If you’ve encountered me before or perused my previous writings, you likely recognize that I venture to unusual destinations via unconventional paths, and I aim to maximize my travel through my points. I evaluate redemptions based on the actual money I would have spent, not an airline’s inflated $11,000 retail price. This often leads me to fly with airlines like Uzbekistan Airways in Seat 31B. And by the way, they have an excellent safety video.
In this instance, I needed to be in Las Vegas for a conference. My itinerary was fixed. I had already arranged a prepaid rental car, and more crucially, I was managing a contest at DEF CON, which entailed organizer responsibilities.
I had what seemed to be an ideal booking: a nonstop WestJet flight from Vancouver to Las Vegas, arranged through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club for 9,000 points. I transferred the points during a promotional event, so my overall expenditure was even less. For a brief economy flight at precisely the time I required, this was about as favorable as it gets.
Then, the flight attendants of WestJet voted to strike.
They were outraged with the company, and rightly so. Under WestJet’s outdated credit-hour system, cabin crews could spend numerous hours each month boarding passengers and enduring delays without receiving payment. The strike vote passed with 99.4% backing, and the union overwhelmingly rejected the company’s contract proposal.
I anticipated they would proceed with the strike. This did not seem like an empty negotiation tactic, and WestJet’s labor relations were so fraught that I did not particularly expect the flight attendants to extend any favors to the company.
I required an alternative route to Las Vegas.
Summer availability was already scarce. Flights from Vancouver were costly, and most remaining options departed at 6:00 a.m. and involved layovers. The only nonstop flight that actually worked was Allegiant from Bellingham.
The Bellingham to Las Vegas route is a handy one to keep in mind. If you search for Vancouver to Las Vegas on Expedia, it generally won’t show up because the algorithms do not recognize BLI as a co-terminal of YVR. From the perspective of the booking sites, Bellingham is an independent airport in another country. However, for anyone residing near the border like we do, it’s quite local.
The Allegiant flight was the sole option from the region that aligned with my schedule. I paid $189 plus $43 to check a bag in USD. While it was more than I typically would spend, especially with Allegiant, it got me to Las Vegas at the right moment.
I also reserved a fully refundable Delta award ticket for the return on August 10, just in case WestJet’s operations were still disrupted by then.
With the Allegiant flight confirmed, all that remained was to cancel WestJet and retrieve my Virgin points. I assumed this process would be straightforward, but Virgin wanted $50.
WestJet had already provided a fee-free travel waiver due to the impending strike, yet Virgin declined to recognize it. Since the WestJet flight had not yet been officially canceled, Virgin treated this as a voluntary cancellation and planned to charge me $50 to redeposit the points.
I wasn’t particularly inclined to pay Virgin a $50 peace-of-mind fee for a flight that likely wasn’t going to operate, so I opted to wait.
By Friday, WestJet was actively grounding its 737 fleet to prevent aircraft from being left stranded across the network once the strike commenced. Hundreds of flights were getting canceled. Mine, which was scheduled for Monday morning, steadfastly remained listed.
WestJet had already eliminated the economy inventory so that no one else could purchase a ticket, but the flight still appeared as “Scheduled.” Until someone or something at WestJet finalized the cancellation, Virgin’s systems continued to regard it as a perfectly standard flight that I had merely opted not to take.
The strike deadline was Sunday at 12:01 a.m. Mountain Time, equating to 11:01 p.m. Pacific. My Virgin cancellation limit was Monday at 9:40 a.m.
This provided me with a rather narrow timeframe in which WestJet needed to cancel the flight before Virgin could retain either $50 or my points.
At 11:01 p.m. on Sunday, the strike commenced. I checked WestJet again. The flight still indicated it was scheduled.
I surrendered and went to sleep.
At 8:00 the next morning, I checked once more. It finally displayed “Canceled.” Success! That qualified it as an involuntary cancellation, so I called Virgin and requested a complete refund. The 9,000 points were redeposited without any fees.
Initially, Virgin wanted to retain the taxes, which was a curious stance to take on a flight that no longer existed. After some debate, they refunded that amount to my card as well.
I emerged victorious in my relatively low-stakes game of chicken.