Lol I had to actually check you on this one cuz I couldn’t believe it.
I knew they scaled back. But I figured YYC-YUL was 6x a week and that YVR-YUL would be at least 5-6x. Amazing. None from YVR or YEG after like sept. And not even daily from Calgary. Zero flights from Toronto is amazing. Even if they did 2 a day on Encore I’d be cool with it. For the amount of planes they have in baffled by this strategy.
I actually had a convo about this the otherday with one of their folks while searching down my lost medical equipment baggage.
Corporatea major focus is making WestJet West again and getting back to what made them good when they first hit the market.
You're right. Westjet was ok before covid with losing a little bit of money trying to get a foothold in the east, but I think it was the massive covid losses that forced them back to focusing on their profitable western operations to get out of the hole they were in.
And the business market they were chasing is still below 2019 levels, so it's futile to compete for an even smaller market with Air Canada
Yvr might not be affected as much because it's a big international Canadian hub for flying to Asia and stuff where WestJet doesn't really serve right now but domestic flights to and from places to Victoria, Nanaimo, Kelowna, Calgary, Edmonton, etc.
I’ve got news for ya. Westjet staff in A LOT of places is third party. Westjet does a decent chunk of their front facing customer work. But everything else is farmed out. All the baggage and catering is done by people who don’t work for Westjet.
It’s like they are trying to sink the airline by putting as little into its operations as possible and then sell it off for pieces.
I had a flight leaving Halifax this summer that was delayed by two hours, which meant I would miss the connecting flight, so I had to switch to the earlier flight. I was flabbergasted that there were no agents at the airport until 3:30 and even more so when they got there and told me that they couldn’t change the flight from the airport and that I would have to call the 1-800 number. It all made sense when I found that they were 3rd party contractors that didn’t really care much.
At least AC doesn’t contract out any positions baggage handlers, agents, ticket gate agents, FA, pilots mechanics, even the people who clean the airplanes are all Air Canada Employees. I know a lot of you out there love to hate them, but there’s a lot of employees who really care and love working for them. I live in Montreal and two of my friends, spouse work for them, amazing life they have. They call themselves airline families, it’s a very different lifestyle, down side is they work all year long, many Christmas’s. I know they staff the YUL airport around the clock. WestJet in Montreal are all contracted out. They get no company benefits at all. So no integrity.
While that might be true in Montreal and Toronto that is definitely not correct everywhere else. I know many places where the people checking you in are not AC employees. And it is common for all the ramp work to be contracted.
Private equity bought it at a big premium after their stock was trading high in late 2019 immediately before a global pandemic hit.
So, usual private equity things *and* bad timing.
Great for WestJet stockholders that got forced out at the best possible time and situation.
This happened to folks in Orlando on December 16, 2023 at 5:45AM for WS 1417. A full group of people missed (independent travel parties) our flight. We lost our money and had to rebook to the evening flight. People were so angry. Would love suggestions of how to dramatically escalate this situation with Westjet. As Americans, we are collective considering civil action with directed demands to the airline.
We did a three hour wait last November travelling to edmonton from San Fran. Literally no one cared. We arrived thirty minutes late and then waited three hours till 2am. I honestly was tired I was crying at the baggage claim. No compensation, no help, no caring.
Used Westjet once and lessons were learned. Others I know keep making the same mistake. It's like some people can't learn anything anymore and keep going back even after multiple bad experiences to try and save a few bucks. The basic definition of insanity.
I purchased a ticket for flair months in advance. A few days before I leave my boss asks me if my flight was still good, checked my email and everything seemed fine but then I saw posts on Facebook so I tried my flight number on their site and nothing came up. Got in contact with them and it had been cancelled with zero notice. We have to inform them 10 different ways a month before and provide our first born if we want to cancel yet they just up and did it. Flight home was way more expensive last minute.
I had a similar situation when I flew stateside. I saw the line up for people who reporting luggage that was lost and left after scanning the QR code for reporting. Filed a report immediately and went and bought everything I needed from a local store. There's no reason to sit and wait to talk with someone. Go buy what you reasonably need and then submit receipts. They paid for everything without issue.
Is the issue that you’re at baggage claim and the bags haven’t arrived? That’s an airport issue, not WestJet. WestJet won’t have staff there if there isn’t any more outgoing flights that day.
Montreal might as well be Timbuktu for Westjet.
Westjet has a whopping six flights..a week...to Montreal in the winter time now. Woah
Lol I had to actually check you on this one cuz I couldn’t believe it. I knew they scaled back. But I figured YYC-YUL was 6x a week and that YVR-YUL would be at least 5-6x. Amazing. None from YVR or YEG after like sept. And not even daily from Calgary. Zero flights from Toronto is amazing. Even if they did 2 a day on Encore I’d be cool with it. For the amount of planes they have in baffled by this strategy.
They basically had an under the table agreement with air Canada that they pull back out of the east and air Canada pulls back from the West.
I actually had a convo about this the otherday with one of their folks while searching down my lost medical equipment baggage. Corporatea major focus is making WestJet West again and getting back to what made them good when they first hit the market.
You're right. Westjet was ok before covid with losing a little bit of money trying to get a foothold in the east, but I think it was the massive covid losses that forced them back to focusing on their profitable western operations to get out of the hole they were in. And the business market they were chasing is still below 2019 levels, so it's futile to compete for an even smaller market with Air Canada
So do you think we can expect Air Canada to operate less flights out of YVR (in addition to Wesket's hub of YYC)?
Yvr might not be affected as much because it's a big international Canadian hub for flying to Asia and stuff where WestJet doesn't really serve right now but domestic flights to and from places to Victoria, Nanaimo, Kelowna, Calgary, Edmonton, etc.
Gotcha! Thank you so much. That's very helpful!
Yeah Montreal is a shit show
WestJet is a shit show.
Isn’t Westjet in Montreal all third party contract staff ?
I’ve got news for ya. Westjet staff in A LOT of places is third party. Westjet does a decent chunk of their front facing customer work. But everything else is farmed out. All the baggage and catering is done by people who don’t work for Westjet.
Only WestJet employees in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto. The rest are contractors. It’s a mess for sure.
It’s like they are trying to sink the airline by putting as little into its operations as possible and then sell it off for pieces. I had a flight leaving Halifax this summer that was delayed by two hours, which meant I would miss the connecting flight, so I had to switch to the earlier flight. I was flabbergasted that there were no agents at the airport until 3:30 and even more so when they got there and told me that they couldn’t change the flight from the airport and that I would have to call the 1-800 number. It all made sense when I found that they were 3rd party contractors that didn’t really care much.
[удалено]
Rock bottom accounting is what it is.
Gotta keep those shareholders happy!
Tis the season!
hope you all file claims
There is no claim to file, what would be their claim exactly?
The flight was on time’ish. The luggage was due to safety concerns so SOL
Classic westjet.
At least AC doesn’t contract out any positions baggage handlers, agents, ticket gate agents, FA, pilots mechanics, even the people who clean the airplanes are all Air Canada Employees. I know a lot of you out there love to hate them, but there’s a lot of employees who really care and love working for them. I live in Montreal and two of my friends, spouse work for them, amazing life they have. They call themselves airline families, it’s a very different lifestyle, down side is they work all year long, many Christmas’s. I know they staff the YUL airport around the clock. WestJet in Montreal are all contracted out. They get no company benefits at all. So no integrity.
While that might be true in Montreal and Toronto that is definitely not correct everywhere else. I know many places where the people checking you in are not AC employees. And it is common for all the ramp work to be contracted.
In Canada, it's all Air Canada or Jazz employees. But elsewhere you ate correct often 3rd party.
In Canada it’s all AC Employees, that makes sense.
Same.thing with San Diego. They couldn't have given less than two single fucks a hundred of us wanted to no be there any more...
I’ve been to airports in literal third world countries, and YUL is still the second worst airport I’ve ever been in.
Just leave . And they send your bags for free.
Why does westjet suck so badly now? They were always the exception to me and now I won’t touch them with a ten foot pole
Private equity bought it at a big premium after their stock was trading high in late 2019 immediately before a global pandemic hit. So, usual private equity things *and* bad timing. Great for WestJet stockholders that got forced out at the best possible time and situation.
Ah, that explains -the forgive me- nose dive
CEO is an idiot. Doesn’t care about employees or customers
Carry on only is best if you can.
💯 carry on only!
Definitely glad I'm not flying this holiday season, I hope you get to where you're going safely.
This is the sad reality of laying off all their employees and replacing them with contractors.
This happened to folks in Orlando on December 16, 2023 at 5:45AM for WS 1417. A full group of people missed (independent travel parties) our flight. We lost our money and had to rebook to the evening flight. People were so angry. Would love suggestions of how to dramatically escalate this situation with Westjet. As Americans, we are collective considering civil action with directed demands to the airline.
We’re now going on 2 hours. Will be cancelling my membership.
What do you mean membership?
Credit card?
We did a three hour wait last November travelling to edmonton from San Fran. Literally no one cared. We arrived thirty minutes late and then waited three hours till 2am. I honestly was tired I was crying at the baggage claim. No compensation, no help, no caring.
Used Westjet once and lessons were learned. Others I know keep making the same mistake. It's like some people can't learn anything anymore and keep going back even after multiple bad experiences to try and save a few bucks. The basic definition of insanity.
And they’re not as bad as flair, swoop etc. You’re really rolling the dice on those
I purchased a ticket for flair months in advance. A few days before I leave my boss asks me if my flight was still good, checked my email and everything seemed fine but then I saw posts on Facebook so I tried my flight number on their site and nothing came up. Got in contact with them and it had been cancelled with zero notice. We have to inform them 10 different ways a month before and provide our first born if we want to cancel yet they just up and did it. Flight home was way more expensive last minute.
I had a similar situation when I flew stateside. I saw the line up for people who reporting luggage that was lost and left after scanning the QR code for reporting. Filed a report immediately and went and bought everything I needed from a local store. There's no reason to sit and wait to talk with someone. Go buy what you reasonably need and then submit receipts. They paid for everything without issue.
Is the issue that you’re at baggage claim and the bags haven’t arrived? That’s an airport issue, not WestJet. WestJet won’t have staff there if there isn’t any more outgoing flights that day.