A class action lawsuit claims WestJet Airlines Ltd. cancels travel credits in violation of Canada’s prepaid purchase card laws.
Plaintiff Tiana Sharifi claims that she booked a round trip airline ticket on WestJet for herself and her then-husband from Vancouver, British Columbia to Paris for the price of $646.63 CAD per person.
On May 23, 2018, the plaintiff says she cancelled the trip and received a refund from the airline in the amount of $993.23, the price of the tickets minus the cancellation fees.
The refund was provided as a credit and was deposited in the plaintiff’s WestJet Travel Bank account.
The WestJet Airlines class action lawsuit states that the expiration date for the credit was May 23, 2019.
The plaintiff claims that on May 20, 2019, she used around $500 of her credit for booking a trip to Calgary, Alberta, which left approximately $400 in her credit account. Sharifi states that on May 23, 2019, the money left in her credit account expired and was “seized” by the airline.
The WestJet class action lawsuit states that the WestJet Travel Bank is a voucher system that stores prepaid credits that have been issued to a customer for various reasons.
According to the WestJet Airlines class action lawsuit, laws have existed in Canada for many years which do not allow expiration dates and/or fees associated with prepaid cards or gift cards.
The provinces that have these consumer protection laws include: Ontario, Manitoba, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan.
“Despite the existence of the prepaid card laws across Canada, Westjet has not taken steps to comply with those obligations, which demonstrates lax, passive, or ignorant of consumer rights and to Westjet’s own legal obligations,” the WestJet class action lawsuit claims.
The plaintiff states that WestJet must comply with the prepaid card legislation in each of the potential Class Member’s respective provinces.
The WestJet class action lawsuit alleges that each of the province’s prepaid card laws are similar or identical to one another and will be able to be applied collectively in one proceeding.
“Westjet’s forfeiture of expiry dates on the WTB Credits and charging of extension fees in relation to the WTB Credits is contrary to the Provincial Prepaid Card Laws and the Class Members have suffered a damage,” the WestJet class action lawsuit states.
In addition, WestJet’s expiration dates on their WTP credits are a “deceptive act or practice” and/or “unconscionable act or practice” and depreciated the value of the credits, thus causing damages to possible Class Members.
“In addition to the Provincial Prepaid Card Laws, Westjet is also subject to and must comply with the general provincial consumer protection legislation of a Class Member’s province of residence,” the WestJet class action lawsuit claims.
The plaintiff alleges that WestJet’s failure to comply with the Provincial Prepaid Card Laws shows a “wilful and blatant disregard of the rights of the Class and constitutes egregious and high-handed conduct that warrants an award of punitive damages.”
Did you receive credits from WestJet? Leave a message in the comments section below.
The plaintiff is represented by Joel D. Zanatta, Mathew P. Good, and Simon Lin.
The WestJet Airlines Travel Class Action Lawsuit is Sharifi v. WestJet Airlines Ltd., Case No. S-197552, in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Canada.
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7 thoughts onWestJet Class Action Says Expiring Airline Credits Violates Canadian Laws
This is still occurring. I currently have WestJet Travel Bank dollars that are due to expire.
I received WJ credit rewards during COVID for having to cancel a Disneyland trip. Those rewards are soon to expire and they say I cannot extend them. How can I fight this?
WestJet is not honouring their statement of extending their expiry to 24 months for Travel Bank Credit on pre-Covid credit.
I’ve just lost close to $300. They can’t put an expiry on money or credit, this needs to stop and WestJet be held accountable for the theft to their customers.
I paid for a return ticket departing Edmonton Alberta, December 4 2019 and returning from Liberia, Costa Rica April 5, 2020. WestJet cancelled only one leg of my return flight….due to COVID. I had to phone in to cancel the other leg or get charged. They would not return credit to my visa and did not add credit points to my Travel Bank so when i booked the next flight I could, I had to pay again….at a almost double the cost this time. That flight for August 15th.was again cancelled by West Jet with 3 weeks notice. I booked for September 5th return…it was cancelled by WestJet with short notice. I booked October 10th…again it was cancelled by WestJet. I finally gave up on November…which YEs were cancelled again, and I have booked for December 23 to return to Canada. I have asked for a reason for these cancelations and get non. Flights have been going in and out of Liberia since September. In the meantime each time I have to re-book, I have to spend hours on SKype phoning WJ because I have a service dog with me…and now they say he needs new papers even though all had been covered for a return flight. I need to get back to Canada to receive eye surgery that is now 6 months overdue, and also to tend to my now vacant house. I am guess that West Jet will cancel December too. This is getting confusing as rates change each booking and the credits evolve and revolve. I have apid for two flights…I only need one. I want me money back on my visa. This delay has cost me significant expense that i had not planned on and WEst Jet is making it worse. by holding my money in their account. What happens if they go bankrupt in the meantime? They did the cancelling, not me.
Westjet deposited my supposed refund for travel in sept 2020 into a travel bank instead of refunding as well. Wish to join class action. Are not even allowed into Canada to travel!
We booked return flights to and from Mexico in January 2020 for travel, November 2020, and cancelled in July 2020.
Total cost was approximately $1,400. When cancelled they put the credit into a “Travel Bank” that expires after 24 months if not used and refused to issue a credit to form of payment, a credit card. Westjet did apply a full credit to the “Travel Bank” with out deduction for cancellation fees.
Does this idea of no expiry date also apply to Westjet’s flight vouchers that are offered thru their Westjet Mastercard benefits , which we pay dearly for thru annual fees ? If this is the case, I am interested in a class action suit.