How to End a Complaint Letter | Complaint Letter Closings

To whom it may concern,
I am writing to make several complaints regarding flights I booked with Westjet to go from Barcelona to Vancouver and back in July and August this year. I booked these flights through eSky.es on 14 March 2019 and my confirmation number at that time was:MWUJNM and my PNR is EWMSGY.

Firstly, flight 15 from Barcelona to Toronto on 27 August was delayed by 4 hours. Although this was partially due to a strike called by Iberian airlines employees at Barcelona airport on that day, not all the blame can be laid at their door. Once myself and other passengers had boarded the plane an announcement was made saying that the plane needed to be refueled due to electric storms. However, these storms had been in evidence since the morning, which means that the need for extra fuel could have easily been foreseen. It took around 2 hours for the refueling to take place, which caused almost a 2 hour delay to the flight. It did not arrive in Toronto until after 18.00 much later than the scheduled arrival time of 16.15.
Secondly, as a result of the late arrival of flight 15, I missed the connecting flight 719 at 17.57 from Toronto to Barcelona. I was informed by other passengers that there was another Westjet flight scheduled to depart from Toronto to Vancouver at approximately 20.00 so I believed that Westjet would do everything in their power to make sure myself and other affected passengers would be able to board that flight. To my surprise when I finally arrived at the Westjet counter in Toronto airport, I was signaling to one of the agents that I was hoping to catch the next flight for Vancouver leaving Toronto at 20.00. The agent quite curtly told me to wait my turn and by the time I arrived at the counter and was issued a boarding pass for the 20.00 flight (see attachment) it was 19.15, which was obviously much too late given the distance from the gate and the fact that it was necessary to line up and go through security. I am sure Westjet were well aware of this and should have taken greater efforts when I arrived at the desk to ensure that I could, in fact, make that flight. When I arrived at the gate, the Westjet agent said that the doors had closed only 5 minutes previously but he was unwilling to allow myself and other passengers bound for Vancouver on the same flight. He said that it was too expensive for Westjet to hold the gate for us. I felt really let down by Westjet. Although I was offered a 15 dollar meal voucher by a Westjet agent and the possibility of taking the 22.00 flight to Vancouver, I do not feel that this was enough to compensate for the inconvenience caused to me and the people having to pick me up at a late hour from Vancouver as I could only board the 22.00 flight to Vancouver from Toronto which got me in to Vancouver at midnight. However, unfortunately, the return flight from Vancouver to Barcelona was going to prove to be a much worse and more stressful experience.
Thirdly, when I was obtaining my boarding passes for the return journey from Vancouver to Barcelona a day before the scheduled flights on Aug 13, I noticed that an email had been sent to me by Westjet on July 27th indicating a change in my itinerary rerouting both airports and modifying departure times from the original plan. I had no reason to assume that this change would be a negative one so I accepted the change in good faith and in all innocence. Flight WS122 from Vancouver to Calgary departed and arrived on time without complications. However, flight WS 668 from Calgary to Toronto was delayed by around an hour, which resulted in me missing the last flight WS 14 from Toronto to Barcelona at 10.05pm. Once again Westjet were not prepared, (as in my previous experience on July 27th with the Westjet Toronto to Vancouver flight at 20.00) to hold the flight even though myself and other passengers arrived at the boarding gate only around 10 minutes late and even though this was the last flight that night going out to Barcelona. When I arrived at the Westjet counter, I was told that Westjet could not accommodate me in any way apart from ensuring I could get 3 Air France flights to Barcelona,(as opposed to the one flight I was supposed to be taking) the first one departing the next day on Aug 24th. (1. Toronto to Montreal 2. Montreal to Paris 3. Paris to Barcelona) When I spoke to the agent I pointed out that I had been told under new legislation, that legally airlines could not delay flights for passengers by more than 4 hours. She, rather happily I felt, informed me that this legislation would not come into effect until December this year so that according to her I was not protected by this. She also informed me that Westjet were not liable for the delay for flight WS 668 from Calgary to Toronto on Aug 13 because ‘a bird had flown into the engine.’ As a result, I was stranded that night without accommodation as I informed the same agent who told me I should have travel insurance. No effort was made by her or any Westjet official to at least offer me accommodation vouchers, which I feel was shocking and disgraceful considering the obvious inconvenience and stress caused by a delayed return journey of more than 18 hours as I arrived in Barcelona with Air France on August 15 instead of August 14th as I should have done. I slept obviously badly if at all on airport chairs at Toronto airport after unsuccessfully trying to book reasonably priced accommodation for that night.
After such appalling service, I must insist that Westjet remunerates me for all the distress caused.
I would also make 3 recommendations. First, Westjet should review the customer service offered by some of its agents. Second, it should rethink how it schedules connecting flights as I notice that for some of my flights the airline did not make realistic provisions for potential delays and allow enough time for passengers to make connecting flights. For example, flight WS 668 from Calgary to Toronto was originally scheduled to arrive at 9. 14 pm with the connecting flight from Toronto to Barcelona scheduled to depart at 10.05pm. Toronto is rather a large airport so that it is not logistically feasible to assume that passengers could easily make the connection. Thirdly, I also feel that the change in my itinerary made by Westjet on my return journey greatly contributed to the excessive delay caused to my return to Barcelona. Finally, while Westjet might argue that ‘a bird flying into an engine’ frees them of liability, neither are passengers liable for such occurrences and provisions should be made to protect stranded passengers and place them in paid for accommodation and transport there and back.
I would be pleased if you could refund me the money by the end of this month, otherwise I shall have no other choice but to take this matter further.
Thank you for your attention to this matter,

Yours faithfully,

Anna M. Berka