In between those searches I was checking if other options would work but it became obvious that specific flight and return flight is what I needed. Same exact flights and the points went up each time. I specifically wrote down the totals. Scumbags.
Realizing that I am potentially setting myself up for misery, has anyone flown Flair lately? There were a number of comments early 2024, but not much recently. Have they gotten their act together or have folks just given up on them?
We are looking at taking them to Cancun, WJ has gotten $$$ since AC pulled out of direct flights from Calgary it seems.
Flew Flair back from Vancouver. It's annoying having to wait in line at the counter to get your boarding pass if you don't have carry-on baggage so they can make sure that what you have on you is small enough to fit in their sizer. Once you counter check-in you get your boarding pass emailed to you.
If you have carry-on baggage you get to get your boarding pass online and go straight to security and then the size of the rest of your stuff doesn't matter.
So I get to wait in this ridiculous line because my kid doesn't have a carry-on.
Realizing that I am potentially setting myself up for misery, has anyone flown Flair lately? There were a number of comments early 2024, but not much recently. Have they gotten their act together or have folks just given up on them?
We are looking at taking them to Cancun, WJ has gotten $$$ since AC pulled out of direct flights from Calgary it seems.
Change of plans, thanks to the @cmyden newsletter we poked around and found some smoking deals to Italy (not much more than it was looking like on Flair to CUN) so to heck with it, we are off to Italy for 11 days.
Change of plans, thanks to the @cmyden newsletter we poked around and found some smoking deals to Italy (not much more than it was looking like on Flair to CUN) so to heck with it, we are off to Italy for 11 days.
what is this newsletter you speak of... and how to see it?
thx
WestJet is announcing a new international route out of Calgary next week. Hopefully this is something awesome and I'd personally like to see it be Australia.
WestJet is announcing a new international route out of Calgary next week. Hopefully this is something awesome and I'd personally like to see it be Australia.
There's no slack in the 787 fleet, and Sydney is too far from YYC anyway. They could maybe make Brisbane. But that's sort of academic, as the 787s are 100% committed for this summer anyway.
So basically it has to be somewhere within 737 range. And if it was US they'd have said trans-border. And since the minister of tourism is attending its probably a market that they're hoping to get inbound tourists on (ie not just a beach destination like somewhere in Cuba). And finally, the announcement is at a Mexican restaurant, which makes Mexico seem more likely.
Based on all that I think it's probably Mexico City. They have coverage to basically all the touristy places in Mexico already.
There's no slack in the 787 fleet, and Sydney is too far from YYC anyway. They could maybe make Brisbane. But that's sort of academic, as the 787s are 100% committed for this summer anyway.
So basically it has to be somewhere within 737 range. And if it was US they'd have said trans-border. And since the minister of tourism is attending its probably a market that they're hoping to get inbound tourists on (ie not just a beach destination like somewhere in Cuba). And finally, the announcement is at a Mexican restaurant, which makes Mexico seem more likely.
Based on all that I think it's probably Mexico City. They have coverage to basically all the touristy places in Mexico already.
If I remember correctly they already tried Mexico City in 2018 or 2019 and I don't think it worked out too well. It is possible that they have seen less than stellar sales on one of the 787 routes for this summer and are able to reduce capacity there and shift a tail onto a new route once or twice a week to make up the revenue.
There's no slack in the 787 fleet, and Sydney is too far from YYC anyway. They could maybe make Brisbane. But that's sort of academic, as the 787s are 100% committed for this summer anyway.
So basically it has to be somewhere within 737 range. And if it was US they'd have said trans-border. And since the minister of tourism is attending its probably a market that they're hoping to get inbound tourists on (ie not just a beach destination like somewhere in Cuba). And finally, the announcement is at a Mexican restaurant, which makes Mexico seem more likely.
Based on all that I think it's probably Mexico City. They have coverage to basically all the touristy places in Mexico already.
That would be great. We used to have mexico city, i think pre-pandemic, and it would be great if we got it again.
That would be great. We used to have mexico city, i think pre-pandemic, and it would be great if we got it again.
I looked for the old press releases and they did fly to Mexico City starting March 2018 with year round service from Calgary and Vancouver. By October they dropped the route (they did talk about potentially returning though)
Quote:
"It's just not performing up to the standards that we would like to see," WestJet chief financial officer Harry Taylor says of Mexico City. "We don't want to be cost-subsidising at this point."
Taylor adds that despite retrenching, WestJet still sees long-term opportunity to serve Mexico City and could return.
"Long term – there's something there," he tells FlightGlobal.
If I remember correctly they already tried Mexico City in 2018 or 2019 and I don't think it worked out too well. It is possible that they have seen less than stellar sales on one of the 787 routes for this summer and are able to reduce capacity there and shift a tail onto a new route once or twice a week to make up the revenue.
I think things might be different now. Calgary is bigger, and I think the inbound demand is probably higher now from MEX. Middle class and up folks from there come here for tourism in the mountains. We just came back from Puerto Vallarta and the people next to us in line were from Guadalajara and were flying up to ski.
And Canadian tourism has gotten more attractive for Mexicans since then. They don't exactly feel welcome in the US under Trump (Park City/Tahoe are substitutes for a Banff trip). And the Mexican peso has strengthened against the Canadian dollar by nearly 10% since 2019, while it's fallen against the USD. So Canada has gotten cheaper compared to the reasonable alternatives.
Depending on times I could also see there being some connecting traffic onto the Europe/Asia flights that wasn't possible last time.
That would actually be awesome because I have been planning to take my kids to Carlsbad Caverns so that would make things a lot easier. We were actually supposed to road trip down there in the summer of 2020 but COVID happened
That would actually be awesome because I have been planning to take my kids to Carlsbad Caverns so that would make things a lot easier. We were actually supposed to road trip down there in the summer of 2020 but COVID happened
