Should WestJet have accommodated these people?

[LordEd]

7:14 - 7:30 is 16 minutes. 7:40 is departure, not 'start getting on the plane'.

If you arrive at the gate less than 10 minutes prior to departure and the aircraft is already boarded, you will be denied boarding. WestJet is not responsible for missed flights, transfers, or any portion of onward travel due to late arrival at the gate.

[gambler]

You just shot yourself in the foot French. That might be lost on you with translation, so let's just say you answered your own question.

What works one way should work both ways. If a plane arrives late, they should get all the passengers of that plane a full refund. Simply because it wasn't on time, as supposed to.

Westjet didn't let them board because they couldn't take the risk of having the plane arrive late in Vancouver. Westjet wanted to arrive on time, like they're supposed to.

[blackpowder]

Rules are the same for everybody. Westjet marks down attendance records. If you are consistently late, they tell you the next time you're not getting on. This family would have received a warning on a previous occasion before being turned away.

[grammafreddy]

Rules are the same for everybody. Westjet marks down attendance records. If you are consistently late, they tell you the next time you're not getting on. This family would have received a warning on a previous occasion before being turned away.

Proof?

[Gixxer]

WOW these people are huge *bleep*. They show up late, play the victim role, and then have a sense of entitlement.

[goatboy]

As ridiculous as this sounds.. the problem here isn't that the wheelchair person arrived late. Late here refers as the 30 minutes time frame prior to the plane leaving the airport.

The problem is that Westjet had the plane to leave ahead of schedule.

What works one way should work both ways. If a plane arrives late, they should get all the passengers of that plane a full refund. Simply because it wasn't on time, as supposed to.

It is as ridiculous as it sounds.

The fact that they arrived AFTER the cut off time for checking in is the only thing that matters and has no bearing on the plane leaving early. Two different issues. Leaving early would only come into play if someone had checked in already but had not boarded and the flight left early. Completely different scenario.
It also highlights the fact the issue was this passengers as every single other passenger on that flight arrived early enough for the flight to leave early.

It was an unfortunate incident but one not of Westjets making.

[Captain Awesome]

Rules are the same for everybody. Westjet marks down attendance records. If you are consistently late, they tell you the next time you're not getting on. This family would have received a warning on a previous occasion before being turned away.

What if you show up with a note from your mom?

[grammafreddy]

What if you show up with a note from your mom?

Oh. Well. Now that changes everything! Moms are like gods and their word is law. Don't mess with moms.

[Dizzy1]

Proof?

I don't know if WS has a such a policy in place, but the airline I worked for in Europe did, its an internal company policy that makes notes with passengers when they book and check-in, could be anything from special needs, frequent customer preferences and late check-ins/no shows. Again, not sure if WS has a similar policy, but many carriers do.

The fact that they arrived AFTER the cut off time for checking in is the only thing that matters and has no bearing on the plane leaving early. Two different issues. Leaving early would only come into play if someone had checked in already but had not boarded and the flight left early. Completely different scenario.
It also highlights the fact the issue was this passengers as every single other passenger on that flight arrived early enough for the flight to leave early.

It was an unfortunate incident but one not of Westjets making.

Bingo! They missed not only the cut-off time for check-in but also for boarding of the scheduled departure time. If the flight has a scheduled departure time of say 1200 and everyone has checked in at the cut-off time of 1115 and boarded at 1130, there is no reason the flight cannot leave at 1131. If you have not checked in, either at the counter, kiosk, mobile or web by 1115, you've breached the terms and conditions of carrige you agreed to when you purchased the ticket.

[lola0987]

Can't please 'em all. I'm impressed with West Jet for providing a refund. They really are a fantastic Canadian company... I'm a very proud supporter. :)

[Jonrox]

A lot of inexperienced flyers making comments about something they know little about. The only reason the flight left early is because everyone who checked in on time was loaded and on the plane early. The couple in question wasn't checked in on time, so they were no longer considered passengers on the flight. All of the on time passengers were ready to go, so the flight was then able to leave early.

And why didn't they just drive to Vancouver after missing the flight if the appointment was so important?

[Treblehook]

It seems to me that the circumstances for these passengers was exacerbated by the fact that they have a heavy powered wheelchair that has to have the battery removed and safely stored when it is placed in the cargo area. Unless they just dropped in from Mars or some other planet, they must surely have known and understood that the air carrier needed to have them there early, not late. Had they been passengers with their carryon only and able to run to the plane, maybe... just maybe they would have been given heck by the agents and allowed to board, but I think their expectations were unrealistic and lacked consideration for the other travelers on that flight, never mind the inconvenience they were causing the airline.

[damngrumpy]

For Gods sake they arrive late they have special needs and they accuse the airline
of not doing more for them, if it were someone not in a wheel chair they would
have done more. I think these people are using the handicap card here and that is
not appropriate. If they are experienced flyer's they know the rules.
I used to fly a lot and Westjet is an excellent airline I used them exclusively where
ever and when ever possible.
They have always been good to me.

[fvkasm2x]

I hear all the time how people with disabilities don`t want to be treated any differently... and in this case, they weren`t. Although `normal` people wouldn`t have gotten the refund.

[theyeti]

pretty sick guys .. i woulda done what i could to get this guy on the plane and still got there on time . they had 19 minutes or so to do it if they were 19 minutes early to vancouver . does not seem that unrealistic .