Recent Swoop Flights?

[Kennedy Cooke]

Hello all!
I was wondering if anyone's flown with Swoop recently? I've never flown with them before but they're flights for my upcoming trip are the cheapest by far. The flight I'm looking at is out of Hamilton but I'm just worried about flying with them. I know how unreliable they were pre-covid but I haven't heard much about them recently. Have they been canceling a lot of their flights? Is it worth paying up to 3x the price to fly with AC or WJ out of YYZ? Any advice would be appreciated

 

[ellbell]

Hello all!
I was wondering if anyone's flown with Swoop recently? I've never flown with them before but they're flights for my upcoming trip are the cheapest by far. The flight I'm looking at is out of Hamilton but I'm just worried about flying with them. I know how unreliable they were pre-covid but I haven't heard much about them recently. Have they been canceling a lot of their flights? Is it worth paying up to 3x the price to fly with AC or WJ out of YYZ? Any advice would be appreciated

I flew with them out of Hamilton a few times before covid. I never had a problem with them until covid hit. When covid hit I had flights booked and no matter how often I contacted them about a refund they told me I had to wait my turn for them to email me. They never contacted me and as a result I have a flight booked withthem in May so I don't waste 350 bucks that they refused to refund so it will be the last time I fly with them

 

[pigletto]

We’ve used them domestically and they were great. Normally I would say to be cautious of booking for a big trip because if they have to cancel ( which happens more often ) they can‘t get you on another flight right away. You are stuck until the next time they fly which could be days.

The caveat to that though is that Westjet and AC are a mess these days too and cancelling flights left and right with little recourse. So it’s a toss up right now.

 

[2Lunds]

Here's the advice I received on Swoop from a friend who has worked in aviation for 20+ years.

The savings are great, and something to be taken advantage of if this is a VERY FLEXIBLE trip. If you're staying with friends/family for example, versus having a hotel reservation. If you're someone who has the flexibility to change plans at the last minute (like your workplace doesn't mind, or you work for yourself etc...). If you're a very patient person.

If you have one week's vacation, a room booked, and expensive tours/tickets purchased - well, I won't repeat his wording, but to paraphrase, consider VERY carefully. Even outside of the pandemic, they are often short on staff, and have frequent mechanical issues meaning cancellations are very common. They are also not super with handling baggage

 

[Jennkneefir]

I had this exact question! Thank you for throwing it out to the group. Flights from Edmonton to Orlando through Swoop are like $380 return while flights w Westjet or Air Canada are closer to $700.

 

[boundfordisney]

Such a shame that this airline cant seem to get it together, had such high hopes when it was announced they were flying from Hamilton. Never flown with them and at this point dont think I ever will even though we live 15 mins from the airport, we drive to Buffalo and fly with Southwest or Jetblue. Love Buffalo airport so easy to navigate and not crazy busy like Toronto.

 

[ellbell]

Such a shame that this airline cant seem to get it together, had such high hopes when it was announced they were flying from Hamilton. Never flown with them and at this point dont think I ever will even though we live 15 mins from the airport, we drive to Buffalo and fly with Southwest or Jetblue. Love Buffalo airport so easy to navigate and not crazy busy like Toronto.

The inconveniences definitely outweigh the conveniences now. I've flown with them a few times. They don't fly to MCO anymore either so you also need to factor in transportation from Sanford. I also live close to the airport but find it easier just to go to buffalo now. I've got one last flight with Swoop on the 29th to use up those credits that they wouldn't refund and then I probably won't bother again. I'm even flying back in on SW to buffalo even though it's twice the cost

 

[Poohcandi]

We flew with them once, and never again. Horrible, stressful experience… like previous poster said, you would need to be super flexible and have zero plans.