redeemed for future flights.

So, instead of earning 1,000 award miles for a flight, you might earn $10 that gets deposited in your Travel Bank. This $10 can then be redeemed for $10 off your next flight. So how does this apply to cancellation fees?

The cancellation fee for your “award ticket,” like with the above options, will depend on what type of ticket you buy with your Travel Bank funds, along with where you are traveling to and how soon the flight departs.

For example, if you spend $200 of the funds in your Travel Bank to book an Econo ticket between Toronto and Vancouver, and you cancel more than 60 days before the flight departs, your cancellation fee would be CA$50-$59 (~$35-$41).

Hot Tip:  For those who need more information about canceling award tickets, explore our guide on canceling award tickets , including information on over 30 carriers, to learn more.

All customers have  24 hours from the time of their original booking to change their reservation without being charged a change fee, regardless of the fare selected.

Similar to the cancellation policy, WestJet does not allow those with Basic tickets to make any changes to their flight after the initial 24-hour window from booking.

If it has been more than 24 hours since you booked your Econo ticket, you can still make changes but the fee will depend on the route and number of days until your flight.

Flights within Canada can be changed for CA$50-$59 (~$35-$41) if the flight is scheduled in more than 60 days, and CA$100-$118 (~$70-$82) if it is less than 60 days away.

Flights from Canada to Europe can be changed for CA$100-$118 (~$70-$82) if the flight is more than 60 days away, and CA$250-$259 (~$174-$205) if the flight is less than 60 days away.

For all other flights, the change fee is CA$50-$59 (~$35-$41) if the flight is more than 60 days away, and CA$100-$118 (~$70-$82) if it is less than 60 days away.

Those that have purchased an Econo Flex ticket for a flight within Canada can make changes to their flight without paying any additional fees.

If your Econo Flex ticket is between Canada and Europe, the change fee is CA$100-$118 (~$70-$82) for flights more than 60 days away, and CA$250-$259 (~$174-$205) for flights less than 60 days away.

For any other flight routes, the change fee is CA$25-$30 (~$17-$21) for flights more than 60 days away and CA$100-$118 (~$70-$82) for flights less than 60 days away.

For Premium Tickets on a flight within Canada, the change fee is CA$50-$59 (~$35-$41) for flights more than 60 days away, and CA$100-$118 (~$70-$82) for flights less than 60 days away.

If your flight is between Canada and Europe, the change fee is CA$100-$118 (~$70-$82) for flights departing in more than 60 days, and CA$250-$295 (~$174-$205) for flights departing in less than 60 days.

Any other flight routes are subject to change fees of CA$50-$59 (~$35-$41) for flights more than 60 days away, and CA$100-$118 (~$70-$82) for flights less than 6 days away.

Lastly, business tickets within Canada can be changed for CA$100-$118 (~$70-$82) — regardless of the number of days before the flight departs.

Flights between Canada and Europe can be changed for CA$400-$472 (~$278-$328) — again, regardless of the number of days until the flight.

All other flights will have a change fee of CA$100-$118 (~$70-$82) no matter when the flight is scheduled.

As with cancellations, the fee for changing your award ticket depends entirely on what type of ticket you purchased with your Travel Bank funds.

Hot Tip:  Keep in mind that if you’re changing a flight to a more expensive option, you will need to pay the difference in fare. 

WestJet also allows same-day changes for all ticket types besides Basic tickets. The charge for doing so varies on the ticket type and destination.

Same-day changes for Econo tickets cost CA$150-$177 (~$104-$123) for flights within Canada, CA$250-$295 (~$174-$205) on flights between Canada and Europe, and CA$150-$177 (~$104-$123) on all other flights.

Same-day changes for Econo Flex tickets are free for flights within Canada, CA$250-$259 (~$174-$205) for flights between Canada and Europe, and CA$100-$118 (~$70-$82) for all other flights.

Premium Tickets

A same-day change for a Premium ticket is CA$100-$118 (~$70-$82) for flights within Canada, CA$250-$295 (~$174-$205) for flights between Canada and Europe, and CA$100-$118 (~$70-$82) on all other flights.

Business Tickets

Lastly, those with business class ticket can make same-day changes for free, regardless of their flight destination.

The same-day change fee for your award ticket will be based on what type of ticket you purchased with your WestJet Travel Bank funds.

Step 1: First, log into your account on the WestJet homepage and select Manage Bookings .

Step 2: Select which booking you would like to cancel, then click the Cancel link.

Step 3:  Once your cancellation has been finalized, a confirmation email will be sent to the email you provided at the time of booking, and the remaining funds after any cancellation fees will be deposited into your WestJet Travel Bank.

The WestJet Travel Bank is an easy-to-use account where travel credits resulting from non-refundable ticket changes, cancellations, or service credits are held. These travel credits are kept in your Travel Bank until you use them to pay for future travel.

To use your Travel Bank funds, you first need to sign in to your WestJet Rewards account. When you reach the payment page of a flight booking, you will be given the option to use your Travel Bank credits or another form of payment.

Dealing with the need to cancel a flight can be difficult, but knowing the rules and guidelines around each ticket type can really help if you find yourself in a situation where you need to cancel. As always, it is also worth looking into which credit cards provide compensation for times like these. After all, the more you know — the better off you’ll be!

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if i cancel my westjet flight.

That largely depends on what type of ticket you’ve purchased, where you are flying, and how many days are remaining before your flight leaves.

Generally speaking, you’ll likely need to pay somewhere between CA$50-$295 (~$35-$205), unless it is a business ticket, in order to cancel your flight.

The remaining fare after the fee is deducted will be deposited into your WestJet Travel Bank.

Can I cancel my WestJet flight within 24 hours?

Yes — WestJet will allow you to cancel or make any changes to a flight that was booked less than 24 hours ago.

When do funds in my WestJet Travel Bank expire?

Travel Bank credits expire 1 year after the date they were deposited into your account.

Will WestJet waive my cancellation fees?

For the most part, getting your fees waived will depend on your reason for canceling the flight. If an immediate family member has died, you fall very ill, or have military orders, WestJet might waive your cancellation fees.

If you believe you have a legitimate reason to have your cancellation fees waived then it never hurts to call WestJet and ask!

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About Jarrod West

Boasting a portfolio of over 20 cards, Jarrod has been an expert in the points and miles space for over 6 years. He earns and redeems over 1 million points per year and his work has been featured in outlets like The New York Times.

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• Redeeming WestJet Dollars for WestJet Vacation Packages

Reed Sutton Dec 24, 2023 / Airline Miles , WestJet , WestJet Rewards / 2 comments

This is post 1 of 2 in the series “WestJet Vacations”

• WestJet Vacations: Attraction Tickets & Unique Itineraries

Summary: WestJet dollars (WJD) can be redeemed for WestJet Vacation packages, which bundle WestJet flights and hotels (from a variety of brands). Meal plans are included for some destinations (all-inclusive). The cost of vacation packages in WJD is consistently lower than the dollar cost of booking the same flight and hotel separately. To book, you can either book online, call WestJet, or via your travel agent.

An interesting realization came to me as I was recently contemplating how to spend the hoards of WestJet dollars (WJD) I’d accumulated in my WestJet Rewards account over the past years. Numerous times upon looking at WestJet’s website I’ve seen adverts for vacation packages, but for some reason, I’d never stopped to think: “I wonder if one can use WestJet dollars to pay for vacation packages”?

As it turns out, I found the answer to my question buried at the bottom of the FAQ page for WestJet Dollars: 

This was an exciting realization for me (albeit maybe obvious for other experienced WestJet fans). So in this post I’ll try to cover everything I’ve learned about WestJet Vacations and WJD since. Importantly it was worth considering whether these vacation packages actually offer decent value, along with the logistics of making a booking, which is not as straightforward as using WJD for flights.

What are WestJet Vacations?

WestJet Vacations is a travel agency-like subsidiary of WestJet that offers packages for WestJet flights with hotel partners to offer a ‘packaged vacation’. It’s similar to the concept of an all-inclusive vacation, although not all WestJet vacation packages are all-inclusive (in fact most are just flight+hotel packages). 

The nice thing about these vacation packages is that they offer flexibility. This is not something I would have imagined in an all inclusive type package. But in fact, going through the booking process you are able to select from a variety of hotel options and customize your flight itinerary quite extensively as well.

How to Book a Vacation Package using WJD: Three Avenues

Recently, WestJet enabled the ability to redeem WJD for vacation packages when making an online booking. This is a positive change since previously it was required that rewards members either call the WestJet Vacations team or go through their travel agent to book.

However, if you would rather still talk to someone when you make your booking, the other two options are still available. You can contact the WestJet Vacations team by phone at 1-877-737-7001 for assistance in building and booking your vacation package.

I went through making a booking myself using this line recently and noted that it was a fairly straightforward process. Everything I could see online was able to be booked over the phone and I fed them the dates and information.

There is also another way to redeem WJD for vacations: through a travel agent.

Searching for WestJet Vacation Packages

There are two ways to browse for vacation packages. The first is using the default ‘vacation’ search, which is very similar to searching for flights.

You must input your exact Departure and Destination cities, along with exact Depart and Return dates. This isn’t the best because it makes it somewhat challenging to compare how much choosing a different date affects the price, without going through the whole search process again using multiple browser tabs. 

One little trick if you know a little about ‘http’ protocol: you can actually generate additional searches much faster by copying the URL of a search result and modifying the URL parameters (these are variables that appear after the ‘?’ in the URL. Let me demonstrate.

Let’s say I’ve just searched for Hawaii for the dates January 3 – January 10. The URL for this search appears as: 

https://vacationbookings.westjet.com/cgi-bin/resultspackage-plus.cgi?sid=c3607ed6df6c890c829c7eec184211c8&gateway_dep=YEG&child_1_age=&CA_PreviousDomain=&occupancy=S&price_max=& date_dep=20210103 &isMobile=false&rooms=1&track_link=&child_3_age=&child_2_age=&sv_query=1&star=& date_ret=20210110 &language=en&no_hotel=&Engines=S&nb_adult=1&dest_dep=Honolulu%2C+Oahuxxx79&code_ag=wes&child_4_age=&searchtype=PA&child_5_age=&nb_child=0&alias=wes&first_result=

You can see the two bolded variables, ‘date_dep’ and ‘date_ret’. Obviously, these are the Departure and Return dates. So let’s say I want to see how departing on Monday instead of Sunday will affect pricing. I can quickly replace the date_dep=20210103 and date_ret=20210110 to date_dep=20210104 and date_ret=20210111, respectively.

Anyways, if this is too much of an inconvenience, you can also use the other search method: ‘Vacation Finder’:

This allows you to be a bit vaguer with your search, you can instead specify broader destinations like ‘Beach escape’, Caribbean, or Mexico. You can also leave the duration blank or specify 3-5, 5-10, or 10-14 day durations.

I personally don’t find the Vacation Finder as useful to search. I generally know which return date I have in mind and am more flexible on departure. Although pricing is still a little trickier here because longer durations will necessarily be more expensive which isn’t the case with booking flights.

WestJet Vacation Package Pricing: Is it Fair?

To answer this question, I did a series of ‘trials’ using the following methodology:

• Create a package with a given flight and hotel combination on WestJetVacations.com
• Lookup flight price separately on WestJet.com (including taxes) – subtract from WJV total price to get ~ hotel price.
• Aggregator website: Trivago.ca –> Hotels.com
• Hotel’s website directly

Here, we’re basically trying to determine what is the average price markup by WestJet vacations. I chose to do three trials with different hotel chains for three destinations: Hawaii (HNL), Los Cabos (SJD), and Disneyland Resort (SNA/MCO). All searches were done with 1 adult, 1 room, except for Disney searches which were 2 adults, 1 room.

Hawaii (HNL) (via YEG)

Departure Date: January 4, 2020; Return Date: January 10, 2020 

Hotel Check-in date: Tue. Jan. 05, 2021 ; Hotel Check-out date: Sun. Jan. 10, 2021

Individual Flights Costs (searched Nov. 30, 2020):

Hotel Costs (searched Nov. 30, 2020): 

Los Cabos (SJD) (via YVR)

Departure Date: February 12, 2021; Return Date: February 20, 2021

Hotel Check-in date: Fri. Feb. 12, 2021; Hotel Check-out date: Sat. Feb. 20, 2021

Flights and Costs (searched Dec. 2, 2020):

Hotel Costs (searched Dec. 2, 2020):

Disneyland Resort Vacations (SNA and MCO via YEG) 

For this search, I used the ‘Vacation Finder’ searching ‘Disney vacations’. I also searched using 2 adults, and 1 room.

Departure Date: June 7, 2021; Return Date: June 12, 2021

Hotel Check-in date: Mon. June. 7,  2021; Hotel Check-out date: Sat. June. 12, 2021

Costs (searched Dec. 3, 2020): 

It also looks like you can book your Disneyland/Resort tickets through WestJet Vacations as part of the package. If this intrigues you, we cover how to use WestJet dollars for attraction costs and unique itineraries in our next article of this series.

The Verdict? 

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised to see that WestJet Vacations actually offer quite good value within the rewards program. Consistently across all my searches, the total price of these packages works out to mild-to-moderate cost-savings, when compared to booking the flights and hotels separately, including via the hotel’s website directly or third-party booking sites. 

Related: How to Get Free WiFi on WestJet Flights

There are several assumptions at play. For one, I’m assuming you’ll be flying with WestJet. For certain destinations, you might find cheaper flights with other airlines. Furthermore, I’m not considering other savings you could get on your WestJet flights by applying a WestJet companion voucher if you’re flying with two people. For example, the Disneyland Resort (SNA) search shows you’d likely pay a lower total dollar cost by booking the flights with a companion fare and paying cash for the hotel. 

Regardless, I’m confident in saying that you aren’t getting a bad deal by booking a WestJet Vacation using your WestJet dollars. At this point, I see no need to reserve the use of WestJet dollars solely for flights, and I’ll definitely be using mine going forward for both, especially when I’m traveling solo. This applies doubly for those of you who’ve figured out some of the crafty ways to earn large sums of WJD 🙂

Frequently Asked Questions

Travel Bank credits cannot be used to pay for WestJet Vacation packages.

No, you cannot use WestJet dollars to pay for taxes and fees on a WestJet Vacation package booking.

The WestJet Companion Voucher can only be used towards flights; it can’t be used towards a WestJet Vacations package booking.

That’s your call. You’ll pay the same price regardless.

WestJet Vacations flights are a special fare class called ‘Z’. It’s really a hybrid but you can think of it like economy class. If you have a specific question about cancelation, extras, checked baggage, etc, it is best to ask an agent. Cancellation policies for WJ vacations generally apply to the entire package, which is why the flight class isn’t really relevant.

Yes, you can upgrade your fare to Premium or Business. 

Yes, you can.

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2 comments on “ Redeeming WestJet Dollars for WestJet Vacation Packages ”

I am a travel agent and on hold with WJV…pax wants to pay for a last minute trip with their dollars… they leave this Feb. 19 for Aruba on what they want booked…. i am on my Transat distribution agent phone number for WJV. I am afraid of the space selling out. (is it possible to confirm the package with a cheque number, while i am on hold?) and then change the FOP to their westjet dollars? Please advise Michelle Hunt Transat Travel London Ont. (519-542-3424 EXT 671227)

Thank you Reed! You answered my question after spending a ton of time on the WJ site and on hold.

I wish there was an option to do this online.

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. For complete and current information, please consult the entity's website.

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By Barry Choi on October 22, 2020 Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

WestJet’s COVID refunds—can you get your money back?

With the cancellation of WestJet flights during the COVID outbreak, the airline is now giving cash refunds. Do you qualify?

In a somewhat surprising move on October 21, 2020, WestJet announced it will be issuing refunds to the original form of payment to travellers who had their flights cancelled due to COVID-19.

You would think this would have been an obvious move back in March 2020, but airlines are notorious for holding onto your cash for as long as possible. Until the announcement was made, WestJet, and most airlines simply provide travel credits/vouchers.

Before you jump on the phone and demand your money back, it’s best to understand what’s going on and why this decision was finally made.

How to get your WestJet refund if you qualify for one

To be clear, the refunds are available to travellers who had WestJet or Swoop flights cancelled on them due to COVID-19. If you cancelled a flight on your own and accepted the travel bank credit, you would not be eligible for the cash refund.

WestJet will contact those people it deems eligible for refunds as of November 2, 2020, but it is taking a phased approach, starting with flights cancelled in March and will continue from there. WestJet expects the process to take six to nine months to fully complete.

For context, my WestJet flight to Hawaii was cancelled in May and I didn’t get notice until October that I could see a refund applied to my credit card. Waiting five months to get $3,500 might be a lot of money for many people.

You need to wait for an email from WestJet before your refund is processed. Calling WestJet now will not do anything, so be patient and monitor your inbox.

Flights booked via a travel agency or a website would also be eligible for refunds, but you’d have to contact where you purchased your tickets directly. ( Also, five things your airline isn’t telling you. )

What took so long?

In Canada, there are limited rules when it comes to passenger rights. Airlines were not obligated to give cash refunds as long as customers are offered a travel voucher worth an equal amount of what was paid. ( Find out more about passenger rights here. )

The reality is that airlines don’t have a vault-load of cash. It’s one of the few industries that depend on future sales to float current operating expenses. When ticket sales drop, cash flow becomes an issue. A worldwide pandemic that significantly reduces air travel can be catastrophic to the travel industry and airline businesses. 

South African Airways, Cathay Dragon and Avianca Airlines have declared bankruptcy or have ceased operations, so you can see why issuing travel vouchers is more beneficial to airlines compared to refunds.

Initially, WestJet tried to keep customers happy by extending their travel credit expiry date to two years, up from one. While this was a decent offer, it’s safe to say that most people would prefer cash.

In a press release , Ed Sims, WestJet president and CEO said “We have heard loud and clear from the travelling public that in this COVID world they are looking for reassurance on two fronts: the safest possible travel environment; and refunds.”

It may have taken seven months for the response, but WestJet is the first national carrier in Canada to voluntarily provide refunds to the original form of payment on all fare classes.

Wait, what about Air Canada ’ s refunds?

Shortly after the announcement was made, Air Canada chimed in on Twitter and said the statement was misleading. Air Canada claimed it had already refunded over $1.2 Billion in refundable fares to date. Implying that WestJet wasn’t the first to issue refunds. 

I can’t verify that number, but the last time I checked, Air Canada wasn’t giving refunds to everyone who had their flights cancelled. What I suspect Air Canada is saying is that it had given cash refunds when legally obligated.

For example, the United States, United Kingdom, and parts of the European Union have stricter passenger rights laws. If you were flying to one of those destinations and your flight was cancelled by the airline, local rules state that airlines have to provide a refund. After being pressured by the local governments, Air Canada and WestJet have now been following those laws. 

It’s also worth noting that Air Canada’s comfort and business flexible fares are fully refundable by default. I imagine Air Canada isn’t wrong when it says it already refunded that money, but it doesn’t apply to all of its fares. 

That’s where the difference is. WestJet is refunding all guests of COVID-cancelled flights, including those with the low-fare tickets. 

Hopefully, Air Canada follows WestJet’s lead, but I wouldn’t hold my breath over it.

FOR MORE ON TRAVEL:

• Why so many Canadians are RVing right now • Travel deals to take advantage of now, and save for later • Travel the world from your sofa

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Seems that WestJet vacations are not offering refund and are staying within the 2 yr extension – seems unfair that after the 2 year period (which is now 18 mos) we lose all our money. Who is to say if it is safe to travel to other countries by 18 months or if we will be covered for insurance.

My issue is with WJ companion vouchers and I’m not sure why NO ONE is actually talking about this issue. I’ve had a WJ Mastercard since inception and loved the benefits with the exception of the lack of trip cancellation insurance.

I cancelled our May 2020 flight two weeks before WJ did as it was obvious this pandemic wasn’t going to be over by our flight time and I had a car and hotel reservation to cancel as well. We got a credit which we were okay with as we only fly WJ and my February 2020 voucher was returned to my travel account.

I rebooked again shortly afterwards as we like to book ahead for planning purposes and my WJ travel voucher was going to expire in February 2021. There was also a guarantee that the flight could be cancelled for covid reasons at that future date so all seemed good.

Our flight is now booked for May 2021 and if we don’t want to fly with covid still active at that time, we can cancel but we assume we are going to lose this voucher that was issued February 2020 and will be expired. My travel companion also has a voucher dated May 2020 expiring May 2021 (not used so we have to book another trip by then) and we both will have another one in February and May 2021 that will expire in 2022.

Since these vouchers are paid for by your $119 annual fee, they should NOT expire at all or WJ should at least extend the dates for ALL VOUCHERS issued in 2020 and those issued in 2021 for at least 2 years until all this covid thing is under control and a vaccine is available.

Yesterday, in a phone conversation with a customer service rep from Air Transat, I was informed that Transat is still declining refunds, and continuing to offer only no time limit vouchers. Furthermore, she indicated that WJ and AC refunds were being limited to the “travel portion” only. So, if you had purchased a vacation package from them, your refund will not include the portion of the cost that was allocated to the accommodation. The arrogance of these people is beyond comprehension.

I would be interested to hear if any of your readers have had any success in securing a refund via a credit card “chargeback” or a small claims court action.

Air Canada refused to refund our 4 return flights from Toronto to Phoenix in May, 2020 when they cancelled the flight. I even tried the appeal process with no change.

What about Air Transat? Our six UK flights yvr to the uk for sep/oct were cancelled and initially we we offered 2 year vouchers. Subsequently they said they would give refunds since they no longer fly yvr to Europe. Still waiting. No date promise. If the sell out to Air Canada I assume we are sol.

Hello, It is true that AIR Canada has almost never accepted to refund non refundable or even partially refundable tickets. It is useless for them to mention they refunded refundable tickets: by definition, they have to !!!

However, at least in Quebec where consumers are more protected, it is possible to get refund through your credit cards. Actually both the Civil Code and the Law protecting consumers (provincial laws) say very clearly that they have to refund unrendered services. For this to enforce, you have to formally request your credit card bank a retro-billing, with your documents. They have 45 days to refund. In my case it worked for a AC partially refundable ticket. I got back all my money back through Master Card which dealt with Air Canada. I was also successful to get refund for non refundable air tickets within South America, with SKY airlines. Refund would not have been possible by the airline company directly.

Attempts to get refunds from AC directly were unsuccessful, and an irritating process: they make you wait weeks, never say yes or no, and it is impossible to speak to a manager or a director of their ”customer service”. Extremely time consuming process that I will not forget.

In the case MC or Visa would deny the refund, it is still possible to go to Quebec small claims court but it may be a long process, although likely to succeed. I wish the laws would be similar in other provincial juridictions. And perhaps that the Federal Transportation Office implement a law to enforce all refunds, not credits, when services cannot be rendered. Every one can eventually write his/her MP to demand this fair and just rule, as is the case in many developped countries. Consumers should not be forced to loan money for free to a corporation, with a risk of not being refunded ever.

I believe that the date of the refund offer just happens to be the same date that courts will begin allowing class action lawsuits against airlines for not refunding money for cancelled flights.

Air Canada is right! They gave me a refund months ago after initially offering only a voucher!

Air Transat???

I’m just glad Westjet is finally doing the decent and Legal thing, especially since CoVid-19 was NOT the customers fault. Unfortunately, CoVid-19 is an act of the universe and not a purposeful event that a customer created in order to Cancel their flight! If you read thru the many page’s of Westjet’s legal documents and their flight/ticket policies, it was actually against the law for them to Not give us our money back due to CoVid-19 being an unnatural event and out of the passengers control…

I am very upset with WestJet! when I heard about the refunds I was excited but I just recently found out that I don’t qualify because I cancelled my trip 2 weeks before my trip date but I didn’t have a choice! the government of Canada released the travel advisory on March 13th and I cancelled on the 16th!! I’m sure I am not the only one who was forced to make the same decision. When Trudeau announced the travel advisory and also stated that any Canadians outside of Canada needed to come back as soon as possible, I was not going to risk the health of my family and also when the government is saying not to leave the country I think that says something!!!! this refund is a joke and completely unfair to those who had no choice but to cancel their trips because of covid 19. They have given me a credit that expires April of 2022 but honestly with the way this pandemic is going, I will not be flying anywhere until I know it is 100% safe to do so. I think WestJet needs to do the right thing and refund everyone who was affected by Covid 19 regardless if the client cancelled or they cancelled the flights.

WHEN is the Canadian Government going to step in and make these airlines refund our money? Heck, the feds have ‘bailed out’ that poorly managed Quebec company Bombardier so many times it’s not even funny. The least they can do is bail out the airlines so they can refund everyone’s cash.

Why do we have to wait 7-10 days before the departure to have Westjet or Air Canada cancel the flight? If we’re in an area that has been locked down by the provincial health officer, then come’on! Enough of the games!

I don’t want a voucher that expires! I want my cash back!

I’m going to fill out their refund request form but not going to hold my breath.

I had international flights booked in august and instead of cancelling them, Westjet just moved their dates to basically make our vacation go from 7 days down to 1.5 days. So they effectively forced us to cancel since it’d make no sense to take their rescheduled flights.

I suspect they will say we cancelled on our own volition and deny refunds.

Is it true that westjet isn’t refunding vacation packages ? On the website it’s say they are or maybe I’m misunderstanding what they wrote? I did not cancel my flight westjet did and I booked through redtag. No one can tell me anything except send me the same email over and over again that state’s I can only get a refund if it was cancelled 45 days prior to departure. My flight was suppose to leave April 21. This can’t be legal.

Time for WestJet to start offering some proper customer service. I had a domestic flight booked for April 2020 with Air Canada $ 2,000. for coach travel and had to cancel because of lock-down and travel advisory warnings. This was not a case of Air Canada canceling a flight. It was my decision not to risk travel. Unlike WestJet, I was issued a voucher (like a gift card) that I can use whenever & wherever with no expiry date. I know that they still have my money, but I don’t feel that I’m subjected to nimerous and harsh conditions. This I considered proper customer service. When will WestJet follow suit?

How do you contact someone from West jet about a refund for a flight cancelled in March because of covid .

I was excited to hear we would be getting a refund instead of credits. We have been waiting but found out we don’t qualify because we booked a holiday package and they are only giving refunds for flights. I hope it still comes. It feels now like that announcement that they were giving refunds was just a lie.

I am mad with West jet because I cancelled my own flight to Moncton in March 2020 not thinking that West Jet would cancelled it. Now my money is in a travel bank that I can not use anyway because there is no travel to New Brunswick. I could of used that money right now for Christmas.

Hi, I am senior retired 75 years old, my 2-way return ticket to Santa Clara-Cuba canceled by WestJet, and offering to save my money for 24 months & advised that I am able to benefit from that in the future!

Since I am in very poor health conditions & I have no hope to be alive until next year due to my sickness, so what should I do with this corruptor, who grab the people money and using the money for their operations? I am wondering why the Canadian authorities not stopping such corruptions, and why allowing them to operate? Even we know the majority of the shareholders are a ring of VIP and has too many influences, and when it’s come to law, regular passenger unable to do anything, unfortunately.

I hereby request the Canadian authorities, RCMP, and the Ministery of the Transporation to take acttion accordingly, thanks.

I’m in the same boat as many who have commented. I had a flight booked for 4 people for April 2020. I cancelled it once the government announced travel was restricted. WestJet is refusing to refund me because I cancelled. Wasn’t that the RIGHT thing to do? We were in a pandemic and told by our government to stay home! I THOUGHT that the sooner I cancelled the better for processing. I was supposed to wait it out?? Until when?? No! You take action and the proper steps to cancel and start a refund process. That’s the responsible thing to do. I waited patiently for a refund process and received my declined refund email today. I called westjet and was still told that I would not receive a refund. My flight was in the heart of covid and the major restrictions first implemented – how can you deny that westjet!!? I literally could not go even if I wanted to! I believe they are hanging on to any little technicality they can to avoid payouts and it is disgusting customer service! I encourage all to file a complaint with the Canadian travel agency! I did today. A travel credit would be awesome IF it was ok to travel. We are still in a pandemic – we still have national and provincial restrictions. I still have employment restrictions around travel. We still have restrictions around health care if we travel. A travel credit right now is pointless! Give your customers their money back and they will HAPPILY RE-BOOK once they can!

I filled out the form in October and I am still waiting. I will be really annoyed if they don’t refund the money. Yes I cancelled the trip but it was after the federal government put the travel advisory in place and a number of things were shutting down. I had to cancel because I had to cancel other bookings that I had in place. Also, my relatives where I was staying are older and I did not want to risk their health. And my flight would have been cancelled at any rate. Besides, I paid extra for cancellation insurance and told them at the time of cancellation I wanted my money refunded. I didn’t accept the travel credit, it was given to me despite my objections.

I previously commented on WJ’s companion vouchers which they extended for 4 months which still makes it useless as I will not be booking by June 2021. I cancelled two flights booked for 2020. One was for a medical issue where we paid fees and got a travel credit and I also cancelled our covid affected flights 3 days before WJ did so only got another travel bank credit. I was okay with this because usually travel a couple of times a year. BUT today I checked my account and noticed that these travel bank credits EXPIRE!! What? This is MY money and WJ gets to keep it if I don’t use part of it by April 22?? I’m not travelling until all these covid-19 testing requirements are gone and everyone is vaccinated. So I’ve got $1800 sitting there that they can keep if I don’t book and I will lose if they go bankrupt. Time to seek out the Government agency that handles this stuff.

My wife are in the same predicament as Allison, we knew that things were going arwray with our trip and Covid 19, so to beat the panic we cancelled the trip a couple of weeks before the Canadian government inforced the no travel clause. At the time we were given WestJet dollars instead and the 2 year limit. We want our money back into our account. We have no idea if they are going to extend the 2 year limit or not. I’m afraid we will loose on both ends. Is there a class action lawsuit against WestJet that we don’t know about.

Thank you for the question and we are sorry to hear about your travel struggles. Due to the large volume of comments we receive, we regret that we are unable to respond directly to each one. We invite you to email your question to [email protected] , where it will be considered for a future response by one of our expert columnists. For personal advice, we suggest consulting with your financial institution or a qualified advisor.

I booked a trip to Disneyland California for Christmas 2020 and when it was clear that we would not be able to go I cancelled the trip that I paid for eight full tickets and 2 infants. Because I used my brains and new we wouldn’t be going and cancelled they won’t refund me because they had not cancelled first. To me this is discrimination and that money could have been well used by me during this pandemic instead of west jet sitting on it. This was a family holiday that who knows when we can go. Refund money or make the tickets so they don’t expire. When I called and spoke with a west jet employee she was rude and wouldn’t listen to anything I had to say.

My daughter Booked with Air Canada and she cancelled her FLIGHTS and Air Canada gave her ALL her monies back. West Jet refuses to give back our money because we cancelled the flights During COVID. What a JOKE. Also how long do we Have before they take All the flight credits completely? Is that how they plan on trying to compensate some of their loss by only giving us so much time to use the credits before they take them?? Again What a joke !!!!!

How do I go about rebooking a flight that was cancelled due to virus I was told I had 2 years Flight was booked for April 2020

I’am disgusted in the way WestJet has treated me!! Booked trip and can’t seem to talk with any live agent except for 345am What the heck WestJet!! Give me back MY money!!!!

Filled in the request for refund 3 times, it seems it falls in the black hole, no phone request are answered, 6 hr wait, on messenger it’s a robot called Julie, West jet is not taking calls directly regarding refunds. WHAT IS gOING ON, ?????they took my money via phone when I booked the flights on my Mastercard. Why can’t I get a refund? They ignore calls, hang up, robot, no phone number. The Ceo went on cbc and said all refunds will be answered well mine has not! I want my 1700$, its Allot of money! MY MP ignored all Twitter, my government bailed them out, no refunds to customers

Still waiting for a refund 18 months later. Filled out the refund request form many weeks ago and I have not received any response. They have 7000$ dollars of my money and I am destitute now because of the pandemic.

Hi I’ve been waiting for one year now for my refund and still not heard anything from WestJet.

My flight was scheduled for end of April 2020

It’s so fustrating

I applied for my refund many months ago. I received an email tonight from WestJet inviting me to phone the WestJet 1-888 number, provide my credit card number and WestJet rewards number and get my refund. HOWEVER, there is no menu option for this and NO ONE answers the phone anyway! What’s worse is that they have zeroed out my Travel Bank, so it looks like I don’t even have a travel credit anymore! It’s obvious WestJet has no intention of paying back any money to its customers. WestJet has lost ALL credibility.

In our case we cancelled our flights through to Halifax and back from Boston when it became obvious that Holland America was going to cancel our late summer cruise. Got a $2300 credit from WestJet put into our TravelBank. Now things are opening up we thought about using them except we cannot get travel insurance now because of an unstable medical condition. Left high and dry. Thanks WestJet! This what happens when a hedge fund (Onex) runs an airline!

I would like the refund of my first class ticket November 23 ,2021

Well I’m furious with Westjet! I booked a vacation package for 9 people (family) they have close to $25,000 in their pockets. I can’t get thru to anyone who could answer some questions and have a listen to us! I booked January 2020to fly out March 18, 2020. We kept putting off waiting for the airlines to cancel as we were afraid we’d lose our money. So 5 days before the flight was to leave March 13th we made a scary decision to cancel .. either that nite or next day they cancelled all flights! They won’t give us our money. We hv not been able to fly since… due to CoVid and health issues. We lost our son prior to our booking so we decided to take the grandkids etc on a vacation. One we had all planned. I just don’t understand WESTJET! Any suggestion for some help/guidance? We are raising his 2 children … twins and we are retired grandparents! This puts us in a horrible financial position!!! Please WESTJET… GM

WestJet is refusing to refund use our fair in cash. Our original flight was cancelled at the start of COVID and WestJet “refunded” us as a credit (money bank). We used these funds to book a trip for this March break and the flight was cancelled by WestJet. As a result, we had to book another airline. They refunded this trip to the money bank, but refuse to refund us in cash. The argument is that they refund to the original form of payment, however, the original trip cancelled due to COVID they refused to refund in cash.

Any suggestions on how to proceed?

I tried to fine out what was going on I got answers like they couldn’t fined my booking then next time after 4 or 5 hrs I was told she could not hear me. The last time I got through the girl found my fill but I was to late to get anything from Westjet she said my bank insurance may help after Westjet gets government handout.

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Expiring westjet travel bank credits - advice?

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