Westjet does it again... Frozen plane

[cijay]

I love Westjet, i just find the staff so down to earth. (In the safety about the oxygen masks, she said "fit the mask over your sniffer and your kisser..."). I think my favourite time though, I was coming back from Anaheim and it was Grey Cup day so the last leg (Vanc. to Edmonton),, every time something happened, the attendant would open the cockpit door and we'd all cheer. It was a boring game though (they're all boring to me but the mood was fun) so the pilot came on and said "it's awfully quiet back there! Don't make me come back there!"

 

[pkondz]

Dniece's husband is soon to be one of the pilots! Their 3 little girl's will be thrilled. He presently flys out of Ottawa/Hamilton across Canada for one of Westjet's economy planes.

Nice!

LOL. From the subject line, I thought they had a malfunction with the heating in the jet and it had frozen up!

Well, technically the jet did Freeze up!

I flew WestJet in 2009 from Calgary to Saskatoon and back. Seemed fine to me, but my family in Canada were horrified. I guess they aren't WestJet fans. If they can't get on Air Canada, they drive.

Really? I always check WJA availability before ACA.
Much more pleasant experience.

1) That's what I thought from the subject line, too.
2) I know nothing about WestJet, never even heard of it. Why the horror?

Well, that's two people I've led astray.
Not sure what you mean about "Why the horror?" I presume you are thinking "does it again" implies a negative?
Sorry about that, meant just the opposite.

And WestJet is Canada's 2nd largest airline and the 9th largest in North America.

Really? We are an Air-Canada-sucks kinda family lol WestJet all the way baby. Far superior in service!

They used to fly only Dash-8 aircraft on the routes we used, and I think some in my family find those too small (39 passsengers).
I see they now also have 737's on the Calgary-Saskatoon route now. To be honest, to me they seemed fine, not sure why I got the reaction I did whenever I used WestAir.

Hmmm... You might be mistaken about carrier or type.
Pretty sure they started with B737s. They've recently added Q400s (operated by Westjet Encore (WEN)) and B767s.
The Q400 is the former DH8A but stretched to 79 passengers.

Both were side by side in Toronto this morning. Mickey headed to Vegas & Frozen on its inaugural flight - to MCO.

Nice shot!

Yeah, my wife has always found Air Canada pretentious. When our son was an infant and needed a diaper change the Air Canada flight attendants seems shocked that my wife would actually want to change his diaper......on the plane.....and yes, in the lavatory.

I have some stories too about pretentiousness with ACA vs the more laid back WJA.

I think my mom and and her brother and sisters always thought of WestJet as the upstart airline, I mean, even now Westjet has only been around 19 years to Air Canada'ss 75 years. My cousins.....not sure, other than several work in the Gas and Oil industry and are used to flying luxury charter flights and find all commercial flights a let down.

I'll go with young and fresh over old and dodgy...

Both of these comments are silly to me. There's absolutely no difference between the two except price. (Oh, and cheesy, SouthWest Airlines-style jokes on WJ.)

Just curious, do you fly often?
Most people I know prefer WJA by a wide margin over ACA.

Well I don't really feel that my comment is silly, of course just going on my experiences but every time we've flown Air Canada the service has been dreadful and every experience we've ever had with WestJet has been great. Again, going on my experiences only but we won't certainly would not choose Air Canada over Westjet.

This.

 

[pkondz]

I've never had any issues with Air Canada, flown them many times, West Jet I've flown only once. My preference is price and flight times. Just seems to work out that way for us.

I hear you.
I prefer to fly WJA, but I will fly ACA.
Not long ago we flew round trip to Europe. Can't do that on Westjet.
Well, at least not outside of Ireland/England.

I love Westjet, i just find the staff so down to earth. (In the safety about the oxygen masks, she said "fit the mask over your sniffer and your kisser...").

Heard that one.
Also heard similar to (paraphrasing) "If you have a child, put your mask on before assisting the child. If you have two kids, decide which one you like most."

I think my favourite time though, I was coming back from Anaheim and it was Grey Cup day so the last leg (Vanc. to Edmonton),, every time something happened, the attendant would open the cockpit door and we'd all cheer. It was a boring game though (they're all boring to me but the mood was fun) so the pilot came on and said "it's awfully quiet back there! Don't make me come back there!"

 

[tvguy]

Both of these comments are silly to me. There's absolutely no difference between the two except price. (Oh, and cheesy, SouthWest Airlines-style jokes on WJ.)

Hey, it may be silly, but it is what my Uncle said. But yes, I think there were other factors. My Uncle had Parkinson's and moving around in a plane cabin wasn't easy for him, yet he could drive for 6 hours comfortably. My Uncle was cheap....and checking WestJet versus Air Canada roundtrip fares, they are $256 roundtrip on WestJet and $257 on Air Canada, so a flight for him and my Aunt would run $500 then he would have to rent a car in Calgary. And I think they enjoyed the drive since it took them through Western Saskatchewan where they both grew up (and I hear there is a killer Chinese restaurant they loved to have lunch at in Kindersley.)

 

[SirDuff]

WJ is the only airline in the last ten years (at least), where I've been bumped (involuntarily). Ironic for an airline that advertises that it doesn't overbook (or, at least, did).

 

[tvguy]

Nice!




Really? I always check WJA availability before ACA.
Much more pleasant experience.




Hmmm... You might be mistaken about carrier or type.
Pretty sure they started with B737s. They've recently added Q400s (operated by Westjet Encore (WEN)) and B767s.
The Q400 is the former DH8A but stretched to 79 passengers.
.

If I knew how to post photos I would post them, it was West Jet, and a Dash 8-100. This flight was in 2009 and Googling showsWest Jet didn't get their first Dash 8-400 until 2013.

I let the Travel Agent deal with it, because our biggest issue is the routing getting from Sacramento to Saskatoon in one day. You have to go through Minneapolis these days. Nothing like flying almost 1,000 miles past your final destination to change planes to fly another 1,000 miles back to Saskatoon.
I remember as a kid we went through Vancouver from San Francisco, then Vancouver to Saskatoon. Then one time we went through Edmonton from San Francisco, and for a while, we had a direct flight from Sacramento to Calgary. Then we went Sacramento to Salt Lake City to Saskatoon. Last 15 years or so Minneapolis has been the only option that didn't require an overnight stay in the layover airport.

 

[ronandannette]

I have some stories too about pretentiousness with ACA vs the more laid back WJA.



I'll go with young and fresh over old and dodgy...




Just curious, do you fly often?
Most people I know prefer WJA by a wide margin over ACA.



This.

4 or 5 times a year; usually 2 of which are trips within Canada and that means only 2 choices - Air Canada or WestJet. 100% of the time I choose whichever is cheaper and that's pretty much always AC. As for your first comment and the comments of cijay, I don't think it's particularly "high brow" to say nose and mouth instead of sniffer and kisser... I do think the joke about picking the kid you like best is funny though.

 

[pkondz]

(and I hear there is a killer Chinese restaurant they loved to have lunch at in Kindersley.)

Well, right there is a perfectly sound reason to drive vs fly.

WJ is the only airline in the last ten years (at least), where I've been bumped (involuntarily). Ironic for an airline that advertises that it doesn't overbook (or, at least, did).

Really! Huh. That's interesting.
I think you're the first person I've heard that happen to (on WJA I mean).

If I knew how to post photos I would post them, it was West Jet, and a Dash 8-100. This flight was in 2009 and Googling showsWest Jet didn't get their first Dash 8-400 until 2013.

No kidding! Well I'll be darned.
I thought their whole business model as a startup was focusing on maintenance on one aircraft type only, which is why they only flew B737s to start.
I wonder if that DH8A lasted long, then?

I let the Travel Agent deal with it, because our biggest issue is the routing getting from Sacramento to Saskatoon in one day. You have to go through Minneapolis these days. Nothing like flying almost 1,000 miles past your final destination to change planes to fly another 1,000 miles back to Saskatoon.

I hear you.
Want to fly Winnipeg to Europe?
Some legs want you to fly half way across the continent... in the opposite direction first!

4 or 5 times a year; usually 2 of which are trips within Canada and that means only 2 choices - Air Canada or WestJet. 100% of the time I choose whichever is cheaper and that's pretty much always AC. As for your first comment and the comments of cijay, I don't think it's particularly "high brow" to say nose and mouth instead of sniffer and kisser... I do think the joke about picking the kid you like best is funny though.

Ah. So you fly more than I do (maybe 2-4 times/year) and if you're flying both, then you're more informed than I am.

 

[cijay]

I've actually had four trouble-free Air Canada trips in two years...this is a bit unnerving. I'm going to have to say something nice about them! Ew.

 

[pkondz]

I've actually had four trouble-free Air Canada trips in two years...this is a bit unnerving. I'm going to have to say something nice about them! Ew.

 

[Kiren]

I love Westjet! My husband and I will only fly them when we have a choice. They might be more expensive but both of us have had some very bad experiences on Air Canada so we choose not to fly with them. But we are also will to try different carriers. We are looking at flying out of Seattle in April to MCO for our honeymoon because it's cheaper to take the Clipper and get a hotel room right now than it is to fly out of Victoria!

 

[pkondz]

I love Westjet! My husband and I will only fly them when we have a choice. They might be more expensive but both of us have had some very bad experiences on Air Canada so we choose not to fly with them. But we are also will to try different carriers. We are looking at flying out of Seattle in April to MCO for our honeymoon because it's cheaper to take the Clipper and get a hotel room right now than it is to fly out of Victoria!

Totally get that.
First time we flew with the rugrats to Disney, we drove to Minneapolis (8 hours) and then flew from there.