Simon

Well, well, well, this is indeed interesting.

Unfortunately, our resident WS poster is very pro-WS, so we won't get any further scoop there. It would be interesting indeed to hear what is going on under the covers, animosity-wise, and why.

Simon

exAC

Don't get too excited by rumours of discontent at WS. There likely are people there who are eyeing jobs at AC, just as there are people at AC eyeing jobs at WS. I think that you will find that there are people at both airlines eyeing jobs with foreign carriers, just as there are people at foreign carriers eyeing jobs at AC and WS. The grass is always greener as they say.

Over all the mood at WS is way better than was present at Canadian or Air Canada as salaries were being cut and contracts being over hauled. There is no rhetoric and little emotioin at WestJet.

Cargoagent

For quite a long time there was very little for those at WS to be concerned about, that seems to be coming to an end. There were very few rumours of discontent, very little talk of WS employee's eyeing job's elsewhere. This doesn't seem to be the case anymore. Longtime employee's are asking for answers as they see their share options decline in price, and their profit sharing disappear. I am sure the mood at WS is better overall than when Canadian and AC were at rock-bottom, but it is not all sunshine and roses in YYC anymore.

Just curious if your part of the WS crowd yourself?

exAC

Let me look...Nope it is beer and not KoolAid

I just know a few people there. Remember that many of their management staff turned down jobs at AC and Jazz because they wanted or had to stay in Calgary. They are happy to be in the airline industry and be at home.

For the many low paid front line workers WestJet is all about lifestyle where you put in your time and go home or time off for family life is given without question. Going into a WestJet office is like going into a high school and it is all about school spirit. They run everyone through a course on 'The WestJet Way' and they become indoctrinated into it. The ones that are there like it that way, the others have left already.

shore9

well collectively AC get a partial thumbs up from me, individually some do and some don't. Great service should go rewarded, the problem is that crappy service also gets rewarded just as much, is there any way to fix this at all? My solution is to get rid of the union, which would prove very difficult.

East-West AC

Nice solution, however the company has to deal with the cards they're dealt with, not live in fantasyland. It's about doing the best they can with the tools and circumstances that are in place, not hoping for the impossible to happen.

Shareholder

I have been reading through the hard copy of the Quarterly Report that arrived in my post this afternoon. Seems folks missed what I find to be some of the more interesting revelations: real $ numbers for AE expenditures for AC seats!

In the discussion on Revenue Performance [page 25 onward] for the first time I can recall in any AC or ACE quarterly or annual reports, there is a sector by sector number given for what AE's seat purchases have meant to AC's revenue. On Domestic routes, AE spent $58 million through the first half of 2005. On TransBorder routes, it was $35 million. Across the Atlantic, AE contributed $19 million. On the Pacific, the number was just $4 million. The rest of the system [South Pacific, Mexico, South American and the Caribbean] received $15 million. So that's $131 million from AE in six months, out of $3.839 billion in Passenger revenue. That's about 3% of revenues, though not necessarily of seats as we still don't know what AE pays for its inventory.

I guess what surprises me is how few award tickets there were on Pacific routes [$4 million worth and maybe another $1 for Australia] as well as the Atlantic [$19 million]. Seems most people use their miles for domestic seats, which given how low fares are, seems like a real waste.

exAC

SH:

See post #13 on this thread.

I agree with you that there are some very interesting numbers in there.

Shareholder

Ooops, great minds...

parnel

......And fools.................

The Lev

Not sure I agree with your premise. If we ignore J class (where there is real value), the best Y value is domestic short haul. If you plan ahead (which you have to do if you want a international AE seat anyway) and book on a seat sale, transatlantic fares are in the $500-700 range before taxes and fees. Based on a cost of 60,000 miles, That works out to around 1 cent per mile. Japan costs say $1,000 versus 75,000 miles, so value of about 1.5 cents per mile. By comparison, transcontinental are $400-500 and cost 25,000 miles or almost 2 cents. Regional flights are $200-500 and only cost 15,000 miles so will often be worth close to 3 cents per mile.

My analysis suggests that the buyer is in fact rational and going for the best deal.

Of course the "best" deal is J, which is a very small premium to Y. Problem is if you're not SE good luck finding anything.