So I booked my flight with WinAir on January 05, 2024. That is 173 days prior to my flight leaving.
On January 13, 2024 I booked my non-refundable and non-modifiable ticket with WestJet. That is 165 days prior to my flight leaving.
On February 12, 2024, WestJet changes the arrival time to Antigua by a 7 minute increase. So the arrival time to Antigua is now 2:08 pm.
So this is what my schedule for June 26, 2024 looks like.
SUMMARY FOR JUNE 26, 2024
- Same day arrival from Toronto to Dominica.
- Total travel time for the day is 9 hours and 5 minutes.
- WestJet departs from Toronto at 9:15 am
- WestJet arrives in Antigua at 2:08 pm (4 hours and 53 minutes)
- There is a lay over in Antigua between my WestJet Flight and my connecting flight with WinAir (3 hours and 22 minutes)
- WinAir departs from Antigua at 5:30 pm
- WinAir arrives in Dominica at 6:30 pm
On March 27, 2024 WinAir rescheduled my 5:30 pm departure from Antigua to a 1:10 pm departure, and now it also included a 2 hours and 40 minutes lay over St. Maarten and then onto Dominica.
THE PROBLEM IS THAT THE WINAIR TIME/SCHEDULE CHANGE HAS MY WESTJET FLIGHT ARRIVING 55 MINUTES AFTER WINAIR HAS ALREADY LEFT FOR ST. MAARTEN AND THEN DOMINICA!
So this is what the schedule for the day looks like.
Now let us review WinAir Cancelation Policy
“9.2 Cancellation, rerouting, delays, etc.- If we cancel a flight… carry you on another of our scheduled services on which space is available without additional charge and, where necessary, extend the validity of your ticket; or… within a reasonable period of time re-route you to the destination shown on your ticket by our own services or those of another carrier, or by other mutually agreed means and class of transportation.”
So after reaching out to WinAir on the March 27, 2024 to explain the situation their only response was;
When I sent an email an inquired how a refund helps my situation that at this point I was now stranded with a ticket to Antigua and no way to leave the island.
And that I was not impress with their lack of concern for their actions by changing the schedule and then only offering me refund.
After several emails over the period of 9 days, every email being ignored by the WinAir employee Amelia, On April 8, 2024 a Shanine sent me an email with a new schedule change.
The new3 flight was now the following day and required 2 stay over nights April 8, 2024
,So this is what the schedule for the day looks like.
DAY 1 – June 26, 2024
WinAir offers NO FORM OF ACCOMODATIONS, TRANSPORTATION OF FOOD VOUCHERS. They expect the customers to pay their own expenses for the inconvenience they have caused them!
DAY 2 – June 27, 2024
And yet again for a 2nd night, WinAir offers NO FORM OF ACCOMODATIONS, TRANSPORTATION OF FOOD VOUCHERS. They expect the customers to pay their own expenses for the inconvenience they have caused them!
DAY 3 – June 28, 2024
After numerous emails from April 8. 2024 to the present date. WinAir and their employee Shanine refuses to honor their Cancelation Policy. After several emails in regards to my concerns about the situation, Shanine decided that she is just going to be an asshole and antagonize the situation even more by stating in an email “Please clarify how we can assist you?”
During this same time I requested by email several times that I would like an email for head office and WinAir legal department. Shanine choose to ignore every email and never responded!
So let us get o the heart of the matter. WinAir has a pattern of changing and cancelling flights and not accommodate the individuals who trips they are ruining. The expect a single female, who originally had only one day travel to now stay two nights in two different countries and WinAir refused to even offer to cover any of her sudden and unexpected expenses because they changed her travel plans.
What WinAir forces individuals to do is take the refund and FUCK OFF, and figure it out on her own. It appears that WinAir and Shainine think that it is okay to just abandon paying customers on an island where they can’t get off because their is no other flights going to Dominica as Liat Airlines has now shut down.
Can you imagine WinAir knows that their is no other flight for me to use to get off the island of Antigua, so they deliberately strand me their and my two options are spend $800-$1000 over the next two days paying for unscheduled hotels, transportation and food or get a refund and be out the cost of my WestJet ticket and stay home!
WinAir is a OPEN SCAM and a HEARTLESS, piece of shit airlines and under NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU BOOK WITH THEM.
YOUR SAFEST BET IS TO FLY INTO ST. LUCIA and take the L’Express des îles Ferry!
If you are going to any of these Caribbean islands that this is your best and safest option.
If you are going anywhere else in the Caribbean try to get a direct flight or see if Caribbean Airlines
I am not the first victim of this kind for trickery from WinAir, it appears to be a normal practice with them. So lets start to boycott and put them out of business! Support my social media accounts and send a clear message that you can not ruin a individual or their families vacations and their is no accountability for your selfish and unprofessional behavior and attitudes!
In conclusion, I called WestJet and explained the situation, and they were absolutely not sympatric or understanding for my situation. I explained that I was willing to pay any difference in price of the ticket just to fly to St. Lucia and catch the ferry.
But WestJet liked the idea of me losing my entire cost of my ticket and keeping their free profit, while leaving me figure out how to deal with this situation on my own. From now on my family and I will Air Canada. I rather pay a little bit more, but at least they have been willing to work with me in the past! You get what you pay for in life! Cheap is not necessarily better, REMEMBER THAT!
So as I asked if I could change my ticket, and WestJet outright refused, no discussion. So I will have to miss my vacation back home, and therefore I plan to file a small claims court lawsuit in my community to obtain a full refund of my WestJet ticket as well as punitive damages for being purposefully stranded in Antigua, loss of my holiday and WinAir’s disregard for their own cancellation policy!
By WinAir offering me a new flight that includes me losing 2 days of my vacation, 2 days of island hoping, and then still expect me to pay out between $800-$1000 of my own money for hotels, transportation and food, of which I don’t have. Is not acceptable under any situation!
Only because consumers would much rather just get their money back and walk away does WinAir act in this way. Who has the time to demand that WinAir fulfill its obligations? Send as many emails as you like to WinAir, but they will consciously not provide you with ANY email address for anyone other than the reservation department. It’s pointless to try to accomplish anything using WinAir!
WestJet enjoy your free money, and everyone spread the word, BOYCOTT WINAIR and DRIVE THEM OUT OF BUSINESS!