So my 8 year old daughter is at grandma's house for Spring Break. I booked our flights on February 15 through an agent with WestJet.
I booked a guardian fare which is cheaper. I could accompany my daughter to Calgary but had to return to Comox within 24 hours. I didn't DARE book the basic fare after hearing the horror story from my friend Melissa so I paid extra for the economy fair. FWIW people in first class get free alcohol and food while people in steerage get a free bag of pretzels (approximately 1.5 mini pretzels per bag and a thimble full of soda).
We flew to Calgary no problem on March 20. But I was unable to check in using the app or online to go home so we went to the airport 2 hours early so I could see an agent. I waited in line to join the line up for the line up* to see an agent an agent for 15 minutes, when it was my turn the employee told me to use the kiosk, I waited in line to use the kiosk and when I returned to the original line because the kiosk didn't let me check in I had to join the line up for the line up to the agents again. Finally I got into the line up for the agents and waited over 45 minutes.
I got to to the desk and showed the agent my reservation for my flight, booking number and assigned seat but she was unable to check me in and had to phone "Mike". Apparently, somehow I hadn't paid for a return flight (despite receiving notification emails to check in, having the flight on my itinerary on the app and having booked it through an agent over the phone.
I had to book a seat at the counter and pay almost $300 to get home.
How amused am I by this cluster fuck customer service failure? Not very. Not only did I have to stand in 3 line ups for over an hour by the time I actually managed to get my boarding pass I had 1 minute and 30 seconds to go through security and get to my gate (which, naturally was the furthest possible gate from security).
Security, naturally was a breezy, relaxing experience. HA HA just fucking kidding. My boarding time was 9:40 and I arrived at security at 9:41. The Guarda agent scanned my pass, I asked if I could use the priority line as there was a massive lineup in the general line but apparently not, she sent me to the general line where I waited an additional 10 minutes and was becoming a tad stressed.
I removed my belt and shoes and placed all my stuff in the buckets, naturally I set of the metal detector with my pump (that I showed then and told then about before passing through the metal detector) so I had a pat down and was swiped with the wand. THEN my bag was chosen for screening. I explained that the water bottle they could see was empty but it wasn't the water bottle that troubled him, oh no. It was the bean bag neck pillow my mother got me. Apparently a cotton bag filled with beans is a major security risk and the guy kept trying to argue with me about it. I finally told him to throw the fucking thing out as I was about to miss my plane. A couple next to me while I was putting on my boots and belt were like, what could POSSIBLY be threatening about a bean bag? FTR there were 2 teenage girls on my plane who had bean bag neck pillows so...yeah little Hitler wannabe way to save the fucking world.
I hoofed it to my gate (literally THE FARTHEST from security) and made it just as they were closing the doors.
I got on the plane and sat next to my seat mate who seemed to have some sort of nasal problem and who kept sniffing and snorting and blowing her stupid nose. She also had decided to marinate in her perfume so that was pleasant.
They had to remove and check 5 bags that people were trying to put in the over head bin. Apparently when you charge people who are travelling for a vacation to check their baggage they try to avoid the fees by stuffing as much stuff into carry on as they can and this results in the airline checking things for free and inconveniencing everybody on the planet because they designed their stupid policies without ever having met a living human being.
TLDR: Westjet is a festering pile of shit and I sincerely hope they go bankrupt.
*btw this isn't an error. There was a line up in order to be assessed by a staff member as to whether you should join the line up or not.
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