{"id":44272,"date":"2024-08-19T13:46:46","date_gmt":"2024-08-19T20:46:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=44272"},"modified":"2024-08-19T16:37:09","modified_gmt":"2024-08-19T23:37:09","slug":"major-league-fumble-how-a-fastpitch-teams-journey-home-turned-into-a-marathon-of-mishaps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=44272","title":{"rendered":"Major League Fumble: How a Fastpitch Team&#8217;s Journey Home Turned into a Marathon of Mishaps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Over 29 hours after our original flight time with <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WestJet?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@WestJet<\/a> &amp; yet, still 2 days EARLIER than their \u201cnew flight\u201d they gave us, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/flairairlines?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@flairairlines<\/a> is taking the rest of us home from Edmonton to Toronto. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WestJet?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@WestJet<\/a> your service is terrible, your problem solving skills are even worse. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hfwlsAqgOR\">pic.twitter.com\/hfwlsAqgOR<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Georgian Bay Giants (@GBayGiants) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GBayGiants\/status\/1825367789475111130?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 19, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Based on a True Life Story<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In the world of sports, we often hear about clutch performances and game-changing plays. But sometimes, the real drama happens off the field. Just ask the <strong>Georgian Bay Giants<\/strong>, a fastpitch team that found themselves in a nightmare scenario courtesy of WestJet airlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Picture this: It&#8217;s August 17, 2024. The Giants have just wrapped up an eight-day tournament at the ISC World Tournament in Surrey, BC. They&#8217;re tired but satisfied, ready to head home to Toronto. With their group reservation of 24 passengers, they arrive at Vancouver airport, anticipating a smooth journey back east. Little did they know, they were about to step up to the plate in a game of patience and frustration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first curveball came in the form of a delay. Then another. And another. Three strikes, but they weren&#8217;t out &#8211; yet. WestJet was just warming up. The final pitch? A complete cancellation of their flight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, you might think an airline would have a solid game plan for such situations. A relief pitcher in the form of hotel vouchers, perhaps? Or maybe a pinch-hitter of food vouchers? Surely, at the very least, a coach&#8217;s pep talk in the form of clear communication? Nope. WestJet&#8217;s playbook seemed to consist of a single strategy: &#8220;You&#8217;re on your own.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The team was told they&#8217;d be put on the next available flight &#8211; on Tuesday. For those keeping score at home, that&#8217;s three days later. Three days stranded in Vancouver, with no offer of accommodation, transportation, or even a consolation hot dog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But wait, it gets better. The WestJet agents then asked the team to leave the airport because they no longer had valid boarding passes. It&#8217;s like being ejected from a game you paid to play in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Attempting to split up and find earlier flights home, the team approached the WestJet agents at the Vancouver Airport. But these agents passed the ball, telling them to call the 1-800 WestJet number. Spoiler alert: nobody answered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Giants took to Twitter, tagging WestJet in a series of posts that outlined their ordeal. They encouraged other ISC Fastpitch teams to repost their story, hoping to catch WestJet&#8217;s attention. It was a Hail Mary pass in the bottom of the ninth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As of the last update, some of the team members managed to book a flight with Flair Airlines from Edmonton to Toronto &#8211; still 29 hours after their original flight time, but a full two days earlier than WestJet&#8217;s &#8220;solution.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the end, WestJet&#8217;s performance in this customer service game was far from championship caliber. They struck out on communication, whiffed on problem-solving, and ultimately forfeited any goodwill they might have had with these passengers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Georgian Bay Giants may have lost this particular battle with airline incompetence, but they&#8217;ve certainly won in the court of public opinion. Their story serves as a cautionary tale for both travelers and airlines alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As for WestJet? They might want to consider spending some time in the minor leagues of customer service training before they&#8217;re ready for the big show again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Based on a True Life Story In the world of sports, we often hear about clutch performances and game-changing plays. But sometimes, the real drama happens off the field. Just ask the Georgian Bay Giants, a fastpitch team that found themselves in a nightmare scenario courtesy of WestJet airlines. Picture this: It&#8217;s August 17, 2024. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,28,21],"tags":[1501],"class_list":{"0":"post-44272","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"category-featured","9":"category-teams","10":"tag-gbaygiants","11":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44272"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44276,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44272\/revisions\/44276"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}