Calgary International Airport - New Terminal, Runway, Control Tower

[Phil1111]

Ryanair went from investor darling to what is now the worst customer service among 100 UK brands. Currently they are having pilot shortage issues.
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/...tors-1.3229220

Swoop may be a partial response of Westjet management to the union -pilots vote.

[Bigtime]

I'm pretty sure the ULCC was already in the works before the pilots voted to unionize.

[Bigtime]

WestJet just announced year round non-stop flights from Calgary to Mexico City.

Flights will start March 2018 and operate 4 times weekly, then come April 29 it will operate daily.

They will be competing with Aeromexico on this route.

[Resolute 14]

Yeah, Swoop is Westjet's effort to head off low fare carriers like New Leaf and Frontier more than anything else. No frills flying works, and its coming, so WestJet is trying to stay out in front of it.

As far as Ryan Air goes... If Swoop is anything like that, you're in for an experience in what "no frills" really means. The flip side is that, by bringing only a small backpack and doing everything online, I flew from Edinburgh to Dublin for about €15.

[jammies]

RyanAir is the worst airline I've ever flown, and I can't imagine going on any flight longer than an hour with them. Anyone taller than 6' should be wary of anyone that wants to cut down the space between seats, it's already inadequate on most airlines for medium to long haul flights.

[Roger]

Will they play 'hang on swoopy, swoopy hang on' during turbulence? Probably have to buy the headphones to enjoy that.

[FireGilbert]

Isn't West Jet already pretty much a no frills airline? You already have to pay for baggage and food/drinks. How much lower can they go? More expensive baggage fees and pay for use toilets?

I don't mind flying the cheap no frills airlines as long as you carefully read the details and understand exactly what you are paying for. I had a great experience flying EasyJet from Luton to Madrid. The flight cost less than the train fare from London haha.

[lucky1]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

WestJet just announced year round non-stop flights from Calgary to Mexico City.

Flights will start March 2018 and operate 4 times weekly, then come April 29 it will operate daily.

They will be competing with Aeromexico on this route.

Westjet is doing some crazy things these days - you used to be able to book codeshare flights on the Westjet website on Aeromexico - now it seems they dropped that - I also received an announcement from Flying Blue that Westjest had fully joined flying blue as a partner.
It will be difficult I think for WJ to compete with Aeromexico on this route, dependant on timing. With Aeromexico, its a red eye, so you make early morning connections out of Terminal 2 so damn easy. Westjet will probably be out of terminal 1, which means a complete pain in the ass to clear customs and transfer over (MEX is a pain at times). As well, Aeromexico will give you as much booze as you can drink, and feed you. Good to have competition on this route though, will be interesting to see how this plays out - I recently booked one of my trips to manzanillo on Aeromexico via Mexico city rather than the WJ direct as it was literally 1/2 the price

[TheAlpineOracle]

So how come when entering back into Canada through Vancouver you don't have to fill out that archaic customs form (done digitally), but when going through Calgary we still have to? Our New airport isn't even a year old, you'd think we'd have the newer technology. I found that weird.

[STeeLy]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

So how come when entering back into Canada through Vancouver you don't have to fill out that archaic customs form (done digitally), but when going through Calgary we still have to? Our New airport isn't even a year old, you'd think we'd have the newer technology. I found that weird.

I believe that not long after the International Terminal opened in Calgary, those border kiosks were installed in Vancouver. I think the kisoks were installed in Vancouver in March 2017.

CBSA also has the declaration form as an app, but I think those could only be used at the Automatic kiosks as well... and not in Calgary.

[Phil1111]

Originally Posted by FireGilbert

I had a great experience flying EasyJet from Luton to Madrid. The flight cost less than the train fare from London haha.

The EU ain't Canada. Here the feds feel air travelers are a cow to be milked dry every day.
- airport rents
-fuel taxes
-security fees
-infrastructure fees

IMO AC need to be equipped with relief tubes so any flight over Ottawa can deliver an appropriate message.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by STeeLy

I believe that not long after the International Terminal opened in Calgary, those border kiosks were installed in Vancouver. I think the kisoks were installed in Vancouver in March 2017.

CBSA also has the declaration form as an app, but I think those could only be used at the Automatic kiosks as well... and not in Calgary.

So really our kiosks were out of date before they really even started. What a #### show this new airport turned out to be.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Just an absolutely brutal experience with a westjet code share. Westjet blaming delta, delta blaming Westjet, with zero assistance. I would advice against using westjet for any code share flights. Nowhere near as sophisticated as stat alliance. I would have been willing to cut them
Some slack given the events of yesterday, but the blame game doesn't sit well with me.

[Resolute 14]

I've found WestJet's overall service to be very mediocre for many years now. People still judge both airlines based on what they were 15 years ago. But what WestJet is today is a very distant second best to Air Canada.

[Ducay]

Aside from Air Canada's shoddy setup in YYC & YYZ for zone boarding (ie zerg rush everyone into the zone 3-5 lines and spend 20 minutes yelling at people on the PA), they are miles above Westjet.

They just need to lay out their gates better to allow for all 5 zone "corrals" like they have at most YVR gates and they'd be golden.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by STeeLy

I believe that not long after the International Terminal opened in Calgary, those border kiosks were installed in Vancouver. I think the kisoks were installed in Vancouver in March 2017.

CBSA also has the declaration form as an app, but I think those could only be used at the Automatic kiosks as well... and not in Calgary.

If you have Nexus, you don't need to fill out the form in Calgary.

I highly suggest that even if you travel out of country 1-2 times a year, to get a nexus.

[STeeLy]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

If you have Nexus, you don't need to fill out the form in Calgary.

I highly suggest that even if you travel out of country 1-2 times a year, to get a nexus.

Pretty sure you don't have to fill the form at any Canadian entry points that have the nexus machines.

Sent from my STV100-1 using Tapatalk

[Stealth22]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

I've found WestJet's overall service to be very mediocre for many years now. People still judge both airlines based on what they were 15 years ago. But what WestJet is today is a very distant second best to Air Canada.

With all due respect, I disagree. In the last 5 years, my family's experience with AC has never been pleasant. Aside from the pilots, the staff and crews at AC simply don't have a fata about the customer.

We've had way better service with WestJet...my last trip with WS, my wife and I had one rude agent at LGA (because New York), compared to virtually all of the agents at AC.

When you complain to AC, they give you a half-hearted apology and politely tell you to go to hell. I complained to WS about the bad experience we had (the only one in years of flying with them), and they gave us $200 in credits on the spot.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

If you have Nexus, you don't need to fill out the form in Calgary.

I highly suggest that even if you travel out of country 1-2 times a year, to get a nexus.

I'll be using Nexus twice in the next month. Going to Vegas in a few weeks then Florida next month.

Having not been to the US since i got my card, this will be the first time I use it for cross border travel and first time I've ever used the new terminal.

Anything I should know?

I presume there is clear signage and such and the kiosks are pretty straight forward.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Stealth22

With all due respect, I disagree. In the last 5 years, my family's experience with AC has never been pleasant. Aside from the pilots, the staff and crews at AC simply don't have a fata about the customer.

We've had way better service with WestJet...my last trip with WS, my wife and I had one rude agent at LGA (because New York), compared to virtually all of the agents at AC.

When you complain to AC, they give you a half-hearted apology and politely tell you to go to hell. I complained to WS about the bad experience we had (the only one in years of flying with them), and they gave us $200 in credits on the spot.

Your avatar makes it somewhat difficult to take this as objective. However, as one point: if everyone is rude to you, then the odds are extremely high that you are the problem and not everyone else.

It's also interesting that you are judging the airlines based only on how they react when you complain. Myself, I've had better experiences with AC on boarding, service, support, food options, timeliness of departure and when forced to make schedule changes.