We just had to postpone our trip to Toronto, which was planned for this weekend. We had one ticket on a Westjet flight purchased through Expedia; the other was purchased through a travel administrator used by USBank for its Flexpoints program.
Both agencies took an unacceptably looooong time on hold, but the experience was interesting.
I had spoken to Westjet already and found that I would have to go through the agencies, but they did tell me that their policy on cancellations of non-refundable tickets is that the value of the ticket, minus a $75 fee, goes into a “travel bank,” good for one year.
Expedia’s voice-on-hold repeats over and over that they charge no cancellation fee and only do what the airline does. So, imagine my surprise when the first agent insisted that cancellation would make the ticket worthless…no value! I pointed out what Westjet had told me and he went off to call them, at my insistence…and promptly became lost. A second agent gave me the same information, then called Westjet, and then apologized to me for their having the wrong information.
How many times have they enforced the wrong rule and cost travelers big money? So…call the airline for its policy before you call the agent!
The other agency had the right rules…but wanted to add a $30 fee for itself. However, when I explained that we were cancelling the trip because of family illness, the agent offered to waive that fee…which I appreciate.
