Canadians ‘abandoned’ by WestJet in Mexico demand compensation

A Canadian says he had to pay thousands of dollars for a flight to get back home after cartel violence broke out in Mexico. Alex Karpa reports.

Katharina Stieffenhofer was vacationing in Puerto Vallarta when cartel violence erupted in parts of Mexico.

Her flight home to Winnipeg was cancelled last Sunday and she was stranded in the airport as chaos unfolded around them.

“All of the sudden, this panic started,” she said. “Apparently there were shots fired outside of the airport, and everybody got down on the ground, hid in clumps behind pillars and that was very scary.”

Stieffenhofer, amongst many other Canadian passengers, were stuck inside the airport. She was flying WestJet and tried to get help from employees working at the airport.

“WestJet employees said they tried to look for hotel rooms, and then they said, ‘no, everything is shut down. You’re on your own,’” she said. “And they left. They just left. So we were left in the airport. Everything was shut down.”

Stieffenhofer says she tried to get in touch with WestJet throughout the next few days but says she got very little communication from WestJet.

“They made us responsible to find our own hotel and to book our own flights back which was extremely difficult,” she said. “They did nothing to help us rebook. You really feel abandoned.”

“I understand that this was an interruption that was out of everyone’s control,” she said. “But it would’ve been their responsibility to look after the people that were booked to fly home first, to look after them first.”

$6,000 flight home

Like Stieffenhofer, Winnipegger Andrew Parkes’ WestJet flight was also cancelled on Sunday.

The airline told him the earliest flight his family of five could get, was on March 3, which was nine days after the original date he was supposed to be leaving. Parkes says this was unacceptable.

“I committed a lot of personal time to just getting our family home one way or another,” he said. “If you were, like I was, and continuously refreshing the website, you might be lucky enough to just purchase a flight outright.”

And that’s what Parkes did.

He ended up booking a flight with Air Canada instead, which cost him $6,000.

“I still have to go after them (WestJet) for the $6,000 it did cost me to get home,” he said. “WestJet at every single turn of this process had an opportunity to do something right, and I feel like they batted zero.”

Repatriation flights ongoing: WestJet

CTV News reached out to WestJet for comment on what passengers should expect when applying for compensation.

In response, a spokesperson from Sunwing Media referred us to the latest information regarding operations to Mexico.

On its website, WestJet says they are “committed to a safe and coordinated repatriation effort for guests impacted by the recent events in Mexico. This includes both guests who held a reservation for affected flights of February 22 and 23, as well as others who now wish to return to Canada.”

They say they have operated 14 repatriation flights and will operate two more over the next few days.

“We continue to work around the clock to ensure all guests have the return flight they need,” the website states.

But Stieffenhofer says she had a different experience.

“They did not make it a priority at all to bring us home,” Stieffenhofer said.

A sentiment by Parkes.

“There was not one person that I spoke to that was on any of these planes that had an experience that resembles that,” he said.

What does compensation look like?

Gabor Lukács, who is an air passenger rights advocate, said WestJet must rebook passengers on the next available flight within 48 hours of the original departure on its own or partner airlines.

If that doesn’t happen, he says they are obligated to pay for seats on other airlines’ next available flights.

“If there are any seats available, they have to go to passengers who are stranded,” he said.

In this situation, Lukács says he would buy his own ticket back to Canada if the airline, in this case WestJet, fails to fulfill its obligations.

“If it’s $5,000, let it be. WestJet was required to pay for that. WestJet therefore has to pay for it later,” he said. “Once back in Canada, send WestJet the bill and demand a reimbursement, not a refund, a reimbursement for those expenses that were incurred within 30 days. On the 31st day, serve WestJet with small claims court papers.”

“Go to small claims,” he said. “Avoid the Canadian Transportation Agency because they are not your friends. They are cozy with the airlines. They are causing this situation to happen by turning a blind eye by not fining WestJet for what they have been doing to thousands of passengers.”

“Small claims court is a remedy. You had a clear right. It was violated; you incurred damages. There’s your claim,” he said.

Lukács said it’s important to stand your ground and keep fighting for your compensation.

“Don’t expect that the airline is going to pay up just because you complained,” he said.

‘Still shell-shocked’

Stieffenhofer said she is still traumatized about everything that transpired over the last week.

She is happy to be home, but said the situation took a heavy toll on her physically.

“The stress has caused me physical illness,” she said. “I am not well.”

Stieffenhofer said she is taking some time for herself but says she will continue to fight for compensation.

“I need to recover,” she said. “Being left in the lurch by WestJet, completely abandoned, and then having to scramble, the stress of having to fight to get flights home, that really added to the stress and to the trauma of it all.”