Tagged Pages Archive | Medicine Hat
2023
18
July
Various airports in Alberta to Ireland, France, or England - $155 to $242 CAD roundtrip including taxes
18
July
WestJet is showing what appears to be mistake fares from various airports in Alberta to Dublin, Ireland or London, England or Paris, France for between $155 and $302 CAD roundtrip including taxes..
The flights have 1 stop each way, in Calgary.
It's always tough to know if tickets will be issued in a situation like this, so proceed with caution. If you do attempt to book these, do not book anything non-refundable for at least 48 hours.
WestJet's mistake fares to Europe seem to pop up every few years. Sometimes they've worked out, other times they haven't.
These are working from:
Cranbrook (YXC)
Edmonton (YEG)
Fort McMurray (YMM)
Grande Prairie (YQU)
Lethbridge (YQL)
Lloydminster (YLL)
Medicine Hat (YXH)
Yellowknife, NWT (YZF)
Basically, from nearly every airport in Alberta, B.C., or Saskatchewan except Calgary or Vancouver. It seems to only work with flights that connect through Calgary.
WestJet is also showing unusually cheap prices from the same airports in Alberta to Japan for $741 CAD roundtrip including taxes. Likely related.
Update Wednesday
Well, this story has made it into the National Post and the Calgary Herald.
On Twitter, WestJet has been shifting the blame to FlightHub.
But for some reason FlightHub's account was suspended. Not sure what they said to cause that, or if it's related...
In the Calgary Herald article "WestJet told Postmedia it became aware of the issue last Friday, saying it originated from an update to the airline’s computer system that caused fares to display incorrectly on some third-party websites."
Depending on the numbers, one would think WestJet could swoop in and play the hero here and parlay this into some positive media exposure and word of mouth at a cost that would be relatively small compared to a typical advertising campaign. Especially considering the smaller markets around B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Winnipeg that were involved and are typically harder to reach when it comes to marketing flights to Europe. I know for a fact that people love to tell others about a ridiculous deal they got even 10-15 years later.
Update Tuesday @ 5:40 PM MST
It's becoming clear that what happened this Friday is nearly identical to the SellOffVacations / WestJet incident in 2020. WestJet went on to eventually honour the fares.
It all relates to a company named Farelogix that WestJet uses for posting fares to third party sellers.
Here's a comment from the 2020 incident:
"WestJet just called to say they will be cancelling all the flights and blaming it on a company named Farelogix (a company that WestJet uses to post their fares to third party sellers such as Sell Off Vacations) saying that they distributed prices where the taxes weren't calculated correctly. Even after WestJet clearly told us if a price is posted online there is nothing they can do about it and it is illegal to not honor it. We should all work together on social media to make some noise..."
And here we are in 2023..
"Friends of mine who work at Westjet have screen shot and sent me what their supervisors told them to tell customers. WestJet claims that surcharges were not being applied correctly due to a FareLogix system error. Farelogix is an IT Provider whose singular focus is to build and deliver innovative and cost efficient NDC-aligned, airline-controlled offer and order management distribution technology as a result, guests were temporarily able to book low fares"
Link to the blog post of the 2020 incident.
Global News Edmonton is apparently running a segment about this story tonight.
Update Sunday @ 2:30 PM MST
Sorry that I could not update earlier. The fallout happened just as I was leaving for a camping trip, and I did not have Internet during the weekend.
On Friday evening, WestJet cancelled these tickets, despite the fact that tickets had already been issued.
Personally, I think either WestJet or one of their data providers is to blame here (they are blaming each other). FlightHub is just caught in the middle. I was seeing similar price errors coming from WestJet on EasyJet's website during the same period of time, which FlightHub has no involvement with.
About the only thing that can help in this situation is media coverage. Some of you may recall WestJet changing their mind and deciding to honour the fares they cancelled during the SellOffVacations / WestJet error fares in February of 2020. But then of course the pandemic hit, and most didn't get a chance to use them anyways.
Tchadas Leo of CHEK News is one reporter interested in interviewing people for this story. He can be reached at: [email protected]
If anyone has any other media contacts that might be interested, comment below or shoot them an e-mail.
Update @ 10:27 AM MST
Receiving reports of WestJet confirmation numbers and eTickets (13 digit numbers) being issued, which is the best case scenario...
Still, keep the expectations low until the dust settles. It typically takes 24-48 hours for things to play out in these situations.
Update @ 11:35 AM MST
I haven't seen any cheap ones to Dublin or Paris in my last 10-15 searches trying various dates. Still seeing some cheap ones to London.
Update @ 11:45 AM MST
This could be over. I haven't seen any cheap ones from any origins in a while. If you still do, comment below!
Tip for those who booked this
- If your confirmation code contains a mix of letters and numbers, it won't work on the WestJet site. That's not a WestJet confirmation code. WestJet's codes are all letters. Some have received an e-mail from ACCELYA with their 'letters only' code. Others have been contacting FlightHub through the live chat function to ask for their 'all letters' WestJet confirmation code and can log into the WestJet site to see their reservation.
Availability for travel
September, October, November 2023
How to find and book this deal
1. Start with one of the following FlightHub searches:
Lethbridge or Medicine Hat to...
Dublin, Ireland
^^ $155 roundtrip
London, England
^^ $242 roundtrip
Paris, France
^^ $302 roundtrip
2. Try other origins and dates in September, October, and November.
A lot of the layover times will be terrible on certain dates from some of these origins.
You can try adjusting the dates by a day or two to see if it makes a difference.
The cheapest dates you see on Google Flights should correlate to the cheapest fares you can find on FlightHub.
(The price on Google Flights will be much higher)
screenshot from FlightHub
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2023
24
June
Summer Flights from Lethbridge and Medicine Hat to Eastern Canada (Quebec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, PEI) - $339 to $399 CAD roundtrip including taxes
24
June
2019
27
February
Medicine Hat or Cranbrook to Honolulu, Hawaii - $344 CAD roundtrip including taxes
27
February
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