Westjet Lost My Luggage

[The Big Thirsty]

Both Air Canada (On a Domestic level) and Westjet would cease to exist if the Canadian government ever opened up the skies to some competition. That's why I have a good laugh when the Air Canada employees scream " Government shouldn't be involved in a private business" and stamp their feet when they get ordered back to work after each attempted strike. If it wasn't for government intervening in the first place, they'd be out of business.

[Mayo]

I would rate WestJet a lot higher than AC. Though AC definitely has a worse reputation than it deserves...except for the Jazz division, they are worse than United flights.

[The Big Thirsty]

Originally Posted by Mayo

I would rate WestJet a lot higher than AC. Though AC definitely has a worse reputation than it deserves...except for the Jazz division, they are worse than United flights.

Yeah, Jazz is absolute garbage. Fortunately most Jazz flights are under 2 hours.

[Ryan Coke]

Live TV was cutting edge when we got it, but when Bell put up a new satellite that only covers Canada it hurt things. There is going to be a new system, but not ready yet. Sorry for anyone who is stuck with a 'dark' plane in the meantime. The new system is expected to be wifi based, with some live content (like sports) as well as pre recorded options. Eventually Internet as well.

Air Canada long ago realized they had to match Westjet on price or get killed faster than they already are. I isn't that WJ prices have necessarily gone up, but that AC has a policy of matching. When Westjet is higher, it is because the airplane is getting full and the commodity is getting scarce, so the prices go up. The flights are very full lately, I'd suggest booking early.

Be careful of baggage fees when booking a cheaper fare with an American carrier, it will often cancel out the savings.

Anyone who is an experienced flyer normally recognizes that both Canadian carriers are well above most US carriers. I can assure you that Westjet would be fine with competition from US carriers as long as they are subject to the same taxes and fees that Canadian airlines are subject to.

To the OP, I tend to have the same suspicions as JonDuke of your situation. Perhaps that is unfair, and either way hopefully you are able to get it rectified satisfactorily.

[Jimmy Stang]

I tend to bring my own in-flight entertainment - reading, movies, games on my phone or tablet. One thing that I would find quite appealing would be in-flight wifi. I believe that the regulations are a little behind here in Canada which is what is preventing it from being introduced. Does anyone know when/if we might start seeing wifi on planes here?

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Bonded

Looks pretty good.

Does it keep things decently wrinkle free?

Yeah, better than anything other than an actual garment bag. PLus it is amazing how much other stuff can fit in the internal compartments. You can easily fit clothes for a couple days, but the more you stuff you put in the more the wrinkles increase, obviously.

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Yeah, better than anything other than an actual garment bag. PLus it is amazing how much other stuff can fit in the internal compartments. You can easily fit clothes for a couple days, but the more you stuff you put in the more the wrinkles increase, obviously.

Interesting, I will have to check it out

[The Big Thirsty]

Originally Posted by Ryan Coke

Live TV was cutting edge when we got it, but when Bell put up a new satellite that only covers Canada it hurt things. There is going to be a new system, but not ready yet. Sorry for anyone who is stuck with a 'dark' plane in the meantime. The new system is expected to be wifi based, with some live content (like sports) as well as pre recorded options. Eventually Internet as well.

Air Canada long ago realized they had to match Westjet on price or get killed faster than they already are. I isn't that WJ prices have necessarily gone up, but that AC has a policy of matching. When Westjet is higher, it is because the airplane is getting full and the commodity is getting scarce, so the prices go up. The flights are very full lately, I'd suggest booking early.

Be careful of baggage fees when booking a cheaper fare with an American carrier, it will often cancel out the savings.

Anyone who is an experienced flyer normally recognizes that both Canadian carriers are well above most US carriers. I can assure you that Westjet would be fine with competition from US carriers as long as they are subject to the same taxes and fees that Canadian airlines are subject to.

To the OP, I tend to have the same suspicions as JonDuke of your situation. Perhaps that is unfair, and either way hopefully you are able to get it rectified satisfactorily.

Speaking as someone who flies frequently and who originally hails from the other side of the country. I can assure you that Westjet prices have increased. It costs my wife and myself, on average, $200-$300 more roundtrip to fly back East than it did 5 years ago. Air Canada may have been forced to originally decrease prices to keep up with Westjet, but it's been increasing back up over the years with Westjet and Air Canada matching dollar for dollar. The industry in which Air Canada and Westjet do business in Canada is closer to being in a form of monopoly than they are a pure competitive environment (through no fault of either company).

I just booked a trip to San Diego in June. Total cost of the round trip through Delta was $360 (including all taxes). Same flight on same day with Westjet (without even consideration of the flight leaves at 7 am on Delta and at like 7 pm on Westjet giving me an entire extra day there) was $600. Its costing me $50 to check my bag ($25 each way which is the standard), so even with consideration that my roundtrip ticket is $190 (32%) cheaper by avoiding Canadian Airlines altogether. People don't need to watch the baggage fees at all with US Airlines like you suggest. What they need to be watching for is if there is a US option available, because if there is, even in Calgary you can save a boat load of money by avoiding both Air Canada and Westjet altogether.

I don't believe you can take a US carrier for domestics flights within Canada because I believe the law is that a US company (say United) can only sell a ticket to a Canadian if they board in Canada and land in the US (and vice versa). I could be wrong on that though.

[The Big Thirsty]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Yeah, better than anything other than an actual garment bag. PLus it is amazing how much other stuff can fit in the internal compartments. You can easily fit clothes for a couple days, but the more you stuff you put in the more the wrinkles increase, obviously.

That thing looks awesome. What does it retail for?

[The Big Thirsty]

Originally Posted by Ryan Coke

Live TV was cutting edge when we got it, but when Bell put up a new satellite that only covers Canada it hurt things. There is going to be a new system, but not ready yet. Sorry for anyone who is stuck with a 'dark' plane in the meantime. The new system is expected to be wifi based, with some live content (like sports) as well as pre recorded options. Eventually Internet as well.

Air Canada long ago realized they had to match Westjet on price or get killed faster than they already are. I isn't that WJ prices have necessarily gone up, but that AC has a policy of matching. When Westjet is higher, it is because the airplane is getting full and the commodity is getting scarce, so the prices go up. The flights are very full lately, I'd suggest booking early.

Be careful of baggage fees when booking a cheaper fare with an American carrier, it will often cancel out the savings.

Anyone who is an experienced flyer normally recognizes that both Canadian carriers are well above most US carriers. I can assure you that Westjet would be fine with competition from US carriers as long as they are subject to the same taxes and fees that Canadian airlines are subject to.

To the OP, I tend to have the same suspicions as JonDuke of your situation. Perhaps that is unfair, and either way hopefully you are able to get it rectified satisfactorily.

I was told by a Westjet flight attendant in August that there would be no more tv in the near future due to the bell deal expiring, and that it would all be done through tablets which you would have to "rent" during the flight. I'm assuming you work there. Have you heard otherwise?

[Ryan Coke]

Correct, no more TV. It will be wifi based, feeding whatever device you wish to use. For example, you bring your iPad, and via wifi there is free selectable pre recorded content. The goal is also some live TV content like sports and news, as well as Internet. I don't know if that will be available initially.

Westjet realizes that the inflight entertainment product has fallen behind, and is working to correct that and provide a much improved product. I don't know if there will still be some tablets for rent, but I believe that is an interim offering. The goal is based on the fact that most guests bring there own devices anyway, so the content would then be delivered to those devices via wifi.

The tvs will be in the aircraft it is currently installed in until a new system is finalized and installed.

[Teh_Bandwagoner]

I flew around between Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Calgary a couple weeks ago on Westjet. In this period I learned that Westjet serves Clamato as part of their comps. I was super stoked and ordered a Clamato every time the server came around. And who doesn't like Bits n' Bites??

I just wanted to share that k thx bye.

[moon]

I haven't flown Westjet a ton due to the fact that I found it awful when I did and the fact that I mainly fly overseas but what I do seem to notice is those people that like Westjet get very defensive and upset if you say anything bad about it. The excuses that can come up when anything poor is said about it is comical at times.

Like I said I like AC, would recommend it to anyone if asked and will choose it 100 times out of 100 over Westjet (unless getting some ridiculous deal on WJ) but if people have a problem with AC or have had a bad experience then that is their view. I am not going to start telling them how it was likely their fault or bad attitude or that they had some stick up their behind before this about AC. Westjet "owners" are almost as obnoxious as their terrible FA's.

[Jake]

I hopefully had my last flight with WestJet over the holidays. My last 5-6 flights with them have been over 1 hour late, with one flight reaching 3 hours late. They also have terrible customer service. My experience with Air Canada has been much better.

I tried to change my flight over the holidays, and it took 3 days. After going through their automated phone system for about 10 minutes, I finally reached the option to either get a call back or wait for a representative. I chose to wait, but at that point they tell you the wait time is 2.5 hours, and there is no option to go back and get a call back. So I hung up, went through the stupid automated system again, and chose to get a call back. The call back was scheduled the next day, over 24 hours from the time I called. The next day, I receive no call back, go through the process again, and, again, nobody actually calls me back. At that point I sent an email to customer service, and they called me back a day later.

On the bright side, they did give me a free seat selection to make up for it. I ended up having to selected the coveted row 9/isle seat as pretty much every seat was already taken. Amazing customer service huh?

[malcolmk14]

I've flown around 50-60 times on Westjet in the past 3-ish years and have never had a bad flight or customer service experience except for a couple snarly flight attendants, but that happens on every airline.

I hadn't flown AC in a while because I was enjoying flying Westjet but my last 5 flights have been with AC, and 4 of those 5 flights have been seriously delayed/cancelled/missed connections or baggage has shown up late.

So based on that purely anecdotal evidence, Westjet's better.

[wooohooo]

Both airlines are way ahead of most of the US competitors. That said, I'd fly with whoever gets me the cheaper rate. If that's the same I'll usually stick with Air Can since their entertainment selection is much better.

I don't always want to spend the time downloading shows or movies for my flight or take out a laptop. I love the options and movies Air Canada gives and that's usually why I like sticking to them.

Yeah, service isn't great but whatever, I talk/see them maybe once or twice? I spend the rest of my time watching tv. Last time I took a flight with Westjet was to Hawaii I think, no TV pretty much the whole time. That was a painful flight... there is only so much you can sleep.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by The Big Thirsty

That thing looks awesome. What does it retail for?

I don't know, I was given mine as a wedding gift.

[tvp2003]

Random WJ story: we were flying to Chicago last year and I believe the plane was a little late coming in so the WJ person working at the gate -- a girl probably in her early 20's -- proceeds to "entertain" the crowd by performing a solo dance/song routine including an interpretive dance. It literally lasted for a good four to five minutes. And to make things extra awkward, there was not one single clap at the end. Dead silence.

[Yeah_Baby]

I think the most disturbing thing I read was that someone was forced to shop at Tip Top Tailors for a suit.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

I think the most disturbing thing I read was that someone was forced to shop at Tip Top Tailors for a suit.

It could have been Value Village