ktip

First time poster...

About 10 days ago, I used GoogleFlights to book a multi city booking. There was a great deal that got me and family to YVR from YOW for $80 + tax each, but I needed to include a same day flight from YVR to Quebec City to get that deal. I just realized today that Westjet put the two separate bookings (or so I thought) onto one ticket, rather than two separate tickets. I never had any intention of checking into and using the YVR to Quebec City flight.

I never expected the same day multi city booking to be lumped into one ticket. My bags are obviously going to be routed to Quebec. I called WJ and they said that normally it would be two tickets but the same day flights is causing the issue. The agent suggested I try asking for short-check at check-in but it's not guaranteed. Or I rebook and pay the cost difference.

I'm flying with wife and two kids so not checking bags is not an option.

Any thoughts? or ideas? I already have our one way tickets from YVR to YOW booked through WJ.

Sopwith

Do I understand correctly that you booked YOW-YVR-YQB as a same day multi-city ticket? Wow. You could drive there in less time. It’s not clear to me why you would expect separate tickets for each leg. This would be unusual IME.

I don’t have any advice to solve your specific problem, but I will offer the comment that it is almost always a bad idea to book air travel using an OLTA. If anything goes wrong you’re at the mercy of a third party between you and the airline.

Good luck. I hope it works out. But $80 from YOW to YVR? If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

ktip

I booked the multi city flight with the intention of getting off in vancouver and staying there. Aren’t multi city tickets separate tickets when issued on separate days? Assumed the same would be the case for same day.

aerobod

This is actually a hidden city ticket if you don't intend to fly the whole itinerary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airlin...city_ticketing

I would really advise finding a way to not check bags (even shipping ahead of time if possible), operationally there is no way of guaranteeing your bags will not arrive at the intended destination (YQB).

Fiordland

The way of ensuring your bags only go as far as Vancouver is to short check them in. Basically when you check in tell the check in agent you only need the bags going as far as Vancouver. They should tag the bags as "YVR".

You are paying for a trip from Ottawa to Quebec City (the reason for the great deal). You happen to be ticketed with a connection or stop over in Vancouver.

Yes, your in a weird way doing a hidden city booking. It is technically not allowed, and if you do it regularly the airline will be upset. If it happens in frequently, they are not going to pay much attention to it.

In your case it is a grey area, since you actually asked the booking software for a Vancouver to be an stop over and not a connection. It sounds like it priced it as a connection.

Multi-city booking will always end up on the same ticket. What you basically told the reservation system when you booked the ticket is, "I want to travel to Vancouver, spend a few hours there, meet up with some friends or something. Then turn around and go to Quebec city the same day or the next day." You want to stick to that story.

You then, changed your mind, and decided that you want to stay in Vancouver a bit longer so your going to throw away that segment from Vancouver (YVR) to Quebec city.

As soon as you don't show for the flight departing Vancouver the rest of the flights on that ticket will be cancelled. You want to ensure your return from Vancouver to Ottawa is on a separate ticket.

One would expect WestJet to have configured their fare rules, to say Vancouver is not an acceptable city to make a connection between Ottawa and Quebec City. They obviously believe it is since you were allowed to book this trip.

ktip

Thanks for the tips. If I was traveling alone I would just have carry-on luggage, but I’m traveling with wife and two young kids. If Westjet stands their ground and won’t short-check the luggage, we will have problems since we need to bring two car seats and our double stroller.
Our return ticket is booked and definitely on a separate ticket.

Fiordland

If your Vancouver to Quebec city flight is on a separate day then you bags will only be checked to Vancouver. They will not hold bags over night for an onward connection.

ktip

Unfortunately, it’s a same day multi city booking.

Fiordland

Technically your probably ok with carry on allowance, since the kids, your wife and yourself can each have one bag and one personal item etc.

I would be surprised if your offering to pay them for checked baggage they are no willing to short check the baggage.

HangTen

With the you info provided, WJ likely has the ability to search this itinerary and flag it in the CSA's PNR notes to ensure all bags are tagged to your final destination, YQB.

Sometimes it's best just to STFU.

Good luck

Fiordland

I think if the traveler booked it as a mult-city itinerary he/she should have every right to ask for it be short checked and not even check in for the second leg of their trip. After all the multi-city feature is intended to be used for cases where your looking to do a stop over at the intermediate city. Vancouver in this case.

The problem is the software likely priced it as Vancouver being a connecting site, not a stop over. That is not what the travel asked for when doing a multi-city trip.

On many occasions I have done multi-city trips where I have meeting in Calgary, arrive at 8:00 am, have a day of meeting in the city then catch an evening flight on to Winnipeg.

Sunny Day

I don't think WJ will waste a ton of resources to try to track this PNR down to "punish" the OP. WJ has a lot bigger fish to fry these days. OP if you get a nice agent at check in, you might be able to short check it. Just tell them your plans have changed, need to be in YVR for a few days. Please report back how it went.

ktip

Thanks. I’ll definitely report back. I guess the worst case scenario is we can’t check a bag (we will pack with this in mind), two car seats and a stroller. We can always rent car seats from the car rental company and likely find a stroller to borrow. We will have a car at the airport so we can easily leave the car seats etc behind.

newfbc

This 'trick' was posted on several deal sites recently. WJ is probably very aware of who has booked these flights to YQB to get a cheap deal to YVR. Would be funny if they made an announcement on the flights 'warning' people about not continuing on from YVR.

http://www.yvrdeals.com/tag/montreal

Ron.

YYCguy