Westjet Employees

[g unit]

Close Thread Please.

[jdmakkord]

If you are looking for buddy passes, not a chance.

[g unit]

.

[403ep3]

Lol I doubt many ppl would help out a random person with a pass

[adamc]

Never going to happen.

There are a lot of rules and a code of conduct for those flying standby via a buddy pass, trust me I know.. my sister, girlfriend, and a handful of friends are Flight Attendants, and my brother in law and all of his friends are pilots for WJ and AC.

[g unit]

.

[FraserB]

Just a small favor right? Risk your job for a random internet person?

[msommers]

For a buddy pass, what is required for me as an employee? Work for x number of months/years, be full-time (or part-time) etc. Considering working there for my off-months for something to do and get sweet flight deals!

[g unit]

.

[jdmakkord]

It's against the company's code of conduct and rules related to employee travel benefits. I enjoy owning shares in the company, and seeing people attempt to take advantage of the program pisses me off. If you are too cheap to pay for a ticket, don't fly.

[CanmoreOrLess]

Not to mention it pisses off shareholders of which I am one of, and real paying customers who cannot book a seat due to abuse.

[MrSector9]

i am a real paying customer :(

ALSO if you didn't want people to be able to comment on your post it should have been put in the classifieds, possibly with a finders fee attached so then it would be somewhat of a legitimate classified ad.

so ince it is the general travel thread, where ya going?

[g unit]

Sorry, looks like I'm in the wrong section. As for those "pissed off" shareholders, I'm not sure how my actions are hurting your bottom line. The fact that it's a standby ticket means that ticket was NOT sold. In other words, that seat would be empty if a standby passenger such as myself wasn't there. Do you think the additional fuel cost due to my weight or the pop and snack they provide on-board is really hurting the company's bottom line? Time to take it easy boys.

[dflamzer]

Actually it does hurt the share holders as you are nothing but a cheap free loader to them instead of being a paying customer on the plane.

Pretty big difference. Who cares if the seats not sold, you just cost them money by trying to be cheap.

Air prices are already dirt cheap compared to what they were historically and it's people like you that only make it worse for the rest of us by trying to abuse the systems that are in place.

[lasimmon]

^^ i agree 100%. However, prices are not dirt cheap. $400 for a return flight from Calgary to Vancouver is beyond rediculous.

[prosh]

Originally posted by dflamzer
Actually it does hurt the share holders as you are nothing but a cheap free loader to them instead of being a paying customer on the plane.

Pretty big difference. Who cares if the seats not sold, you just cost them money by trying to be cheap.

Air prices are already dirt cheap compared to what they were historically and it's people like you that only make it worse for the rest of us by trying to abuse the systems that are in place.

Since when has wanting to save money turned into being cheap? As for prices being low, I don't think it's cheap for a family of 4 that has to dish out $1600 to fly out to Vancouver during the summer months because Air Can and Westjet have no competition. There's a reason why both companies have 'seatsales' on the same days 9/10 times.

[dflamzer]

No it's DIRT CHEAP. Too many people these days are way too accustomed to thinking flying to a city should cost $99 or $129. Here's the issue.

Back in the 60's, 70's and even 80's flying was considered a luxury and by rights it still should be as it's a faster method of getting you to your destination as opposed to driving a vehicle several hundred kilometers.

Here's the problem. Airline prices really haven't increased a lot with inflation. It physically cost more to fly in the 60's 70's and 80's then it does today. That alone is a problem.

A lot of the airline companies are making minimal profits while in a lot of cases their employees aren't being paid that well.

So no I'm sorry, but $1600 seems like a fair price to me to fly to vancouver and back for 4 people.

Seriously $200 a person each way. I really don't see how that's unrealistic considering the taxes on a flight. The problem is people expect to be able to flight to Hawaii for $149 plus tax and somehow expect the airlines to still profit on it when the profit margin is absolutely tiny.

Right now, flying is super cheap historically. If you can't afford it do what they used to do in the 80's and omg even the 90's DRIVE.

[lasimmon]

I can fly return to Mexico for the same I can fly to Vancouver return.

Something is wrong.

[msommers]

People expect those prices because we see those prices in Europe and the US for longer flights while being cheaper. I will side with the airlines for a moment because we just do not have the volume to fill planes like those do, the population density is too spread out. However customers want to be able to fly whatever day they want.

dflamzer, since you're clearing working with the airlines, what kind of costs are associated with running an airline? So far I've got:

- Fuel costs
- Infrastructure & storage
- Planes
- Staff
- Airport costs

Do you have any relative dollar figures for how much it costs the average sized plane to fly from calgary to vancouver, for the airline? I mean, what exactly means "minimal profits" in a dollar value?

[secol]

technically this guy wouldn't be a large additional cost since most of the costs for an airplane are sunk costs. just depends on whether or not he would fly if he had to fork out the full amount

[MrSector9]

I understand every company needs to make a profit, however when a company posts a Q2 42.5 million profit then the airfares are definantly not dirt cheap, if they were then they would be posting much less profit.

On a flight from Calgary to NB is approx $750($0.17/km) return after fees and taxes.

A flight Calgary-Mexico on the same dates return with fees is approx $500 ($0.14/km) ... mind you the flight is shorter (roughly 1000km shorter)

Like above I do understand that a company has to make a profit or there is no reason to stay in business, however with current "in canada" service it is most definantly priced as netiher company has any type of competition, to call the flights dirt cheap is completely wrong, could they be more expensive? they sure can but there is no reason for flights within canada over the same distances be sometimes 2 or 3 times as much as a flight south or europe on a seat sale.

not trying to be an ass or anything, just want to understand.

Also is there a rough cost expected/budgeted to operate per km?

[jdmakkord]

Airline pricing is based on supply and demand. Launch seat sales to drive interest and fill distressed inventory, and raise prices to increase margins on last minute bookings. Canadian airlines are at a disadvantage as all business is done in USD. When the dollar fluctuates, so do profits. The biggest cost disadvantage they have is the government and airport fees and taxes. It's expensive to fly within Canada. You have a small population spread over a huge area. Longer stage lengths lower an airlines ability to maximize profits. The profits you see reported are positive, but put against overall revenue the margins are slim. Airlines are a business, not a charity.

[brucebanner]

Originally posted by CanmoreOrLess
..real paying customers who cannot book a seat due to abuse.

It's a standby seat, so if there is an open seat, you take it. You get bumped for paying customers. I don't get why someone would get mad over that. :dunno:

Last xmas I was offered a buddy pass to use(had to be used by end of December) so I used it since the person working for the airline couldn't. I flew back to NS and using the buddy pass it costed me $300? for a round trip(since you still pay for taxes). Otherwise those flights would have costed me $1500+ during that time of year, easily.

The cost of flying in Canada is expensive but I guess, they make the prices and people have no choice here.

I booked flights last week to fly to Vegas/LA this week. Flying Calgary>Vegas, Vegas>LA, LA>Calgary costed me $500 for 3 flights. The flight from Vegas to LA was $60 with tax!

I don't know, I don't see a problem with a guy trying to do something for less money.

[dflamzer]

I don't work for an airline I'm just a frequent passenger that understands its a little bit more.

To start off with your comparison to mexico and vancouver isn't a good one unless the size of planes carrying the same number of passengers or the taxes paid to the airports upon arrival.

There are just a crap load of fees that people don't think about. They are endless.

Not to mention that some airlines don't even physically own all their own planes and are actually leasing them on a seasonal basis.

Everybody just assumes its a simple business where as in reality its vastly complex. The front line staff we see at the airport make up roughly 15% to 20% of the actual staff cost.

Each airline pays a substantial amount just to land and take off at an airport, then they pay for fuel, employee cost, maintenance, cost of airplanes, heck even the tires they go through cost several million a year. It's just not cheap.

You are then basing profits off westjet which somehow they seem to buck the trend and make money where as a lot of the US air lines are actually in a lot of trouble and again it isn't exactly cheap to fly in the states even between major hubs.

[MrSector9]

Originally posted by dflamzer
You are then basing profits off westjet which somehow they seem to buck the trend and make money where as a lot of the US air lines are actually in a lot of trouble and again it isn't exactly cheap to fly in the states even between major hubs.

That is the reason us flights are actually dirt cheap, competition driving charges down while operating at the same costs as other airlines that even charge a premium for a seat sale

[dflamzer]

Tell me again how that's a good thing? The eventual reality is you'll have two major airlines in the US and then the prices will go through the roof.

What we see in the US is failing airlines for the most part. Outside of Southwest Airlines none of the other major carriers are doing all that well.

So again how does that make sense?

[MrSector9]

Originally posted by dflamzer
Tell me again how that's a good thing? The eventual reality is you'll have two major airlines in the US and then the prices will go through the roof.

What we see in the US is failing airlines for the most part. Outside of Southwest Airlines none of the other major carriers are doing all that well.

So again how does that make sense?

First, at no point did I say anywhere it was a good thing but his is EXACTLY what the people are stating are the downfalls of current travel in canada, there is 2 companies, no real competition therefore they charge pretty much what they choose to stay within reason and not drive their customers to the other airline.

I am not saying that no profit is the answer, however I am stating the fact you said that the flights are "dirt cheap" is wrong, while we are not necessarily being gouged (depending on the flight you book and time you book it, Check christmas flights) we are also not paying dirt cheap prices as one of the airlines remains somewhat healthy financially and the other is forced to try to use the same rates.

If the states were reduced to 2 airlines the same thing would happen, the one that is healthy will keep tickets as low as they can while keeping the margins where they want and the other airline will be forced to follow.

I would also like to point out that I am not saying anywhere that they have to go under in order to serve the customer, I am just stating the facts that it is cheaper to use the same carrier and fly south then it is across canada and to me that is not right and the simple reason is the fact to fly south they have competition so they are forced to lower prices to stay competitive.

[dflamzer]

If you say so. I fly a lot with American Airlines and Southwest and I can tell you right now none of the flights are what you'd call cheap at all. It still costs several hundred dollars to fly from major destinations.

I think it's a pretty low point to argue considering flights to Hawaii from anywhere in North America are at a historical all time low especially when you adjust for inflation. It's almost stupid how prices have went.

[SOAB]

it's cheaper to fly south because more people want to go south. who the fuck wants to go east??? :D

[MrSector9]

Originally posted by SOAB
it's cheaper to fly south because more people want to go south. who the fuck wants to go east??? :D

haha only stupid people :banghead:

[Mar]

Originally posted by adamc
Never going to happen.

There are a lot of rules and a code of conduct for those flying standby via a buddy pass, trust me I know.. my sister, girlfriend, and a handful of friends are Flight Attendants, and my brother in law and all of his friends are pilots for WJ and AC.
They're a joke, I flew as a companion last year and was wearing some very nice Buffalo shots and Merrill sandals. When I got to the airport I was pulled aside and told my attire was inappropriate and I should have read the rules/regulations email which was sent to me by the employee I was flying under, that way I would know shorts were not allowed when travelling as companion or on a buddy pass. I very politely asked a couple of questions he didn't have the answer to so he got a manager to come over, we had a bit of a chat, very friendly and I got some education before going on my way.

When I got home I looked at the rules/regulations which clearly state I'm allowed to wear shorts. :facepalm:
The next day my friend got pulled into a meeting with his supervisor and almost got fired for me talking to the manager. Apparently I'm not allowed to ask questions, I should just say, "Thank you" and keep moving. :facepalm:

[jdmakkord]

Originally posted by Mar

They're a joke, I flew as a companion last year and was wearing some very nice Buffalo shots and Merrill sandals. When I got to the airport I was pulled aside and told my attire was inappropriate and I should have read the rules/regulations email which was sent to me by the employee I was flying under, that way I would know shorts were not allowed when travelling as companion or on a buddy pass. I very politely asked a couple of questions he didn't have the answer to so he got a manager to come over, we had a bit of a chat, very friendly and I got some education before going on my way.

When I got home I looked at the rules/regulations which clearly state I'm allowed to wear shorts. :facepalm:
The next day my friend got pulled into a meeting with his supervisor and almost got fired for me talking to the manager. Apparently I'm not allowed to ask questions, I should just say, "Thank you" and keep moving. :facepalm:

I've seen employees being denied boarding for not following the standby dress code. Doesn't explain your case, but it does happen.

[dflamzer]

And I've seen employees fly standby going to Hawaii with their daughter having no less than 8 pieces of luggage as carry on. It literally makes no sense. I can't forget that trip as they put my carry on at the back of the plane as she had taken all the space up front so we had to wait a good 20 minutes after landing to get it.

[jdmakkord]

I suppose that there are perks for working for the airline. I enjoy mine. Great discussion has spawned thanks to the OP that gave up. Lol.

[dflamzer]

I dunno about perks. AC and Westerjet allow their employees to violate FAA and Transport Canada laws.

I've seen AC bump paying customers out of their seats for their off duty flight crew only to seat the paying customers in less desirable locations and often splitting up couples in the process. This is something I've seen on no less than 4 different occasions.