This is the start of our new Community Stories series, where readers can submit their own stories, and they'll appear in the Reader-Stories section of the site.
@ TProphet -- Thanks so much for sharing your story, and great job handling this situation and anticipating potential issues. Hope your travels back go smoothly!
A Correction (kind-of) as of August 1 soft drinks on Allegiant are now free!
Good to know. The menus weren't updated yet on my flight. When I saw everything listed cost money, I just went to sleep and slept for most of the flight. 🙂
Ben or others ought to focus on an article on alternative airports. Most of us can figure that out for ourselves, but I'm certain there are a few doozies out there that get missed.
Also, that story proves once again how the airlines are not your friend. They are all blood-sucking parasites. Virgin clamoring to keep the tax is a fine example.
I thought the cancellation fee is $100, not $50. Where is $50 figure coming from?
I'm not sure. This is what they offered. Maybe it's because I was keeping the return, and only cancelling the outbound?
I'm not sure. This is what they offered. Maybe it's because I was keeping the return, and only cancelling the outbound?
I am curious how you managed to book a WJ flight with Virgin. I called in when I heard about this option and the call center at Virgin couldn’t find me any dates for WJ flights that showed availability with Delta and AF points. I even through some random flights in from YVR to destinations that WJ flies to regularly, like Vegas and LAX with no luck for any type of availability.
I have only successfully done this by asking Virgin to attempt a "long sell" which sometimes works. They get less inventory than Air France, who gets less inventory than Delta. So it only works sometimes. Still, if it does, it is well worth it because of how attractive the Virgin award chart is, and the frequently available transfer bonuses.
How did you book the WJ flight with Virgin points? I phoned in a few months ago and they couldn’t find any WJ flights.
This perfectly sums up Allegiant. It is no frills, but it gets you from A to B and sometimes that's all that I really care about.
Can you at last book WestJet rewards online via Virgin?
You'll need to call, and ask the agent to "long sell" the itinerary if they say it isn't available but you're seeing it on Qantas and Air France. Also the airline code is WS which may be helpful. The Virgin agents aren't very familiar with booking WestJet yet, it's a new partner and the systems aren't well integrated.
VS have been horrific lately with offering little to no award availability on any partner airlines so I’m happy you found the needle in haystack!
I appreciate how you, as a passenger, recognized that often such strikes happen 'for good reason,' but still are often inconvenient, so you had to find another way, and did. Better than a 20 hour drive with a border crossing. Well done.
With airlines in the US blaming their failures to operate on all sorts of excuses (some real, some likely more a business decision than not), I've been using points to book fully refundable backups for important trips. Also, comprehensive travel insurance for prepaid expenses helps.
I also liked your comment on "an airline’s fake $11,000 retail fare" Preach. And, as I'm based in NYC, I've seen those Uzbekistan planes (pretty sure that's their only route to the Americas, or even outside of Europe and Asia) and have considered it for a lark.
I don't think people realize how nice most of the airline cancelation terms are here in the USA (for at least the big 3). Most will refund all your points and taxes, or at a minimum give you a flight credit.
Canceling with BA and Virgin recently, I was popped $37 and $100 on canceling reward flights. The money/points saved was worth it to me, but still ridiculous. To me, award flights are supposed to offer flexibility. Maybe within a few days you get dinged, but months out should be illegal.
Free money giveaway I suppose