Confessions of a YYC Travel Junkie

[Royle9]

WHAT!?! I just booked Chicago from June 7th-12th about 2 weeks ago for 490 after taxes and thought I was getting a good deal, it was as high as 800 round trip for a long while.

[Notorious Honey Badger]

if you booked with westjet pay the 50 dollar cancel fee and save the 200 bucks

[Royle9]

I was told you need to have had purchased the cancellation insurance in order to do that.
If not I'd for sure do that right now, who wouldn't.

[Notorious Honey Badger]

nope. you can pay 50 bucks to cancel a flight anytime but the credit stays with westjet as WJ dollars. might as well get that extra 200 bucks in WJ credit for your next flight right?

edit: make sure to check and be 100% sure you will save at least the 50 bucks before you cancel

[Royle9]

Booked mine came to 496.70 after taxes/picking seats.
If I go with this offer its $301.15 after taxes/seats. so yea, I save 145 even with the cancellation.

I wonder if I can call and have them swap it over, to hopefully avoid any further confusion.

[Notorious Honey Badger]

no you cant swap over phone i tried once. they wont do it. you have to cancel online (or on phone) get the credits in WJ dollars, then book it online asap using your WJ dollars

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Royle9

Booked mine came to 496.70 after taxes/picking seats.
If I go with this offer its $301.15 after taxes/seats. so yea, I save 145 even with the cancellation.

I wonder if I can call and have them swap it over, to hopefully avoid any further confusion.

Yes, call in and have them cancel and rebook you at the same time to avoid a mistake. You'll end up with a $145 credit after the change fee is subtracted.

Edit: Whoops, looks like you can't call in anymore according to Notorious. Wonder when they stopped doing that?

[Notorious Honey Badger]

To be clear Chris when I called in it was in Octoberish. I had a flight to Toronto and the blue tag was for Toronto.

When I called they refused to just swap it. She took the cancel over the phone and then she then rebooked me after in a separate transaction, but I declined saying I'd do it online.

They will do it all for you but in 2 separate steps, instead of just swapping it in one step. It seems like nit picking but, I'd just do it online yourself as it's quicker.

[Royle9]

Yea, I just got off the phone and what Notorious said is exactly correct.
Either way, I've cancelled and am booking now, thanks for the advice on this one. Saving money is always a plus.

[Notorious Honey Badger]

Originally Posted by Royle9

Yea, I just got off the phone and what Notorious said is exactly correct.
Either way, I've cancelled and am booking now, thanks for the advice on this one. Saving money is always a plus.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Royle9

Yea, I just got off the phone and what Notorious said is exactly correct.
Either way, I've cancelled and am booking now, thanks for the advice on this one. Saving money is always a plus.

Better focus on the rebooking before posting on CP

The only risk with the strategy is having that flight sell out on you or change price before you can rebook! (Should be pretty safe before 4PM though)

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Notorious Honey Badger

To be clear Chris when I called in it was in Octoberish. I had a flight to Toronto and the blue tag was for Toronto.

When I called they refused to just swap it. She took the cancel over the phone and then she then rebooked me after in a separate transaction, but I declined saying I'd do it online.

They will do it all for you but in 2 separate steps, instead of just swapping it in one step. It seems like nit picking but, I'd just do it online yourself as it's quicker.

Ah ok, I thought maybe you meant that they were tired of people calling in to cancel and then rebook immediately at the same time!

[darockwilder]

Originally Posted by Notorious Honey Badger

Westjet is having the craziest effing sale to Chicago ever. 291 dollars in May was 1 round trip price I worked out with tax and everything. That's less than an XBOX.
http://www.westjet.com/guest/en/deal...20120405&mrd=0

Just booked this for a late June weekend. I was hoping something like this would happen after I heard that WJ was going to start flying to Chicago.

Any hotel recommendations? I've only driven through Chicago, but from what I've heard it can be pretty awesome!

[Notorious Honey Badger]

Originally Posted by darockwilder

Just booked this for a late June weekend. I was hoping something like this would happen after I heard that WJ was going to start flying to Chicago.

Any hotel recommendations? I've only driven through Chicago, but from what I've heard it can be pretty awesome!

Where are you going to be visiting? Do you have any plans? If you're planning on staying in Chicago stay downtown. Driving is a nightmare in Chicago around rush hour. Downtown is amazing; the food is great and taking water taxi's is quick and cheap way to cover a lot of ground and take in a truly unique Chicago experience.

Oh and def go to the Willis/Sears tower. It's worth the wait just to go into the glass cube that juts out the side of the building.

[Royle9]

Going down for a wedding myself, staying @ a buddies loft so I can't help you out there. Lots to do tho, a bunch of people I've talked to say they love Chicago so either way you'll have a good time.

Again thanks for the quick replies/help! Can't believe the savings here especially when I had seen it as high as 800 back in mid May.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by darockwilder

Just booked this for a late June weekend. I was hoping something like this would happen after I heard that WJ was going to start flying to Chicago.

Any hotel recommendations? I've only driven through Chicago, but from what I've heard it can be pretty awesome!

When I went in 2010 this hotel had a great deal....

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev..._Illinois.html

Not right in central downtown, but right next to a train stop for easy access.

A friend of mine going this weekend said she ended up booking here:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev..._Illinois.html

Location looks good.

She was also considering the Amalfi....

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev..._Illinois.html

Here's a Google map of things we wanted to check out, and restaurants we wanted to eat at in Chicago when we went. A couple of those hotels are also on the map (red icons)

http://tinyurl.com/4b48qj4

[darockwilder]

Originally Posted by Notorious Honey Badger

Where are you going to be visiting? Do you have any plans? If you're planning on staying in Chicago stay downtown. Driving is a nightmare in Chicago around rush hour. Downtown is amazing; the food is great and taking water taxi's is quick and cheap way to cover a lot of ground and take in a truly unique Chicago experience.

Oh and def go to the Willis/Sears tower. It's worth the wait just to go into the glass cube that juts out the side of the building.

I have no plans at all, I just saw it was a good deal and got tickets for my wife and I. The dates are June 21-24. I was thinking that staying DT would be the best for such a quick trip.

[Notorious Honey Badger]

Oh def check out what cmyden posted then he has great stuff on there. I took an architectural tour of Chicago on a boat from the navy pier (check out the navy pier, it's neat at night) and it was cool to learn a little history about the area.

[bosox_fan05]

Just booked in the middle of June to see the Red Sox play the Cubs for $317. Very excited! Thanks for the heads up.

[darockwilder]

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions. The City Suites place is already booked up for that weekend! I will keep looking, but everything seems pretty cool so far. That Google map you linked to is quite helpful.