WestJet system outage ends Kelowna woman’s dream trip to reunite with her 82-year-old best friend – Kelowna News

Photo: Cheryl Murphy

Vi Hubick (left) and best friend Julie (right).

An 86-year-old Kelowna woman will miss what may be her last chance to see a palm tree in a tropical location this weekend. WestJet system outage this continues to affect flights.

Cheryl Murphy says she got up at 3:45 a.m. Monday to get her mother Vi Hubick to Kelowna International Airport to catch a flight to Vancouver. It was there that Vi would reunite with her 82-year-old best friend for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Hawaii.

“Mum was so excited, like a kid at Christmas counting down to sleep and meeting her best friend,” she explained.

Cheryl said that because it snowed the night before, she checked the YLW website to make sure her flight was on time.

He left his mother for the 6:15 flight but got a call at 7:04. “Mom is saying please come and get her, the flight has been cancelled!”

All the WestJet staff at the airport could tell Vi was that she would have to check her email.

“Well, my mother is 86 years old, travels on her own and has macular degeneration. He doesn’t see that he doesn’t mind an email on a phone at the best of times,” Murphy told Castanet.

He says the email never arrived, so he called WestJet, but got a recording saying the call volume is high and to try again later. He persevered and finally got it a few hours later.

“I was on the phone for an hour and a quarter with a representative trying to get my mom to Hawaii to meet her friends. This holiday would probably be the last time he sees a palm tree,” added Murphy.

“The best the WestJet rep could do was a red-eye flight, landing in Hawaii three days later on Wednesday, November 9 at 8:36 p.m..”

All other flight options required hours of layovers, multiple connections, or an overnight stay in a strange city, not suitable for an 86-year-old woman traveling alone with limited sight and hearing.

In the end, they made the tough decision to cancel the trip.

“So disappointed in WestJet, Canada’s former premier airline,” said Murphy.

Her mother’s friend and the woman’s daughter eventually made it to Hawaii, flying from Calgary to Vancouver, then after a delay, to Honolulu.