[QUOTE=mango222;17320384]
We waited 4 hours in the cold and sometimes dark departure lounge (as in, the lights actually went off for a short time in the wee hours) until we finally departed at 3 a.m....It was a long, lousy night; the rest of the airport was completely locked up.
Cold in Maui? Wow! I'm surprised! However, I think the airline cannot be blamed for this as they would have no control over the airport facilities.
We received no status updates for the last two hours of the delay, and WJ was poorly supplied and prepared. We eventually had an uneventful return flight, but there was very limited food/drink availability
The broken aircraft was probably replaced by a quickly provisioned aircraft to race out as soon as possible to Hawaii. The fresh items such as sandwiches, etc that would have been originally prepared for the original flight in YVR would probably have spoiled by the time the plane would have arrived in Hawaii at 3 am, and I'm not sure if the caterer would have had enough notice to prepare a fresh batch.
As per Transport Canada regulations, alcohol can only be served between 10 am and 2 am from the point of departure time, so your 3 am departure would have been outside of those hours.
As first time WJ flyers, we're wondering - was this just bad luck or are delays like this not unusual for WJ?
Just bad luck. WS doesn't have a base with planes and crews in Hawaii, so the lengthy delay was due to having to get a fresh crew and different aircraft together in Vancouver and getting it out to you as quickly as operationally possible..
We were given a coupon code for 10% off our next flight, but Christmas holidays are blacked out and travel must be completed by June 2012, so it can't be used for summer 2012 travel. Does this seem reasonable, or should we pursue further?
I would pursue it further! Keep calling. Hope something can be done for you!