Stranger

How many years old is project XM by now? New it no longer is.

rankourabu

I guess you dont fly Porter either?

I've never flown Westjet (and only have like 10 lifetime domestic flights in Canada) so I cant compare, but I do know plenty of people, including "business" people who swear by Westjet and especially Porter domestically.

YYZFlyboy

I flew BA YYZ-LHR return in Y for the first time in 15 years this spring. Completely out of my hands - contract bought tickets.

I can tell you it was they were both the worsts flight experiences I have had ever! You think AC's sardine cans will be awful (and they will be) try BA's 747 in Y effing claustrophobic. I don't think I've been jammed in such a small space for so long ever. The food was uneatable, the crew surley and the service very poor. They lost my bags on the way there, commercial goods therefore I couldn't do what I was there for and had to stay a day longer after bags arrived. On the return there was a mechanical problem and they shut the engines down for 4 hours and wouldn't let us (we were at the gate) off or feed us. - think almost 400 people on a BA 747 in the heat, with screaming babies because they were so hot!

Anyhow, I rant! I will never fly BA again long haul ever!
(I'll lose the contract before I'll do it again)

rankourabu

You cannot compare Y travel on another airline without status to an airline that you have status on and can 'score' better seats, etc.

"The food was uneatable, the crew surley and the service very poor" - sounds like it could be any TATL airline in Y, and mirrors my Y TATL AC experiences.

danapop

Sure did!

danapop

95% of my travel is yeg to YYZ or yeg to yul. Porter isn't out west so nope haven't flown with them. Overall the westjet planes are way more uncomfortable than AC - by a mile

danapop

AC Y TATL is not bad in the food department. Best TATL meal I have every had in Y was with Northwest from SEA to AMS. I remember very very good pizza pocket things for a snack shorty before landing and really good chicken and pasta

gglave

I only fly WS four or five segments a year, but every single time the service is better than AC. Smiling GAs & FAs who seem genuinely happy that you're flying with them.

rankourabu

when was the last time you flew AC Y TATL? I have 4 AC TATL Y flights this year (thanks FD), and food was gross on all of them. But its ok, when I m paying $400 RT for TATL trip in Y, I am not exactly looking for food. I know its AC, and food+service will suck, so I prepare.

If you flew TK or OS TATL you'd know what decent Y food is.

dark169

If WS did a YEG or YYC to IAH (or Hobby) they'd give AC a run for a ton of oil/gas commuters. (Fort St John, Grande Prairie and Fort Mac being huge connectors to IAH).

I find myself booking onto the UA flight YYC-IAH because that CRJ for that length should be criminal. Even if I wanted to burn my upgrades on the flight the E+ in UA isn't much worse then J on the CRJ. Perhaps 1 in 5 is the E+ so full you have a good chance of having a middle seat taken. E is packed, E+ is 2/3 and J is full on the UA flights most of the time.

Places like YXS and YQU where WS is still the 320 its night and day. 1 hour on a 320, 90min on a Dash8-300.

At least now they have the q400 into YXS but crew issues have had a couple of those swapped out last minute for 300's. (one even stranding my mother in YVR on mothers day )

danapop

Last time was July 2011. I'm not saying its the best or better than any airline. Just what I have had was OK. Tolerable for sure

danapop

Thats why I said new "ish"

danapop

Like I said, my comments are solely based on my personal experience. I flew with WS exclusively for domestic routes last year which probably equated to 100K miles and close to probably 80 segments. This year, I have flown exclusively AC, and have flown 53K and 42 segments. OVERALL, the gate and onboard service between the two is the same. However, I have never had a bag lost with AC and so far this year, I have only pushed back late twice and it was a maximum of 30 minutes. Where with WJ last year, my bags were lost (for 48 hours) once (on a direct YEG-YYZ no less), late by 24H one and late by several hours on 3 different occasions.

I would say that you rarely encounter a snarly FA with WS, although it does happen. I flew YEG-LAS last year and I asked for diet coke and for the whole can. Well, the way the FA responded to me you would think that it was me asking for her first born child.

I would say on average the demeanour of WS FAs over AC is slightly better, but I get very tired of the WS "kitsch" very quickly and lord help us if I hear "lets get this Boeing going" one more time...

BOB on AC is superior to WJ - hands down. (Im talking food items here).

The last most important reason I like AC over WS are the seats. I find the WS seats very shallow and thin (like my ex-wife - ZING). It is very difficult to sit though a 4h flight on a WS seat compared to AC - again IMO.

bingocallerb22

^

PropWasher

April numbers: QK outperforms PD and WS - AC not far behind.

http://cms.flightstats.com/wp-conten...e-Arrivals.png

http://www.flightstats.com/company/f...rmance-report/