Air Canada vs WestJet
- Thread starter Hank C
- Start date
WestJet, they stopped flying in and out of New York recently 
. Too bad, their prices were great, the staff friendly and had spanking new aircraft. Air Canada sucks and is expensive.
. Too bad, their prices were great, the staff friendly and had spanking new aircraft. Air Canada sucks and is expensive.
Air Canada has been a "national airline", and as such, was forced to provide service to places that were not profitable in order to provide service to all. In these changing times, with deregulation and all, Air Canada has had to shed most of these non-profitable routes, and get rid of excess staff to get themselves out of the red. They are not there yet and still have trouble competing with bargain basement operations like Westjet. Air Canada has probably the best safety, and service record in the world over the last fifty years. To say, "Air Canada sucks", just shows ignorance and lack of knowledge. I will be the first to admit that Westjet seems to be a well run organization but but we are comparing apples and oranges.
Definately Air Canada. Great service, comfortable jets, excellent safety record and pretty friendly staff. Westjet are just too budget for me, and if they ever flew a flight for more than 3 hours, I wouldn't fly that route. You get what you pay for, and Air Canada has been rated the best overall airline in the world in the past, and it still meets very high standards.
I agree with #juan, saying otherwise is pure ignorance.
I agree with #juan, saying otherwise is pure ignorance.
Airlines are rated based on personal experience, what was a good experience for one flyer was a bad for another. I have flown Air Canada in the past mulitple times and haven't had very good experiences with them. It's not ignorance, it's an opinion.
Juan, you have a point about comparing the company structures and history, but when it comes down to the "user experience" it is comparing essentially the same things.
International flights with AC have been good in the past from my experience, but overall I have found their customer service to be "snarky" and after a couple bad experiences with them I simply do not fly with them at all anymore. Westjet for the most part has friendly staff and I will use them if need be, but I actually find that people that claim any canadain airline to have wonderful service are speaking out of not travelling on non-canadian airlines (yes there are worse than canadian standards as well).
International flights with AC have been good in the past from my experience, but overall I have found their customer service to be "snarky" and after a couple bad experiences with them I simply do not fly with them at all anymore. Westjet for the most part has friendly staff and I will use them if need be, but I actually find that people that claim any canadain airline to have wonderful service are speaking out of not travelling on non-canadian airlines (yes there are worse than canadian standards as well).
I've flown Air Canada around the world and I gotta say that the service level has always been an A+. Budget airlines like WestJet and *gasp* JetsGo have always made me nervous. I've never found WestJet prices to be reasonable for the level of service the provide. Just my 0,02€
.... jetsgo is gone.... which is one risk taken booking well in advance with airlines that are being run without sound planning.
our inside name for westjet is "worstjet" or "the worsties", Andem. I only use them if necessary at the last minute.
You have been fortunate with AC. They can be very nice, or at least pretend to be, so long as nothing actually makes them get out of routine. (from experience)
our inside name for westjet is "worstjet" or "the worsties", Andem. I only use them if necessary at the last minute.
You have been fortunate with AC. They can be very nice, or at least pretend to be, so long as nothing actually makes them get out of routine. (from experience)
My experience with Air Canada has always been very good. Once over some very slight inconvenience they upgraded my wife and I to first class from Boston to Toronto. I haven’t flown Westjet but family and friends have and I have never heard any complaints.
ITN as we are now in the consumer corner what are some of bad experiences? Might help us to make an intelligent decision next time we travel.
ITN as we are now in the consumer corner what are some of bad experiences? Might help us to make an intelligent decision next time we travel.
I'm retired now,
But during my working life I flew on enough different airlines to appreciate the good ones. My two favourites in Canada, were Air Canada, and Canada 3000(now defunct, too bad). CPair(also defunct) probably had the best meals of any airline. Outside Canada, I liked Lufthanza, and BOAC (now British Airways).
But during my working life I flew on enough different airlines to appreciate the good ones. My two favourites in Canada, were Air Canada, and Canada 3000(now defunct, too bad). CPair(also defunct) probably had the best meals of any airline. Outside Canada, I liked Lufthanza, and BOAC (now British Airways).
#juan said:
I can appreciate all of those choices. Overall I would rate my favourites as:
1. Swiss (tied)
1. British Airways (tied)
2. Lufthansa
3. Air Canada
I gotta admit that the reason why Swiss is so high up might be because of the yummy chocolate they serve (with Mövenpick icecream).
I understand the level of quality service and meals on international flights fars out compares what one gets, or got, on a domestic flight.
The last time I flew Air Canada I was served a cold dinner which consisted of undercooked chicken, it was still pink and bleeding in some areas, and fries and gravy, with the gravy already on the fries. Again this was a "Cold Meal".
Two weeks later hubby took an Air Canada flight, ate the chicken and was sick for 2 days because of it.
I haven't had the opportunity to fly WestJet yet but they are not too far from me so no driving all the way into Vancouver to catch a flight. I can hardly wait to not have to drive. lol
The last time I flew Air Canada I was served a cold dinner which consisted of undercooked chicken, it was still pink and bleeding in some areas, and fries and gravy, with the gravy already on the fries. Again this was a "Cold Meal".
Two weeks later hubby took an Air Canada flight, ate the chicken and was sick for 2 days because of it.
I haven't had the opportunity to fly WestJet yet but they are not too far from me so no driving all the way into Vancouver to catch a flight. I can hardly wait to not have to drive. lol
strangely enough, on of the favours the no-frills are doing you is NOT serving you a meal. The stress on the body caused by flight makes the added stress of digesting food a poor choice. One should fly on an empty stomach and consume plenty of water in-flight as well as remember to move those limbs.
#juan said:
I found the top airlines for myself currently are a tad bit different:
1. British Airways
2. Emirates
3. Cathay Pacific
nowadays the Air Canada flights are really old planes without the personal televisions, comfy chairs and better inflight entertainment then the newer guys like Emirates which is really amazing.
sanch said:
I haven't flown with them to Canada in over two years, so I couldn't say what their story is. I have had lost luggage, delayed flights and bad manners. I have found WestJet to be more customer service oriented that AIr Canada.
Again, personal experiences form someones opinion of an airline, it has nothing to do with who was voted "best airline" of the year, who the hell pays attention to any of this?
I want customer service when I fly, because I do it often enough, and customer service shows when you have a problem, not when everything is fine and dandy.
I've always had good experiences with Air Canada, even when flying with my dog. Westjet lost my grandma once, so they aren't my favorite airline.
I have never had a pleasant experience flying with Air Canada. It has always been a nightmare, they have more excuses for incompetance than our Governments. Food what food, you now have to pay for the privlage of being poisoned. I use to love flying with Canadian or Air Transat, great service and I was never once bumped off a flight.
Well unless I drive to Montreal I have to either fly Air Canada or take a US carrier to a Canadian city which is very inconvenient. So convenience is an important consideration.
I usually work off of averages and don’t let one or two bad experiences impact on my view of something especially if this negative opinion is going to make future travel inconvenient.
There are ways to improve your experience. If your luggage is repeatedly getting lost--and not just being put on a later flight but really lost—then I would try and isolate the cause. I would suspect that it is intentional. Getting angry with a ticket clerk for example is a bad idea as the clerk has the ability to send your bags to Hong Kong. As stupid as they may appear to you they nevertheless have the power to make your life miserable. Be nice, smile and say thank you and then smile again.
I usually work off of averages and don’t let one or two bad experiences impact on my view of something especially if this negative opinion is going to make future travel inconvenient.
There are ways to improve your experience. If your luggage is repeatedly getting lost--and not just being put on a later flight but really lost—then I would try and isolate the cause. I would suspect that it is intentional. Getting angry with a ticket clerk for example is a bad idea as the clerk has the ability to send your bags to Hong Kong. As stupid as they may appear to you they nevertheless have the power to make your life miserable. Be nice, smile and say thank you and then smile again.