An Alberta senior trying fly to Kelowna to see her hospitalized elderly mother and help her struggling father said she was not permitted to board her WestJet flight due to her vaccine status and was told she will not see a refund or credit. .Brian and Louise Krasowski, both age 65 and retired, told the Western Standard they received a call June 12 from Louise's 95-year-old father informing them his wife and Louise's 87-year-old mother had fallen, broken her hip and was in the Kelowna General Hospital awaiting surgery. .The couple — long-term WestJet reward members — quickly booked a flight for Louise from Calgary to Kelowna for the next day, which cost roughly $480.."My dad is very dependent on my mom and was very overwhelmed with everything," said Louise, a retired nurse. .Louise said her brother — who also lives in Kelowna — works full time and was unable to fully care for their aging father..Brian said the couple arrived at the Calgary WestJet terminal last Monday morning and when asked to present Louise's vaccine passport, the couple explained she did not have one..She told the agent she "would like to exercise [her] right to travel under Section 6 [of the Canadian Charter of Rights] and to be given the same and equal privileges as others without discrimination under Section 15." .The couple said they were directed to a manager named Dwayne who "immediately asked us to put on masks while the people standing at ticket booths next to us were unmasked along with probably 50% of the people walking around the airport, including airport staff," said Brian. ."It has become such a silly world."."I'm a retired dentist. I can tell you what a mask is or isn't going to protect you from." .Brian said the manager seemed to associate them with people he had dealt with in the past and said he loudly identified the couple as "trouble makers" within earshot of others. ."We have never seen the man before or ever spoke with him," said Brian, who was shocked with their treatment. ."I explained that we were wanting to fly under our Charter of Rights as we do not have vaccine passports. He would not bend and denied us access to travel and discriminated against us for choosing not to vaccinate.".The two said they were told they would not be receiving a refund for Louise's unused flight and were told to contact WestJet's customer service. .Brian said they left the airport that morning "with our tails between our legs" and tried to reach the airline's customer service team several times with long waits. Meanwhile, the couple decided to make the trip via car and left for the long drive on Tuesday morning. .The couple said after finally reaching a WestJet representative over the phone, they were told they would not be refunded nor would the airline provide them with a credit for travel at a later date. .Brian said he plans to send a letter to both the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) and Brian Peckford — Canada's last living author of the country's Charter of Rights and former premier of Newfoundland — who is working with the JCCF on a legal challenge of the government's travel restrictions. He also said he plans to send a letter to WestJet's legal team. .WestJet spokesperson Morgan Bell told the Western Standard it is up to travellers to know the rules and said the proof of vaccination policy is "a federal mandate that WestJet must adhere to." ."At the time of this travel, the requirements had been in place since late 2021 and it is a traveller's responsibility to understand the rules and regulations, which must be adhered to, however, I will most certainly share these guests' reservation number with a member of our guest support team, and will ask that they follow-up directly with them, as it appears they may not have been able to connect with a member of that team to date," said Bell. .Although an inquiry was made, Bell did not indicate whether WestJet will allow the couple to use the amount spent as a credit towards a future flight. .As of Monday, the couple said they have yet to hear from the air carrier. .WestJet's CEO, Alexis von Hoensbroech recently posted his disapproval of the federal travel restrictions and tweeted a picture of himself flying maskless in Europe. .On May 31, weeks before the federal government announced it was dropping COVID-19 vaccine restrictions for travellers as of June 20, von Hoensbroech posted a tweet calling for the "vaccine mandate for air travellers and employees" to be dropped.."As vaccines are not preventing the [spread] of the virus since #omicron, there is no more logic to maintain it," tweeted von Hoensbroech, suggesting it would "relax some of the operational challenges at the airports" if the mandates are removed..The WestJet Group also openly expressed strong opposition to travel advisories announced in December, slammed "incoherent and inconsistent government policy" in January, and called for an end to COVID-19 testing at airports in February.
