Four1oh wrote:. Incidently, I think the procedure will be changed so that UMs will be escorted off before anyone else. Just another example of how proactive we're being in dealing with this situation.
Hmm when was the last time you traveled as a passenger?
oh look, a company-wide bulletin outlining the new procedures, which involve a briefing between the captain and the Lead FA. Oh hey! We now deplane the UM's before any other passenger! Look at that, Rebel!
In answer to your question, I fly as a passenger on a regular basis.
The "pervert" didn't hide the little girl under his coat. I'm willing to bet she walked right by the FA(s) and agent(s) and they may have even looked at her but were not thinking or too "busy" with whatever. How many FAs are carried on a typical 737? Probably enough to keep their eye on the kid through such a critical time like that. The crew was the last line of defence in this case. Not one person upheld their responsability. Sounds like you are a loyal guest and are very happy with the service. It also sounds like you're just willing to accept that a simple human error was made and the "pervert" was the only problem. But sometimes a wake up call is required to improve things. I'm sure the lesson has been learned. Someone else has stated that the company has admitted they are at fault. I suggest you accept the situation and look forward to a resumption of this great service asap. Cheers.
I did not say he hid the girl under his coat but I'll bet he made sure nobody could see the tag around her neck. Obviously I am a loyal customer of WJ's. I don't care what anyone says this guy had no business walking the girl off the plane. If he had a genuine concern he would have approached a crew member. I'm sorry if I offend anyone by calling him a "perv" but it was the nicest thing I could come up with. Sure WJ was at fault for not catching their mistake but anyone who has traveled knows how big of a hurry most passengers are to rush off the plane so they can go and wait for their luggage!! I look forward to the resumption of the service but thanks to this half-wit it just might never happen.
I sent an email to WestJet and this is the response I got from the Manager of Guest Relations. Doesn't sound real hopeful to me!!
"Thanks for the support.
We are currently conducting a comprehensive review of the program. What we determine will allow us to make the right decision whether to continue with the program or not.
Thanks again, and all the best over the holidays."
Here's a happy ending to this disturbing incident: The parents are NOT suing WJ. Had this been the evil empire's fault, some high priced Jewish law firm would be suing for millions. Yes, guests apparantly are nicer than "passengers". Let's chalk it up to "live and learn". A happy ending indeed. And so this incident can happen at any airline but with a different outcome yet again. Hey BP, I know this may be insulting but did you know you you have a choice?
According to the news reports there was an out of court cash settlement in addition to other goodies....By the way AC carried 45,000 UM's last year without attracting media attention but I digress.
Rebel wrote:According to the news reports there was an out of court cash settlement in addition to other goodies....By the way AC carried 45,000 UM's last year without attracting media attention but I digress.
The first time we sent our daughter as a UM was with Air Canada and they let her walk off the plane in Winnipeg all by herself!! We switched to WJ and have never had a problem. The first time they insisted on seeing our ID before turning our daughter over we realized how serious they were about the whole thing.
I'm pretty sure this "good samaritan" could have pulled the same thing on a AC flight.
I know the carriers will all be taking the UM thing more seriously after this but they could also discontinue it!!
John Wayne Gacy was a "father of two" and had no history of pedophilia either.
Only an unmitigated idiot would have done what this moron did. Do you really expect an investigation to establish that WJ had left the airplane, the jetway, the sterile zone and the terminal empty? There was no one at all there in authority to deal with the issue? No airport employees, no police? No body? Home Alone?
Give your head a shake.
tonysoprano wrote:I can't believe the spin you guys are putting on here.
Not everyone knows that this service is offered. Not everyone is a seasoned traveller and expert on airline services. You guys are accusing an innocent man, with no record, of being a pedophile. The girl told him her dad was waiting at arrivals baggage area, right where he brought her. He made an honest mistake in doing that but without knowing better. He actually was on TV explaining this. Not what I think a real pedophile would do. One more time, here's the more important questions guys: where were the FAs when this little girl, with a big tag around her, was walking out the plane??? Where was the arrivals agent who is supposed to take over for the in-charge?? She could have walked out on her own and ended up in more trouble. The in-charge is responsible for this one. That's how it works where I work. I'm almost certain it's how it works at WJ too. Someone has to be constantly looking after that kid. That's why people pay extra money for this service. I've been on flights where there were multiple UMs. The system works boys, it works well.
You can spin it anyway you want, bottom line, someone is guilty of neglect. That's the real crime. This is not a reflection on WJ. This is one person's mistake on the job which hopefully the company will deal with apropriately.
Any news on when Westjet is going to start booking UMs again? I have to get my kid home at the start of January.
I also have to leave some comments on the rediculous arguments above.
The senior management at Westjet know exactly how to run a safe and proficient operation. Look at their response to this incident. They suspended bookings, investigated the incident, found problems with their procedures, are working on fixing problems, admitted fault, and got out their checkbook to make things right. This is how you deal with a problem. I suspect that while several Westjet employees obviously dropped the ball here, no one will get fired even though someone obviously didn't follow procedures because Westjet has found problems with those procedures.
Any Westjet employees here screaming "pedofile", take a page out of your own management's book. The last thing you want to do is demonstrate that you clearly are not going to fix a problem and instead are going to try to blame it on someone else. It doesn't matter if the guy is a pedofile, a moron, or actually a smart person who was concerned for the child. That this happened is Westjet's fault, not his, and even if all the silly claims made here about his intentions are true, it has no bearing on the fact that the whole point of the UM procedures is to prevent this from happening.
Incidentally, a similar thing happened to me when flying as a UM long ago. I was 10, my sister was 7, and the two of us were going from Vancouver to Montreal. The F/A wasn't paying much attention to us and when we arrived we walked off the plane, got our bags, and started walking around until i found my uncle. The carrier didn't see any problem with their procedures, and offered no apology.
Realitychex.
I'm a little confused. I never said there was nobody there. I said just the opposite. There were probably lots of people standing around. You should direct your anger and sarcasm at the employees that let this little girl walk right by them and didn't notice it untill she was at arrivals. Let's be blunt, they fucked up. Surprised? Don't be. This thread is going to go on for ever because the facts are being overshadowed by biased koolaid overdoses. Get a reality check, everybody screws up now and then.
Rebel wrote:According to the news reports there was an out of court cash settlement in addition to other goodies....By the way AC carried 45,000 UM's last year without attracting media attention but I digress.
Hey Tony I agree that some WJ employees screwed up, and as you said everyone does once in a while, oooops except for Rebel. As you can tell, he is perfect in every way, except for,.... ohh ya Rebel, you never did reply as to why it is OK for AC to continue across the pond after blowing a tread?
You never did respond to that question, but there you are talking about how perfect you and your company is and placing blame on all your competition. Go figure.
To every other responsible poster (ahh even you Reb it's all in fun, right?)
You mentioned in previous posts that you have a handicapped daughter, which you send UM. Are you not aware that all carrier's has to be informed that your daughter is handicapped, if you’re sending her as UM? You might get a big surprise...
Hmm there’s no way I would send any handicapped child of mine UM.
Hey Clint23 you never answered why you would continue to YYC with all the reported airframe and engine damage to your machine. Perhaps lack of experience..
oh look, a company-wide bulletin outlining the new procedures, which involve a briefing between the captain and the Lead FA. Oh hey! We now deplane the UM's before any other passenger! Look at that, Rebel!
In answer to your question, I fly as a passenger on a regular basis.
Hey we tried that years ago, it doesn't work with our configuration among other things but good luck anyway..Oh who's going to provide the escort to the arrival area? I know the UM is going to wait on the bridge until all the passengers have deplaned and if there's no bridge.. Then there's the blocked off seats at the front of the aircraft. I wonder how long WJ is going to absorb the additional costs before passing it on to the consumer..
Clint.
I just want to clarify that in my view this is an isolated case. There doesn't seem to be a pattern of this happening. The company has a good procedure in place but someone on that day got caught not using those procedures. It's happened at AC and probably something similar will happen again. Like I said, thank God the kid's ok and nobody's getting sued. A happy ending. Merry Christmas
TS,
Thanks for the unbiased response. You are correct about it being an isolated incident, and shows that one persons mistake can create a lot of different views and slander. If a person screws up it doesn't matter what "fool proof procedure" is in place, either by WestJet or AC, the mistake is made. It is about what we learn from it. Agreed, thankfully everything turned out ok for the girl. Hopefully we ALL learn from this!
Merry Christmas and all the best for all in '08.
You mentioned in previous posts that you have a handicapped daughter, which you send UM. Are you not aware that all carrier's has to be informed that your daughter is handicapped, if you’re sending her as UM? You might get a big surprise...
Hmm there’s no way I would send any handicapped child of mine UM.
Hey Clint23 you never answered why you would continue to YYC with all the reported airframe and engine damage to your machine. Perhaps lack of experience..
Merry Christmas
Reb
Well Reb for your information everytime we book a flight with WJ we explain EXACTLY what our daughter's handicap is and they don't have a problem with it!!! I guess it's you who gets the big surprise. Also unless you have a handicapped child don't say what you would or would not do. We have two handicapped daughters (twins) who are 28 years old. If you would like to explain to me how you would get your child half ways across the country to visit relatives without a service like UM tell me all about it!! Until then stick your head back up your ass!!!!
Well Reb for your information everytime we book a flight with WJ we explain EXACTLY what our daughter's handicap is and they don't have a problem with it!!! I guess it's you who gets the big surprise. Also unless you have a handicapped child don't say what you would or would not do. We have two handicapped daughters (twins) who are 28 years old. If you would like to explain to me how you would get your child half ways across the country to visit relatives without a service like UM tell me all about it!! Until then stick your head back up your ass!!!!
If you were a responsible parent you would travel with them. Traveling as a UM is one thing traveling as a handicapped UM is quite another. Who is going to help them if things go wrong? Perhaps there won’t be a good Samaritan to help them out but wait, you would probably LIBEL/SLANDER the good Samaritan by calling them a pervert…
Rebel wrote:According to the news reports there was an out of court cash settlement in addition to other goodies....By the way AC carried 45,000 UM's last year without attracting media attention but I digress.
Well Reb for your information everytime we book a flight with WJ we explain EXACTLY what our daughter's handicap is and they don't have a problem with it!!! I guess it's you who gets the big surprise. Also unless you have a handicapped child don't say what you would or would not do. We have two handicapped daughters (twins) who are 28 years old. If you would like to explain to me how you would get your child half ways across the country to visit relatives without a service like UM tell me all about it!! Until then stick your head back up your ass!!!!
If you were a responsible parent you would travel with them. Traveling as a UM is one thing traveling as a handicapped UM is quite another. Who is going to help them if things go wrong? Perhaps there won’t be a good Samaritan to help them out but wait, you would probably LIBEL/SLANDER the good Samaritan by calling them a pervert…
I see you have taken my advice and put your head back up your ass!!! The "good Samaritin" as you call him caused this whole problem. I would not "LIBEL/SLANDER" a guy who did what this guy did but I would make sure he was no longer capable of having children of his own.
That AC incident is just as disturbing. What the heck's going on with these people?? I also find it strange that it took the CTA over a year to finish the investigation and come to a conclusion. Our kids are not safe in the hands of the airlines. Maybe they should consider a family discount on travel with our kids so parents can be with them.
Right.
Rebel wrote:According to the news reports there was an out of court cash settlement in addition to other goodies....By the way AC carried 45,000 UM's last year without attracting media attention but I digress.
