Westjet sold to Onex corporation

[Tik-Tok]

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I fly a lot, I've had cheery and bitchy attendants on both. Although to be fair, I've only had the singing ones on WJ, but I wouldn't choose what airline to fly based on singing haha.

If they're the same price, I'd rather pay for the ones who don't sing, unless it's at a professional level.

[revelations]

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People bitch and moan about which airline in Canada is better - but neglect to complain about the capital controls on airlines that stifle competition in this country

All in an effort to protect Quebec, if I recall correctly, what Mr. Milton said in his book.

[Misterman]

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In economy? Nothing. Seriously, both AC and WJ are pretty much the same, to the point when WJ started charging for checked baggage, AC followed their footsteps within a week. WJ is still a few % cheaper on price than AC where they have the same routes for the same booking class, AC business class trumps WJ (although WJ is slowly catching up), and AC is way better for frequent flyers especially internationally with their partners.

I fly a lot, I've had cheery and bitchy attendants on both. Although to be fair, I've only had the singing ones on WJ, but I wouldn't choose what airline to fly based on singing haha.

Lol. That's actually one thing I hate about WJ. They seem to pride themselves on that silly safety demonstration. Just record it and put it on the seat back TV like AC does so I don't have to be bothered by it.

I would agree with your sentiment mostly about service. I've found WJ to have a little more cheerful staff though. My main reason for flying so much with WJ, is that they have great flight times. AC is royally fucked in that aspect, their flight times are absolute shit for anywhere I ever need to go.

[ThePenIsMightier]

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I would agree with your sentiment mostly about service. I've found WJ to have a little more cheerful staff though. My main reason for flying so much with WJ, is that they have great flight times. AC is royally fucked in that aspect, their flight times are absolute shit for anywhere I ever need to go.

Agree.
Direct flights daily to Victoria:
WestJet = 5
AC = 0

And I think @rage2 said WJ charged for bags first. I'm virtually certain it was AC. WJ held out as long as they could and even had an ad campaign to brag but eventually they decided to gouge like their competitor since it didn't seem to be hurting AC.

[ee2k]

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Lol. That's actually one thing I hate about WJ. They seem to pride themselves on that silly safety demonstration. Just record it and put it on the seat back TV like AC does so I don't have to be bothered by it.

I would agree with your sentiment mostly about service. I've found WJ to have a little more cheerful staff though. My main reason for flying so much with WJ, is that they have great flight times. AC is royally fucked in that aspect, their flight times are absolute shit for anywhere I ever need to go.

Westjet is trying to be the best of both worlds: the cheerful airline that gets them the likes on FaceBook and Instagram, and the professional full service airline that gets them the big $$s that would make them profitable by attracting Business travelers who are the bread and butter of any airline.

I personally find AC's flight times and their partnership with UA to work better for me for anywhere I want to go (with the exception of coming back from Las Vegas.) Westjet's California flight times for example are geared towards families traveling during the day, and not for the weekend hopper that wants to fly out after work on Friday and come back late Sunday. With other service, AC meets all my needs.

What destinations doesn't AC meet your flight times at?

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Agree.
Direct flights daily to Victoria:
WestJet = 5
AC = 0

And I think @rage2 said WJ charged for bags first. I'm virtually certain it was AC. WJ held out as long as they could and even had an ad campaign to brag but eventually they decided to gouge like their competitor since it didn't seem to be hurting AC.

Remember that Westjet is a Calgary based airline, and AC is not and does not deem Calgary to be its hub. As a result, they do not have the flights you speak of. They have increased service in/out of YYC in recent years, but they are still not the hometown airline that WS is. But they provide hourly flights to Vancouver and onward connections from there to many more places. If there's no $ to be made on YYC-YYJ, they will not offer the service.

I would have had more respect for WS if it held out and did not charge for bags. But they do. They held out enough to remain liked and then folded because the $ is too good to pass up. Southwest Airlines in the US still doesn't charge for bags and that's what differentiates them.

Don't get me wrong I use both Westjet and Air Canada depending on schedules and fares, but I don't subscribe to the Westjet is better than Air Canada diatribe that is very Calgary centric.

[Maxx Mazda]

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Agree.
Direct flights daily to Victoria:
WestJet = 5
AC = 0

And I think @rage2 said WJ charged for bags first. I'm virtually certain it was AC. WJ held out as long as they could and even had an ad campaign to brag but eventually they decided to gouge like their competitor since it didn't seem to be hurting AC.

From Calgary? AC offers several non-stop daily flights from YYC-YYJ and return.

[rage2]

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And I think @rage2 said WJ charged for bags first. I'm virtually certain it was AC. WJ held out as long as they could and even had an ad campaign to brag but eventually they decided to gouge like their competitor since it didn't seem to be hurting AC.

You're wrong. They were investigated for collusion over it.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/cla...tjet-1.3779257

On Sept. 15, 2014, WestJet announced its new $25 checked bag charge. Air Canada made its announcement just three days later, on Sept. 18. WestJet starting charging the fee the following month, days before Air Canada did.

Pretty clear there.

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Agree.
Direct flights daily to Victoria:
WestJet = 5
AC = 0

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What destinations doesn't AC meet your flight times at?

Some of the west coast is kinda weak. Victoria definitely WJ > AC, although there's direct Victoria to Calgary on a dash-8 which blows. Calgary to Victoria I had to layover in Vancouver on AC which wasn't terrible because of good food in Van, but WJ direct would've been better for sure. Kamloops used to be WJ > AC mainly because AC flew that route on their Dash-8 while WJ had a more comfy bigger plane, but now WJ has downgraded to a dash-8 as well so it's even. West coast excluding Vancouver is where I fly WJ more often than AC.

edit - Maxx Mazda is right. AC has 3 direct flights out in the dash-8. WJ is still better though it flies Victoria in a 737.

[Misterman]

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Westjet is trying to be the best of both worlds: the cheerful airline that gets them the likes on FaceBook and Instagram, and the professional full service airline that gets them the big $$s that would make them profitable by attracting Business travelers who are the bread and butter of any airline.

I personally find AC's flight times and their partnership with UA to work better for me for anywhere I want to go (with the exception of coming back from Las Vegas.) Westjet's California flight times for example are geared towards families traveling during the day, and not for the weekend hopper that wants to fly out after work on Friday and come back late Sunday. With other service, AC meets all my needs.

What destinations doesn't AC meet your flight times at?

Cancun, Vegas, Toronto to name a few. I think the only time I found it was more beneficial to use AC was when I flew to Saskatoon one time. Oh and I probably shouldn't make a sweeping statement that their flight times are all terrible. They do have the odd flight times that line up, but for some reason they will be 200$ more than WJ.

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Remember that Westjet is a Calgary based airline, and AC is not and does not deem Calgary to be its hub. As a result, they do not have the flights you speak of. They have increased service in/out of YYC in recent years, but they are still not the hometown airline that WS is. But they provide hourly flights to Vancouver and onward connections from there to many more places. If there's no $ to be made on YYC-YYJ, they will not offer the service.

I would have had more respect for WS if it held out and did not charge for bags. But they do. They held out enough to remain liked and then folded because the $ is too good to pass up. Southwest Airlines in the US still doesn't charge for bags and that's what differentiates them.

Don't get me wrong I use both Westjet and Air Canada depending on schedules and fares, but I don't subscribe to the Westjet is better than Air Canada diatribe that is very Calgary centric.

To this day I do not understand how all the airlines screwed up this bag checking fee so badly. It's all about marketing. Instead of a 25$ fee for checked bag, just increase all your fares by 15$ and claim to not charge for bags. They still make the checked bag revenue, and the customers are none the wiser about an extra 15$ due to how volatile flight pricing is to begin with. And most people aren't booking a particular flight to save 15$, they're booking it because it gets them where they need to be at a certain time. So the business shouldn't loose out on customer base.

[Buster]

I'm pretty sure @rage2 considers airline companies to be lounge operators who just happen to run shuttle flights between lounges.

[killramos]

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I'm pretty sure @rage2 considers airline companies to be lounge operators who just happen to run shuttle flights between lounges.

If that was the case Westjet definitely loses lol

[bjstare]

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I'm pretty sure @rage2 considers airline companies to be lounge operators who just happen to run shuttle flights between lounges.

Wait, so are you saying this isn't the case?

[rage2]

Those aren’t shuttles. They’re mobile lounges.

[ThePenIsMightier]

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From Calgary? AC offers several non-stop daily flights from YYC-YYJ and return.

*On a flying school bus, yes...
Perhaps I was recalling Edmonton where there was/is no AC options without a Vancouver stop.

Oh, and @rage2 I must've been thinking about their non Canadian flights. After some digging, it looks like AC was charging for bags before WJ in that instance.

[rage2]

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*On a flying school bus, yes...

Guaranteed WJ will slowly change that route to a dash-8 under Encore at some point to cut costs. Like I said earlier, they did it to Kamloops already as Encore grew their fleet of Q400's. I'll bet AC's 3 daily flights on Q400's are more profitable than WJ's 5 on 737s.

[ercchry]

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Onex - are they in the business of buying low-performing businesses and then selling them 5 years later? (eg. 50$ share).

In other words, are they in it for short term gain? (ie. their analysts have identified issues they can fix and turn around)

Blue horseshoe love blue star airlines!

But in all seriousness... the whole nickel and dining thing that was supposed to make things cheaper is no longer the case.

Over $800 return with WJ to YYZ this summer when factoring in the $40 charge for the right to cancel or change, and $30 each way for a fucking checked bag

...then and extra $400 on top to take my dogs out

[cam_wmh]

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People bitch and moan about which airline in Canada is better - but neglect to complain about the capital controls on airlines that stifle competition in this country

Foreign Ownership limits? Please elaborate.

[Buster]

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Foreign Ownership limits? Please elaborate.

Canadians must own 51% of an airline.

No foreign individual can own more than 25%

No foreign air carrier can own more than 25%

[kertejud2]

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Foreign Ownership limits? Please elaborate.

All part of the game in the airline industry:



Unless there was a huge spike in investment in the air industry after going from 25% to 49% in 2018 I doubt Canada will be in a big rush to change it again soon without another big change from somebody else.

[dino_martini]

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To this day I do not understand how all the airlines screwed up this bag checking fee so badly. It's all about marketing. Instead of a 25$ fee for checked bag, just increase all your fares by 15$ and claim to not charge for bags. They still make the checked bag revenue, and the customers are none the wiser about an extra 15$ due to how volatile flight pricing is to begin with. And most people aren't booking a particular flight to save 15$, they're booking it because it gets them where they need to be at a certain time. So the business shouldn't loose out on customer base.

It's all an illusion man. Airlines un-bundled things like Seat Selection, Baggage, Meals, to give the public the impression they are getting a less expensive ticket. Instead its just been a huge money maker for airlines. Unfortunately in Canada you have two major players, WestJet and Air Canada, who basically coexist peacefully with each other. WestJet adds $5 to their bag fee, oh here comes Air Canada to do the same. Same thing happened in the states because you have four major airlines with 80% of the market share. I don't know what AC and WS make off those fees, but in the states they bring in over $4 billion worth of revenue to the airlines. It freaking sucks. The best you can do now to avoid those fees is fly frequently enough that the airline sees your business as important and will waive the fee due to your status, or get one of the credit cards that supplies you with a free bag.

[Maxx Mazda]

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It's all an illusion man. Airlines un-bundled things like Seat Selection, Baggage, Meals, to give the public the impression they are getting a less expensive ticket. Instead its just been a huge money maker for airlines. Unfortunately in Canada you have two major players, WestJet and Air Canada, who basically coexist peacefully with each other. WestJet adds $5 to their bag fee, oh here comes Air Canada to do the same. Same thing happened in the states because you have four major airlines with 80% of the market share. I don't know what AC and WS make off those fees, but in the states they bring in over $4 billion worth of revenue to the airlines. It freaking sucks. The best you can do now to avoid those fees is fly frequently enough that the airline sees your business as important and will waive the fee due to your status, or get one of the credit cards that supplies you with a free bag.

Do you think flying should be free? That airlines should operate as not for profits? They’re providing a service, which costs money. If you don’t like that service, or the price, you’re free to go elsewhere.