TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Westjet flight cancelled

We want to let fellow Canadians know that Westjet has cancelled the Tuesday flight to SXM for the summer season. We happened to check our Westjet account last evening,at that time we saw that our summer flight was 'unconfirmed'. We called Westjet and were told that the decision to cancel the flight was made on February 12. We had received no notification from Westjet. Since we had already booked our accommodations for a 2 week period starting on a Tuesday We now have to see if we can change them to a period beginning on a Sunday . Westjet did put $200 in our travel bank for use on a future flight but at this point we are not sure we want to fly with them again. Earlier in the week they changed our return flight home from another trip to a time 3 hours earlier. They just can't seem to keep to their published schedule. We know other airlines do the same type of thing but it is still frustrating. Hopefully we will be able to change our accommodation reservations to a different 2 week period with no extra cost.

With your only alternative probably Air Canada Rouge, I think Westjet is still a better option. However, it is a pain to have to make other arrangements for your accommodations. And not sending out notifications of flight changes is unacceptable!

We feel your pain. In December 2016 we were informed they had cancelled our flight to Costa Rica in January and were left in the lurch because we had already paid for our Villa. Air Canada had a flight but it left at night so we technically lost an entire day of our precious vacation and ended up with an additional cost for a hotel room in San Jose because it was too late and dark to drive the 3 plus hours to the ocean to our Villa that was sitting empty for the night because we couldn't get to it safely. They also gave us a travel credit but it really didn't add up to what we had lost.

We are flying WestJet to St. Maarten in March on a TUESDAY but so far they haven't cancelled it. Thank you so much for the heads up - I'll be checking closely in the weeks to come.

Sorry that happened to you. It is a problem with all airlines though. Check and re-check those flights!!!

We had booked a direct flight back to Montreal for March 6, but two days before our departure to SXM we had an email indicating a "schedule change". The flight was cancelled and we now have to return via Toronto and stay overnight. I called them immediately and they are now paying for one night in hotel.

Whatever you do don't fly Air Canada Rouge. It is a flying sardine can.

I totally agree with you - flying sardine can. Been stuck with Rouge for a couple of trips, and try to avoid using them as much as we can <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/canada.gif" alt="" />

If you reschedule your flight for the Sunday prior, Westjet will compensate you for your extra accommodations and all meals for those extra days. We had that happen a couple of years ago and they were very generous. Just call and speak to the client services department and they will handle your case.

Thanks Elizabeth. We were on the phone to Westjet for over an hour last night. They did say that if we could not change our accommodations they would find us a place on the Dutch side and would pay for it. As we stay on the French side this is not the ideal solution. We are waiting to hear back from the place we booked to see if they will change the reservation without extra cost. If not we will be calling customer service once again.

Just trying to understand the facts here--they gave you $200 in your travel bank AND said they would pay for your lodging for 3 extra days and you said no because it was on the Dutch side? I have to say, most US airlines would say "Sorry, we cancelled your flight. We'll reschedule your flight to another day. If you don't want to do that, we'll give you your money back. You want us to pay for extra nights lodging for you???? No, we don't do that..."

If this is correct, I 100% agree. Pretty generous offer IMHO.

Sadly, people who are used to reasonable priced non-stop air don't have a grasp on what most others deal with.

As a Canadian, we feel your frustration albeit it is a different situation for us. We live in Windsor so do not have the option of using WestJet unless we drive to Toronto which does not make a whole lot of sense. Detroit Metro is only a 20 minute drive away. For many years we used USAir and were treated very well. Since merging with AA life has become increasingly difficult. We have been a Dividend Miles holder with USAir and now AA, however that does not help us much. When I would book tickets with USAir, I could use an American credit card and pay the amount that was indicated on their website. Since AA took over that is not the case since they will only accept Canadian funds for the flight. So the point to my story is this .... last week I was checking on flights for the fall and lo and behold found a $587 U.S flight. Of course I rapidly fill out the info online only to be told at the end that it will not accept this since I must rebook using a Canadian address and money. So frustrated, I do this and the price comes up in Canadian funds, however when it reconverts on my U.S credit card the amount I am now charged was $697 U.S. So basically we were screwed out of $100 U.S each. Do not tell me to call customer service as they do not understand what was in place with the old USAir and said that this the way they do this. Take it or leave it basically is their attitude. I only wish I could send an e-mail or letter to the CEO of AA to let him know how Canadian customers are being treated. Sorry about the rant but I do not have this issue with Delta. And no Delta does not offer the same flight perks as AA in travelling to SXM from DTW. So when you East coast people brag about JetBlue, we Canadians are jealous both because of the direct flights offered and much lower fares.

I am not sure what American airlines would do in this situation. I think our major frustration is the fact that they did not inform us of the change. We check flights religiously but not all people do. The point of the post was to let people who may not check until closer to the date of the flight to check. I find dealing with airlines these days to be extremely frustrating.

USAir/AA is not my airline of choice any long either. I am guessing the biggest reason for the price difference you referred to would be the UAD to CAD exchange rate?

Delta is my airline of choice and I would think they would have something decent from DTW. Their miles/rewards program is much better than AA IMHO.

Honestly, for this year, $697 USD is not a bad price as I paid more than that on Delta. Unless you are in the NYC metro area, there are not a lot of good options other than living near a hub city.

OK, that is for sure, that regardless of the airline, you need to check, double check and triple check your reservations...

But trust me, any US airline is going to tell people "sorry about your luck".. Take the offer..

It is not the exchange rate as they charge me in Canadian funds and then my U.S credit card changes it back. So accordingly it should work out very close, except in this case it ended up costing us $200 more in U.S funds.

If you are required to pay in Canadian dollars, why not use a Canadian credit card?

When we had this problem, Westjet allowed us to find our accommodations for the extra nights and we submitted the receipts and they paid everything. We were extremely pleased with the service we received. If they offered you accommodations on the Dutch side you should take it and enjoy something different for a change. There are lots of nice hotels there and especially so if you are not paying.

I'd take it and run.....extra free days on the island!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" />

I feel your pain regarding US Air vs AA but that isn't a bad airfare - we paid over $700 last Fall for Dtw to Sxm. We are now resorting to Spirit for our Two week trip in April as their prices are better vs AA.

Thanks...Cathy

I think the prices for my area are crazy stupid in price. I booked in August and watched frequently on prices. Like day and weekly. I am good at looking for deals, but no deal here. I finally gave in and payed 1000.00 per person for our flights out of Dulles

When we lived in that area, we flew out of RIC and connected through CLT. The flights were always in the $700 range, and that was five years ago. That's a long trek to Dulles!