WestJet - Unethical "Seat Sale"?

Whenever I see a thread like this I always wish I could be there when the OP comes back to check on his thread and expects a bunch of people agreeing with him....only to find the opposite....

I wonder if they think "oh my, I was mistaken" or whether they start yelling and think "This internet guys are idiots"

funny.

I find it hillarious that the OP is expecting price protection on airfare.

It's Westjet - not Future Shop.

And to reiterate what the rest have said - a day is a day. 24 hrs is 24 hrs. Two totally different periods of time.

You're extremely lucky they gave you anything.

Nikita wrote: ↑Exactly....it's called a 'calendar day'...and somebody is watching too much TV...

Watch too much TV? I do, but i don't see how my referencing judge judy has anything to do with that. She's a legit source and she'd kick you a$$.
This reminds me of the time, years ago, that i went in to McDonalds at 12:30am on a Sunday. Back then they had a different deal for everyday of the week. I asked for the sunday deal, but the guy said he couldn't give it to me because they were still selling the Saturday deal and they would be until they closed later that night. When they reopened in the morning they'd be selling the Sunday deal.

ithumbus wrote: ↑Watch too much TV? I do, but i don't see how my referencing judge judy has anything to do with that. She's a legit source and she'd kick you a$$.
This reminds me of the time, years ago, that i went in to McDonalds at 12:30am on a Sunday. Back then they had a different deal for everyday of the week. I asked for the sunday deal, but the guy said he couldn't give it to me because they were still selling the Saturday deal and they would be until they closed later that night. When they reopened in the morning they'd be selling the Sunday deal.

She is legit source? Yes, you watch too much TV. She is legit source at best in USA. Do you know anything we think impossible can happen in US court system? We happen, thankfully, live in Canada.

You use McDonalds as reference to show the definition of a 'day'?

I'm shocked they gave you any money back, you should feel pretty lucky.
Airline fares change all the time with every airline everywhere in the world.

trixR4kids wrote: ↑wts there to expose? that the op thinks that wednesday and tuesday are the same day? Op should be glad he got credited anything

i don't know he asked what he should do

its just an idea

like anyone would go to that drastic a measure would be beyond me in this case but whatever

ithumbus wrote: ↑Watch too much TV? I do, but i don't see how my referencing judge judy has anything to do with that. She's a legit source and she'd kick you a$$.
This reminds me of the time, years ago, that i went in to McDonalds at 12:30am on a Sunday. Back then they had a different deal for everyday of the week. I asked for the sunday deal, but the guy said he couldn't give it to me because they were still selling the Saturday deal and they would be until they closed later that night. When they reopened in the morning they'd be selling the Sunday deal.

By quoting the Mcdonalds deal you are showing how the WestJet deal was legit. You are saying that Mcdonalds was wrong for not having their Sunday deal available at 12:30 am on Sunday as Sunday was a new day. WestJet is using the same criteria in their policy that you are trying to hold Mcdonalds to.

Perhaps legal precedence could be established by delving into the premise that it wasn't specified if it was a "calendar" day vs. a "fiscal" day... and then in what time zone (unless that is specified in the TOS of the site) transactions are executed and....

*sigh*, apologies to OP / TS, but only the lawyers will benefit from this one

Hunter316 wrote: ↑By quoting the Mcdonalds deal you are showing how the WestJet deal was legit. You are saying that Mcdonalds was wrong for not having their Sunday deal available at 12:30 am on Sunday as Sunday was a new day. WestJet is using the same criteria in their policy that you are trying to hold Mcdonalds to.

Good point Hunter! You can't have it both ways.

Nikita wrote: ↑Good point Hunter! You can't have it both ways.

Thanks. I try

I agree that the OP shouldnt get price protection but it is stupid that they advertise 50% off one one day and 40% off the price the next day and the price on the second day is lower....

hordosr wrote: ↑I agree that the OP shouldnt get price protection but it is stupid that they advertise 50% off one one day and 40% off the price the next day and the price on the second day is lower....

Yeah, marketing at its finest... always trying to lure you in...

You bought it at the price you were willing to pay. Checking after you bought will only give you aggravation. I can understand the OP's frustration but that's the nature of the beast with airline tickets. You got a credit, which is more than fair.

hordosr wrote: ↑I agree that the OP shouldnt get price protection but it is stupid that they advertise 50% off one one day and 40% off the price the next day and the price on the second day is lower....

You and the OP are making an incorrect assumption that plane ticket prices are in any way static.

Prices for plane tickets change hour to hour. 40% off of $80 results in a lower ticket price than 50% off of $100.

brunes wrote: ↑You and the OP are making an incorrect assumption that plane ticket prices are in any way static.

Prices for plane tickets change hour to hour. 40% off of $80 results in a lower ticket price than 50% off of $100.

+1

Go to a store and it doesn't matter what time of day or day of the week you make your purchase, it will be the same (not including sales). Ticket prices are based on time of flight, day of flight, whether you're staying for a weekend etc.

brunes wrote: ↑You and the OP are making an incorrect assumption that plane ticket prices are in any way static.

Prices for plane tickets change hour to hour. 40% off of $80 results in a lower ticket price than 50% off of $100.

I wonder why Sears didn't try and use this argument when they got busted for the tire sale ads they had I believe in the 90's.

Maybe something like the cost of rubber was up that week

Westjet is not unethical in this case, you just don't understand the written agreement that you agreed to.

The agreement clearly states "same day", and not within 24 hours. You booked Tuesday night and called back Wednesday morning. That clearly is not the same day.

You're lucky you even got any credit back at all as the first representative you talked to had no obligation to do that for you.

hordosr wrote: ↑I agree that the OP shouldnt get price protection but it is stupid that they advertise 50% off one one day and 40% off the price the next day and the price on the second day is lower....

Westjet has a seven tier pricing system. A set number of seats are allocated to each tier, and each tier have different prices. The percentage off that they advertise is not the percentage off a single number, but is calculated off what's available at that moment in time at the cheapest tier.

Example:
Two tiers, first tier is priced at $79, second tier is priced at $159. If they advertise 50% off and there's a seat available in the $79 tier, your cost would be $39.50. Then Westjet changes it to 60% off now. Now someone tries to book, but the only seats available are in the $159 tier now. Because of that, you are still getting 60% instead of 50%, but you still end up paying $95.40 because now the percentage is based off the $159 price point.

People should all understand how things work before they get angry. Just because you think it's wrong due to ignorance doesn't make it wrong.

I think everyone is giving the OP a rough time. I believe he has every right to be infuriated with westjet. Sure they state that cancellations can only occur within the same day, but I'm sorry to point out that the internet is worldwide (hence the WorldWideWeb). In cyberspace, a day should begin the very second you press the payment button because it is very likely that at that specific moment, someone half way around the world would be purchasing his or her ticket at 1am in the morning. 10 hours later for him or her would by any definition within the same day and yet should he or she not be able to cancel the ticket? Maybe someone will point out that westjet only operates in North America, but in that case westjet should not simply rely on "common sense" to deny a refund but rather explicitly define what their "day" is.

I'm not exactly sure what Air Canada's policy is, but I was able to get a refund at 12pm for a ticket I purchased at 5pm the previous day in the eastern time zone even after selecting the "no cancellation" discount during the booking. Their policy may very well be 24-hour cancellation but that doesn't change my reasoning towards Westjet's policy.

djmackj wrote: ↑I think everyone is giving the OP a rough time. I believe he has every right to be infuriated with westjet. Sure they state that cancellations can only occur within the same day, but I'm sorry to point out that the internet is worldwide (hence the WorldWideWeb). In cyberspace, a day should begin the very second you press the payment button because it is very likely that at that specific moment, someone half way around the world would be purchasing his or her ticket at 1am in the morning. 10 hours later for him or her would by any definition within the same day and yet should he or she not be able to cancel the ticket? Maybe someone will point out that westjet only operates in North America, but in that case westjet should not simply rely on "common sense" to deny a refund but rather explicitly define what their "day" is.

I'm not exactly sure what Air Canada's policy is, but I was able to get a refund at 12pm for a ticket I purchased at 5pm the previous day in the eastern time zone even after selecting the "no cancellation" discount during the booking. Their policy may very well be 24-hour cancellation but that doesn't change my reasoning towards Westjet's policy.

If you argued that "1 day" should be based upon when the day started in the OP's local, sure I think most people could agree. The fact is that no matter where you are, be it Canada or Australia or anywhere else, the day starts at 0001hrs and ends at 2400hrs.

spf1971 wrote: ↑If you argued that "1 day" should be based upon when the day started in the OP's local, sure I think most people could agree. The fact is that no matter where you are, be it Canada or Australia or anywhere else, the day starts at 0001hrs and ends at 2400hrs.

well the thing is Westjet shouldn't be able to know what your local time is, unless they were able to track you ip address at the time of booking. Even if they do track your ip address there are plenty of software that can change your ip address for anonymity. I think that due to the wording of westjet's policy, the OP made the fatal mistake of saying that he/she booked the ticket the night before rather than saying 10 hours ago. If he/she tried the latter, maybe he/she would have had a better chance of getting the refund.