The last thing they needed or expected to deal with was drama and confusion when it came to their flight home.
It all started more than two months ago, when Campoli booked a round-trip flight from Oct. 26 to Nov. 2 for $1,300 to visit with her husband’s father, who had long battled heart disease and had also from dementia.
Just days before their arrival, a family member called Campoli to see if he could move up their arrival date as her 84-year-old father-in-law’s health was rapidly deteriorating.
“My husband’s father’s health had taken a serious turn and they didn’t think he would live long enough to say goodbye,” said Campoli, who immediately contacted WestJet to modify their trip.
Told her tickets were non-transferable, she opted to pay an extra $2,200 to book four one-way flights two days in advance.
Campoli told CP24.com that she was always under the impression that the original Nov. 2 flight home to BC remained the same.
“The agent never told us that our return flight would be affected or cancel this change,” he said, noting that the day before their original flight to Toronto he had received a notice to check in but ignored it as they were already in town.
Sadly, just hours after their father was buried on Tuesday, the family were distraught to learn that he was no longer listed as a passenger on the flight they were expecting to take home the following afternoon.
After a brief hour-long conversation with WestJet, in which Campoli said the agent admitted to “wrongly” canceling their original flights, Campoli said she was hung up on.
According to WestJet spokesman Morgan Bell, the family originally booked a base fare trip, which has “different parameters for refund eligibility than an economy fare or a bereavement fare.”
“Since travelers did not show for the Oct. 26 flight as per the procedure with any ticket, the moment any guest makes a ‘no show’, they automatically lose their return leg and become inactive,” Bell said.  .
“Unfortunately when the family called to book a bereavement fare on an earlier flight (October 24th) that our agent assisted with, our early search of the record does not appear to have been any notification of another booking and then without knowing that our agent may not have been aware that there would be a problem with any return flight.”
Campoli said that essentially meant they were “locked out” in Toronto.
“We didn’t have a flight home.  We were supposed to leave at noon today,” he said Wednesday afternoon.
“They wouldn’t put us on another flight.  … There was no compassion.”
Campoli said the cost of booking another round of flights to BC through the airline was $3,200.
“WestJet could have been somewhat accommodating.  They told me they were sympathetic but said there was nothing they could do,” she said.
Unable to justify spending that amount on airfare, Campoli was able to get her family on 4 flights home on Nov. 3 via another carrier for $1,100.
“We have spent the last nine days in hell watching my husband’s father die only to be met with the most outrageous customer service I have ever experienced at one of our family’s most vulnerable times,” she wrote in a Facebook post.
“This scares me.  We are in shock, honestly.  We just didn’t need that stress right now after not sleeping for a week,” Campoli added.
WestJet changed its tune after CP24.com contacted them.
Just hours after receiving our message, an airline representative contacted Campoli directly to discuss the situation and “understanding the circumstances” has now offered the family a full refund for this “no-show” flight.
While he was grateful for the refund, Campoli said none of this would have happened without “pressure from the press.”