{"id":507667,"date":"2026-03-01T16:21:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T16:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/507667\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T16:21:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T16:21:16","slug":"puerto-vallarta-mexico-news-westjet-passenger-demands-compensation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/507667\/","title":{"rendered":"Puerto Vallarta, Mexico news: WestJet passenger demands compensation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Katharina Stieffenhofer was vacationing in Puerto Vallarta when cartel violence erupted in parts of Mexico. <\/p>\n

Her flight home to Winnipeg was cancelled last Sunday and she was stranded in the airport as chaos unfolded around them. <\/p>\n

\u201cAll of the sudden, this panic started,\u201d she said. \u201cApparently there were shots fired outside of the airport, and everybody got down on the ground, hid in clumps behind pillars and that was very scary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"airport at Puerto Vallarta. A photograph of the airport at Puerto Vallarta. <\/p>\n

Stieffenhofer, amongst many other Canadian passengers, were stuck inside the airport. She was flying WestJet and tried to get help from employees working at the airport. <\/p>\n

\u201cWestJet employees said they tried to look for hotel rooms, and then they said, \u2018no, everything is shut down. You\u2019re on your own,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cAnd they left. They just left. So we were left in the airport. Everything was shut down.\u201d <\/p>\n

Stieffenhofer says she tried to get in touch with WestJet throughout the next few days but says she got very little communication from WestJet. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey made us responsible to find our own hotel and to book our own flights back which was extremely difficult,\u201d she said. \u201cThey did nothing to help us rebook. You really feel abandoned.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"\"Katharina Stieffenhofer Katharina Stieffenhofer. (CTV News) <\/p>\n

\u201cI understand that this was an interruption that was out of everyone\u2019s control,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it would\u2019ve been their responsibility to look after the people that were booked to fly home first, to look after them first.\u201d <\/p>\n

$6,000 flight home <\/p>\n

Like Stieffenhofer, Winnipegger Andrew Parkes\u2019 WestJet flight was also cancelled on Sunday. <\/p>\n

The airline told him the earliest flight his family of five could get, was on March 3, which was nine days after the original date he was supposed to be leaving. Parkes says this was unacceptable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI committed a lot of personal time to just getting our family home one way or another,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you were, like I was, and continuously refreshing the website, you might be lucky enough to just purchase a flight outright.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s what Parkes did. <\/p>\n

He ended up booking a flight with Air Canada instead, which cost him $6,000. <\/p>\n

\u201cI still have to go after them (WestJet) for the $6,000 it did cost me to get home,\u201d he said. \u201cWestJet at every single turn of this process had an opportunity to do something right, and I feel like they batted zero.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Andrew Parkes. Andrew Parkes. (CTV News) Repatriation flights ongoing: WestJet<\/p>\n

CTV News reached out to WestJet for comment on what passengers should expect when applying for compensation. <\/p>\n

In response, a spokesperson from Sunwing Media referred us to the latest information<\/a> regarding operations to Mexico.<\/p>\n

On its website, WestJet says they are \u201ccommitted to a safe and coordinated repatriation effort for guests impacted by the recent events in Mexico. This includes both guests who held a reservation for affected flights of February 22 and 23, as well as others who now wish to return to Canada.\u201d <\/p>\n

They say they have operated 14 repatriation flights and will operate two more over the next few days.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to work around the clock to ensure all guests have the return flight they need,\u201d the website states. <\/p>\n

But Stieffenhofer says she had a different experience. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey did not make it a priority at all to bring us home,\u201d Stieffenhofer said. <\/p>\n

A sentiment by Parkes. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere was not one person that I spoke to that was on any of these planes that had an experience that resembles that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Puerto Vallarta airport. A photograph of passengers sleeping at Puerto Vallarta airport. What does compensation look like? <\/p>\n

Gabor Luk\u00e1cs, who is an air passenger rights advocate, said WestJet must rebook passengers on the next available flight within 48 hours of the original departure on its own or partner airlines.<\/p>\n

If that doesn\u2019t happen, he says they are obligated to pay for seats on other airlines\u2019 next available flights. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf there are any seats available, they have to go to passengers who are stranded,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

In this situation, Luk\u00e1cs says he would buy his own ticket back to Canada if the airline, in this case WestJet, fails to fulfill its obligations. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s $5,000, let it be. WestJet was required to pay for that. WestJet therefore has to pay for it later,\u201d he said. \u201cOnce back in Canada, send WestJet the bill and demand a reimbursement, not a refund, a reimbursement for those expenses that were incurred within 30 days. On the 31st day, serve WestJet with small claims court papers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGo to small claims,\u201d he said. \u201cAvoid the Canadian Transportation Agency because they are not your friends. They are cozy with the airlines. They are causing this situation to happen by turning a blind eye by not fining WestJet for what they have been doing to thousands of passengers.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cSmall claims court is a remedy. You had a clear right. It was violated; you incurred damages. There\u2019s your claim,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Luk\u00e1cs said it\u2019s important to stand your ground and keep fighting for your compensation. <\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t expect that the airline is going to pay up just because you complained,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u2018Still shell-shocked\u2019<\/p>\n

Stieffenhofer said she is still traumatized about everything that transpired over the last week. <\/p>\n

She is happy to be home, but said the situation took a heavy toll on her physically. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe stress has caused me physical illness,\u201d she said. \u201cI am not well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stieffenhofer said she is taking some time for herself but says she will continue to fight for compensation. <\/p>\n

\u201cI need to recover,\u201d she said. \u201cBeing left in the lurch by WestJet, completely abandoned, and then having to scramble, the stress of having to fight to get flights home, that really added to the stress and to the trauma of it all.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Katharina Stieffenhofer was vacationing in Puerto Vallarta when cartel violence erupted in parts of Mexico. Her flight home…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507668,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[712,49,48,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-507667","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-apple-news","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}