A Ponoka man is hoping for a refund for a trip to the Cayman Islands after his wife suddenly died three months before the vacation.

Denis Tatlow contacted the travel company and airlines involved, but as of Saturday evening he hadn't been able to get his money back.

The couple met 15 years ago, shortly after Tatlow’s first wife passed away.

“We were very close. It was something that just materialized very quick,” said Tatlow, when asked about his second wife Terry Akins.

In July, he and his wife decided to book a family vacation with his son.

“My son saw this on the computer and it's something totally different. So he booked it for himself and he said there's room for four people,” said Tatlow.

“I talked to the wife and she said, ‘that would be very interesting let's go’,”

However, three months after booking the trip, Akins became ill. Then in November she was hospitalized and within five or six days, she passed away.

“It was the beginning of November when we lost a good lady,” said Tatlow. “It was just a big shock to us all.”

The family contacted the booking-agent Hume Travel to receive a refund for Akins’ flights.

After several emails, the agency said the family would have to contact WestJet or Hahn Airlines in Germany, the operator of the flights.

However, both airlines told the family they would not be covering the costs: “Nine-hundred dollars is a lot of money to just lose.”

Tatlow said he would settle for a travel credit instead of a full refund.

When CTV Edmonton inquired, WestJet provided a response saying it is offering a travel credit, which is different information than the family had received.

WestJet also said it would follow up with the family.

With files from CTV’s Breanna Karstens-Smith