12.28.2011 07:45 AM

BTW

…heading to Vancouver this morning to see the sibs. Flying WestJet, so this should be interesting.

19 Comments

  1. smelter rat says:

    Interesting as in “trouble free”, i predict.

    • Riley says:

      I doubt that. I’ve had two flights cancelled by them with no warning or email notification (heck, even DELTA can manage email updates) and you can’t even fly direct from Winnipeg to Saskatoon anymore. WEST-jet? My a$$. At least they’ve toned down the moronic attempts at humor… In the past I came very close to shoving several of their flight attendants out the door somewhere over lake superior.

      • smelter rat says:

        Anger Management is your friend.

      • james Smith says:

        I prefer the predictably poor service at AC to the GRADE-10-DRAMA-CLASS at WJ. In the mood for a few quotations?

        – “Hey everyone, how about a big round of applause for the pilot for the nice landing?” (um, does that mean landings are usually crap?)
        – “Well sir, it is cold outside & warm inside so some condensation is bound to occur.” (To me on a full flight upon complaining about the water dripping on my head; that continued all the way from YYZ to YYC.)
        – “I’m sorry sir, we can’t control the weather.” ( My very last flight with these amateurs [YYC to YHM]. Reply was to my complaint that the snow was not removed from the ladder I was about to help my disabled wife down, to the snowdrift below; before hiking like good king Wenceslaus to the terminal 250M away.

        As bad as our two crappy choices are here, it is worse stateside. Take my Nephew & his new bride one their honeymoon this past week for example. Flying American from Anchorage to Belize with a layover in Texas. They were not informed of a change in terminals, when they got to check in they were informed they were in the wrong terminal, no special treatment, no alert to American in the other terminal they were on their own. When they got to the other Terminal they were told sorry, you’ll have to come back tomorrow; oh, & pay a several hundred dollar fee because you missed your flights.

        Maybe the airlines could be run more like FedEx, employees are paid fairly & packages are treated better than most air travellers.

        • Riley Robertson says:

          james Smith says:
          December 28, 2011 at 2:48 pm

          Maybe the airlines could be run more like FedEx, employees are paid fairly & packages are treated better than most air travellers.

          —————————————-

          Ka-POW!

  2. KenzoS says:

    try not to chew through the restraints, they are for your own good.

  3. frmr disgruntled Con now happy Lib says:

    Welcome back to Lotus Land…..We hope you enjoy your stay…..and I hope you have foodstuffs at the ready upon your arrival to combat the hypoglycemia/starvation that invariably results from WestJets lack of comestibles…..

  4. The Doctor says:

    The main difference I find (I fly them both fairly frequently) is that WestJet’s personnel are on balance more friendly, less likely to be surly, burnt-out, etc. I think part of that is just that WestJet is newer, so there’s less dead wood etc. Also, the union legacy within Air Canada isn’t the happiest history, there have been some bitter strikes and examples bad employee-management relationships. It shows.

  5. nez1 says:

    I agree that the fairly-surly-but-predictable service at Air Canada is better that the moronic (fake? forced?) happy crap at WestJet. By the way–WestJet has never explained any delays to me. At least Air Canada appears professional, which is what I like. Hey–I’m in a gigantic, if fragile tube thousands of feet above the earth, so concentrate on flying the damn plane! Sadly, both of these carriers are leagues better than United, American and Delta.
    The real question, however:

    Can Gord like any airline that uses left wings?

  6. matt says:

    I fly pretty often. Air Canada has more business passengers in economy and, unscientifically, I think better seat spacing. Given those two factors, I have found it easier and more pleasant to pull out the laptop and work uninterrupted on an Air Canada flight than a Westjet flight. Westjet staff beat Air Canada hands down. In fact, I would love to see an actual beating of some of the Air Canada staff I’ve dealt with. In one instance where there was a weather-related flight cancellation Westjet rebooked me, no charge (as I think Air Canada would do too), but also called me up later out of the blue to express remorse about the circumstances and provided a $100 flight credit (they did the same for my wife, in relation to a different flight and different airport that week). In contrast, my last on hold time to add my infant son to our flight (unable to do online) with Air Canada was 75 minutes. That said, I like points, and work uses Air Canada, which gets me points. My head says get the points, my heart belongs to Westjet.

    • The Doctor says:

      Agreed. If it weren’t for the points, I’d fly WJ as my first choice. But AC has the routes for way more vacation destinations, so the points are worth way more to me.

    • Matt says:

      Just flew Air Canada last night. Staff were amazing. Would be unfair of me not to update the record.

  7. MississaugaLibPeter says:

    Once you become SUPER ELITE you never leave Air Canada. Flight to Hong Kong and back this week in Executive Pods, for less than $2K (paid economy, but love those eUpgrades)! Google “Globe and Mail” “Super Elite” “Bob Rae”, or just visit:

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/thank-you-bob-rae-for-stealing-my-plane-seat/article2105453/page1/

    Older staff on Air Canada because it is an older airline. Younger staff on WestJet tries to be hip. Inflight entertainment at Air Canada far superior to WestJet (both front and back). Air Canada legroom in economy beats at least a dozen other airlines I have flown on internationally. AirCanada.com is great, even for hotels (got a Four Seasons hotel room ($2K+ on Hotels.com) in Macau for less than $300 (plus I got the the Aeroplan points). WestJet used to have better prices, but now they seem to have the same (even when flying out of Hamilton).

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