What’s up with Westjet

[trey kule]

Almost all West Jet flights out of Calgary today are delayed by hours. Not so for the other airlines.

And WJ is NOT taking phone calls.

It is a real sh’t show in YYC today.

[rookiepilot]

Snow is more attracted to Teal coloured aircraft?

On Twitter…lots like this one.

“Our sincerest apologies for the delay in connecting with us. It seems we're more popular than usual, which has resulted in longer wait times to be connected to a live agent.”

One way to express it.

Go on Twitter and search “Westjet”

What a dumpster fire…..

[Canadaflyer46]

Where to start? Outsourcing 3000 jobs to the lowest bidder, laying off far too many pilots just as the recovery started in April, constant fighting with employee groups, preferring to pay millions in compensation to passengers after ALPA told them again and again to increase pay from 1.5X for overtime over the holidays, canceling the ACM policy (for pilots, not FAs, and just because they can: hey, there's a new contract coming up) meaning commuters are helping less with overtime....... The saddest part for them is this was entirely predictable, and most people saw it coming.

[Full Ins]

The lineup for the new “guest assistance” in the c terminal was halfway down the terminal. Yikes

[Mach1]

Where to start? Outsourcing 3000 jobs to the lowest bidder, laying off far too many pilots just as the recovery started in April, constant fighting with employee groups, preferring to pay millions in compensation to passengers after ALPA told them again and again to increase pay from 1.5X for overtime over the holidays, canceling the ACM policy (for pilots, not FAs, and just because they can: hey, there's a new contract coming up) meaning commuters are helping less with overtime....... The saddest part for them is this was entirely predictable, and most people saw it coming.

[rookiepilot]

Onex doesn’t give a crap. They want to cut costs to the bone, show 2 quarters of BS pro forma profit, then try to flip it out as an IPO.

And Mom and Pop will be stupid enough to buy it, cause that’s what mom and pop do. Buy overpriced IPO sh— from promoters.

Their business model is F——d. Buying or leasing those 787’s was an idiotic move.

No international business traveller in their right mind would book them for anywhere near full price, and without them, can’t make real $$$$$.

The bad PR is just murdering them.

[702pipeliner]

Yeah dealing with their crap right now.

Get a sneaky email that my flight was cancelled 17 hours before it left been on hold since for a few hours no response. online platform wont help. wont let you cancel your flight or change it because they move it to more then 24 hours in advance so your forced to wait on the phone or fork out more money to fly someone else.

Utter disappointment.

[rookiepilot]

The gate agents called in the SWAT team at YLW.

https://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/3 ... ght-delays

[mmm..bacon]

^ Well, not really the SWAT, more like the plain old coppers... Either way, pretty poor handling of the situation by WJ to let it get to that..

[rookiepilot]

^ Well, not really the SWAT, more like the plain old coppers... Either way, pretty poor handling of the situation by WJ to let it get to that..

Yes, I’m making light of WJ’s wonderful PR strategy.

The WJ tagged posts on Twitter…brutal.

[imjustlurking]

Where to start? Outsourcing 3000 jobs to the lowest bidder, laying off far too many pilots just as the recovery started in April, constant fighting with employee groups, preferring to pay millions in compensation to passengers after ALPA told them again and again to increase pay from 1.5X for overtime over the holidays, canceling the ACM policy (for pilots, not FAs, and just because they can: hey, there's a new contract coming up) meaning commuters are helping less with overtime....... The saddest part for them is this was entirely predictable, and most people saw it coming.

There is no provision in the contracts to offer additional OT for the holiday.

While an agreement could be made, they chose to bet that they wouldn't be screwed.

[rigpiggy]

Westjet where 3 hrs late is the new ontime. Where you are told no crew, then cancelled because "it went mechanical", westjet where it takes longer to get your luggage than to fly there.

I book AC when i can, or drive because i can get there faster "7 hrs"

[CpnCrunch]

Westjet where 3 hrs late is the new ontime. Where you are told no crew, then cancelled because "it went mechanical", westjet where it takes longer to get your luggage than to fly there.

I book AC when i can, or drive because i can get there faster "7 hrs"

After a disaster upon disaster of a flight on the 31st with WJ (first flight 1hr late, connecting flight cancelled, then waited 1.5 hours for baggage, rushed to catch a ferry), it made me think again about what it would take to fly across half the country in winter myself. But, the cost and hassle of owning a Navajo and landing in snowstorms in winter doesn't really appeal to me, and neither does driving over the mountains in winter.

Next time I'll just take my chances with AC, and avoid flying anywhere at xmas if covid is still around.

I see Encore has 23% cancelled flights today.

[rookiepilot]

Current count on the tag #westjet 720 tweets. Today, so far.

[trey kule]

Ok. Its the new year and time to get shake off all this negativity…

Some positive things about WJ.

1. They have the catchiest department names for any airline.
2. They provide 20 check in counters so that the 4 CSR (Guest Service folks from their People department) have spares, and so that “guests” can have fun trying to line up with a counter that actually has a person there.
3. They are so popular that hundreds upon hundreds call them every day, just to tell them about their guest experiences.
4. Their department of “ fees, surcharges, and creativity” is one of the most exciting of any airline. They can spin a spellbinding story to make pax breathless to find out the ending, and the reason their flight will eventually be cancelled.
5. Their online booking is so much fun finding out how much the flight is really going to cost you at the end.
6. It is rumoured that all FA’s are graduates of the cutesy joke telling college, so we can be entertained by those boring old safety announcements.

[Canadaflyer46]

Water and pretzels only on flights now. That'll come as a nice surprise for Premium guests, I mean passengers, on a 6 hour transcon.

[Bug_Stomper_01]

Water and pretzels only on flights now. That'll come as a nice surprise for Premium guests, I mean passengers, on a 6 hour transcon.

That’s been going on since the start of the pandemic. What a joke

[derk99]

Westjet terminated their ground staff in YYC and contracted out their jobs to the lowest bidder who pays minimum wages with no benefits.The new company is called ATS and they are having major issues hiring and retaining current staff,They payed out over $100,000 in cash to retain the few employees that remain with the company.Westjet is nothing but a holding company now that has no employees with the exception of flight crews and how long before they contract out those jobs ?

[rookiepilot]

Westjet terminated their ground staff in YYC and contracted out their jobs to the lowest bidder who pays minimum wages with no benefits.The new company is called ATS and they are having major issues hiring and retaining current staff,They payed out over $100,000 in cash to retain the few employees that remain with the company.Westjet is nothing but a holding company now that has no employees with the exception of flight crews and how long before they contract out those jobs ?

At minimum wage? No sh— sherlock.

[fixnfly]

Westjet terminated their ground staff in YYC and contracted out their jobs to the lowest bidder who pays minimum wages with no benefits.The new company is called ATS and they are having major issues hiring and retaining current staff,They payed out over $100,000 in cash to retain the few employees that remain with the company.Westjet is nothing but a holding company now that has no employees with the exception of flight crews and how long before they contract out those jobs ?

I had no idea that WestJet had contracted out their ground crew in YYC. Was that recently? I knew a couple guys that worked there before going into maintenance/dispatch/flying roles and they said they were treated great. Westjet stockpiled their crew room with snacks/food/drinks and there were always extra clothes/gloves provided by the company. It was an overall healthy work environment from what I understand although that was 10 years ago. Shame they got rid of them, I doubt ATS will ever be able to exceed previous work conditions and morale that existed back then

[imjustlurking]

Westjet is nothing but a holding company now that has no employees with the exception of flight crews and how long before they contract out those jobs ?

The moment they sell Encore is the moment I will believe your anecdote.

[fish4life]

Without knowing their contract I’d imagine they have scope provisions that wouldn’t allow that, if they don’t then the contract is worthless.

[Bug_Stomper_01]

Westjet terminated their ground staff in YYC and contracted out their jobs to the lowest bidder who pays minimum wages with no benefits.The new company is called ATS and they are having major issues hiring and retaining current staff,They payed out over $100,000 in cash to retain the few employees that remain with the company.Westjet is nothing but a holding company now that has no employees with the exception of flight crews and how long before they contract out those jobs ?

I had no idea that WestJet had contracted out their ground crew in YYC. Was that recently? I knew a couple guys that worked there before going into maintenance/dispatch/flying roles and they said they were treated great. Westjet stockpiled their crew room with snacks/food/drinks and there were always extra clothes/gloves provided by the company. It was an overall healthy work environment from what I understand although that was 10 years ago. Shame they got rid of them, I doubt ATS will ever be able to exceed previous work conditions and morale that existed back then

Is that absolutely correct? Is that published anywhere? If this is true it does not bode well for the future of Westjet

[imjustlurking]

Without knowing their contract I’d imagine they have scope provisions that wouldn’t allow that, if they don’t then the contract is worthless.

Subject to the application of the Canada Labour Code, any other statute or applicable law, this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect in the event that the Company changes ownership acquires another airline, is sold to another airline or merges with another airline.

In the event that the Company sells, leases, transfers or otherwise divests itself of its business as defined under the Successor Rights and Obligations provisions of the Canada Labour Code, the Company shall not oppose any application by the Association to secure and/or protect bargaining rights and successor rights for any Pilots affected by the sale, lease, transfer or divestiture.

[Hangry]

Bobby Axelrod bought an airline. Wags and Dollarbill are making the decisions. Did anyone actually expect anything different??