PeachF

I booked the flight WS669 from YYZ to YYC where I would connect to WS10 to Paris. The two flights are on the same itinerary and both are in their 787 business class. I received an email this afternoon that they've cancelled the WS669 flight and rebooked me to WS4171, which would depart YYZ to Calgary at the same time as the original WS669. This seems fine but then I noticed that my cabin changed from business to premium, and the flight would apparently be run by a 737. Am I eligible for any compensation in this scenario?

Adam Smith

What's the date of your flight? If there's still a 787 running between YYZ and YYC on that date, you can potentially get WS to move you to the other flight, if you so choose. Depending on the circumstances, there's a small chance you might be able to get them to re-book you on another carrier, but it's unlikely. If you get stuck sitting in the 737 for that YYZ-YYC leg, you're entitled to a refund of the fare difference. Unfortunately you'll probably find that to be an underwhelming sum, because airlines always find a way to calculate that to be very small, but that's the obligation under both the WS tariff and APPR.

V1213

Assuming the OP is travelling soon, this is unlikely. It appears as though C-FAJA went tech at LHR on August 22 and is still stuck there. To accommodate being down one of their 787s during the peak season WestJet have cancelled WS656/WS669 until August 28.

YXUFlyboy

And that's exactly what 656/669 was for - easy to swap out 737s for this if a 787 went mechanical.

V1213

I'm curious as to what their equivalent will be this winter, considering that 656/669 is no longer scheduled to be operated by the 787s. Admittedly, all of the winter 787 flying except LHR and CDG could be operated by a 737, so they should have quite a few options.

Fisch

Metal shards in #1 engine oil detected. GE would not sign it off to fly. Will be receiving an engine change in LHR.

arf04

Alex Praglowski has a nice video of the replacement engine being loaded onto a National Airlines 747 freighter before it is taken to LHR for the engine swap.

smilee

Alex always makes great videos.

I myself have never received any compensation for a downgrade from PY to Y. Fortunately all my downgrades have been on shorter flights. I didn't think WJ gave compensation for downgrades or does it have to be on long haul flights?? I always thought that is the risk you take booking a smaller cabin when delays cause misconnects and such. Either wait for 24 hours to a flight that has availability or take an earlier flight in Y instead of PY

V1213

Looks like C-FAJA is finally making its way back to Canada.

Apparently she'll be in Toronto overnight before heading to Calgary tomorrow afternoon.
The first not-cancelled WS656/669 rotation looks like it may be September 3.

Assuming all goes well, and C-FAJA reenters service on September 3, we should hopefully soon see an end to the 787 network delays (and them all being "unscheduled maintenance safety") that we've had for the last week and a half.

Stanbury

Looking for advice on how to proceed for submitted downgrade claims which have so far received no response from WS.

Background: SWMBO Stanbury and I travelled YWG-YYZ-AMS on Dec 18 2023. YWG-YYZ a KLM codeshare on WS, YYZ-AMS on KLM. We both had paid BIZ tickets issued by KLM. This is a fairly frequent routing for us, and as usual the YWG-YYZ sector booked into PE on WS. At check-in (which annoyingly cannot be done on-line and always has to be done in person at YWG airport -- but that's a separate issue) we were given Y BP's for the YWG YYZ slights. Upon questioning the agent I was informed that the plane had been changed to a Swoop aircraft with no PE.

I completed and submitted 2 on-line claim forms, one for each of us, a couple of days after our arrival, so say Dec 21. We have received nothing from WS -- no acknowledgement nor any reimbursement proposal for the downgrades.

So, what should A do now? Specifically, what is the usual turn-round for downgrade claims? And if we continue to hear nothing should we send a reminder to WS, or should we proceed to submission of the CTA/APR documentation?

Thanks in advance for any advice -- I do realize that any reimbursement is likely to be minimal given the way they are usually calculated.

FlyerJ

You bought KL tickets for KL-marketed flights from KLM.

Your claim is with KLM, not WestJet. The operating carrier doesn’t change that.

arf04

To add to this: KL and AF have been very good in my experience with changing to alternate flights when I have had bookings with WS segments that were changed. For me, it was schedule changes that occurred a few months out but given how flexible they were when I called in (using the Canada phone line) they would probably accommodate on AC even at the last minute if one were downgraded.

But yes, it is a KL issued ticket so KL is who needs to be contacted regarding any concerns or issues.

Adam Smith

This is incorrect. For a schedule change in advance, e.g. if WS made the equipment swap a week out, it would be necessary to contact KL for re-booking as they control the ticket.

For a last-minute equipment swap that resulted in a downgrade, the operating carrier, i.e. WS, is responsible for the issue and any compensation. @Stanbury I can't answer your questions about timing or process, but WS is absolutely the airline you need to deal with.