WestJet to launch ultra-low-cost carrier 'Swoop’
Jun 17, 2018, 10:03 pm
#211
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Calgary
Posts: 1,444
Canada Jetlines say they will fly to Red Deer as the airport for Calgary, the runway is now long enough to take a 737-800. I wouldn’t rule it out.
Jun 18, 2018, 11:24 am
#212
Join Date: Jan 2007
Programs: No single airline or hotel chain is of much use to me anymore.
Posts: 3,278
Jun 18, 2018, 12:15 pm
#213
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Calgary
Posts: 1,444
Nothing an insulated steel building with a bit of heat and a bare concrete floor can’t handle - Ryanair and the “terminal” at Frankfurt Hahn (125km from Frankfurt city centre) when they operated there, springs to mind.
Jun 18, 2018, 9:11 pm
#215
Join Date: Feb 2018
Programs: WestJet Rewards, Aeroplan
Posts: 24
Swoop international flying was reported a few months ago - I seem to remember it being in a WestJet investor call?
I expect WestJet's Abbotsford and Hamilton transborder/ international routes will be the first to be Swooped. I believe they're all early morning departures/ late night arrivals, so they're not dependant on network or connecting traffic. In Abbotsford that's LAS and PVR; Hamilton it's LAS and MCO. In time, anything international from non-base airports will go, too.
I'll be interested to see how WestJet Rewards/ WestJet loyalty factors into this. Presumably non-base international flying is important for traveller loyalty to WestJet, particularly as a "burn" for WestJet dollars earned from business travel. I wonder if the big push for Swoop international flying will have to wait until WestJet dollar burn can be used on Swoop flights (which I heard is going to be a thing--but not earn on Swoop).
JFB.
I expect WestJet's Abbotsford and Hamilton transborder/ international routes will be the first to be Swooped. I believe they're all early morning departures/ late night arrivals, so they're not dependant on network or connecting traffic. In Abbotsford that's LAS and PVR; Hamilton it's LAS and MCO. In time, anything international from non-base airports will go, too.
I'll be interested to see how WestJet Rewards/ WestJet loyalty factors into this. Presumably non-base international flying is important for traveller loyalty to WestJet, particularly as a "burn" for WestJet dollars earned from business travel. I wonder if the big push for Swoop international flying will have to wait until WestJet dollar burn can be used on Swoop flights (which I heard is going to be a thing--but not earn on Swoop).
JFB.
Jun 19, 2018, 3:41 am
#216
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: YYG
Programs: airlines and hotels and rental cars - oh my!
Posts: 2,993
Everything flying out of Hamilton will be Swooped. As much as it's convenient to me, it's a dead airport. One airline after another has found that it's just about impossible to make any money flying out of there. There are no connections, the airport terminal is little more than a glorified tool shed and the population it serves just don't fly anywhere.
Jun 19, 2018, 2:33 pm
#217
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Ontario, Canada
Programs: Westjet Platinum, Fairmont Platinum RIP, Accor Gold, Marriott Lifetime Silver, HH Diamond
Posts: 1,296
Everything flying out of Hamilton will be Swooped. As much as it's convenient to me, it's a dead airport. One airline after another has found that it's just about impossible to make any money flying out of there. There are no connections, the airport terminal is little more than a glorified tool shed and the population it serves just don't fly anywhere.
Jun 19, 2018, 3:44 pm
#219
Join Date: Jan 2007
Programs: No single airline or hotel chain is of much use to me anymore.
Posts: 3,278
A WestJet pilot told me the message they received was Swoop could potentially go anywhere if WestJet decides that Swoop is the correct competitive response, but their intentions are to stay true to the ULCC business model. He said the big concern is the airports might subsidize the ULCC competitors coming to major airports to their's and Air Canada's determent.
Last edited by Error 601; Jun 19, 2018 at 4:03 pm
Jun 20, 2018, 9:15 am
#220
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: YOW/HBA
Programs: Qantas Silver, MileagePlus Silver
Posts: 418
Jun 21, 2018, 3:13 pm
#223
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: YEG
Posts: 3,925
Assume you'll be on the same flight. AFAIK there are currently only 2 Swoop routes. YHM-YXX which departs in the morning, and YHM-YHZ which departs in the evening (if you count 17:00 as evening).
Jun 21, 2018, 4:13 pm
#224
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2014
Programs: AC SE100K-1MM, NH, DL, AA, BA, Global Entry/Nexus, APEC..
Posts: 18,877
Want to fly with WestJet’s discount airline Swoop? You won’t find it on Expedia
https://globalnews.ca/news/4288107/w...swoop-expedia/
https://globalnews.ca/news/4288107/w...swoop-expedia/
Jun 21, 2018, 10:16 pm
#225
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: YYG
Programs: airlines and hotels and rental cars - oh my!
Posts: 2,993
Swoop Review
First review of Swoop - here we go.
Like a lot of business travelers I was more than a bit concerned when Westjet first announced Swoop. Having gone through AC’s rouging of so many routes, my first thought was oh no, here we go again. So I decided I should probably check it out first-hand and a last-minute trip to Halifax provided the perfect opportunity. The flight from YHM was $99 each way. I also sprung for an extra legroom seat (located at the front of the cabin) for $19 per segment, which seems a reasonable cost for another maybe 3 inches of space.
Seats appear to be the same ones Westjet uses in its mainline fleet, only the seat headliner being changed to a bright (garish?) pink. A planeload of these pink headliners – complete with the pink stripes running along the length of the overhead bins, is a bit much IMHO but you only get the full effect when you board, so fair enough. Underseat space is the same as the mainline fleet, reduced in the aisle seats, and sharing space with a steel box in the middle seats. Window seats get the most underseat space. All seats have AC power. Comfort was ok for a two hour flight. Only had an overnight bag; since it fit under the seat ahead of me, I did not have to pay for checked luggage or a carry-on bag.
The ticket purchase went without a hitch, as did OLCI. I downloaded the Swoop app, in-flight entertainment is limited but streams fairly well. They do have in-flight internet, which I did not try. In-flight service consists of various sundry snacks and drinks, some beer and some wine – all at a cost. Prices seemed reasonable, but I didn’t bother. Cabin crew was pleasant enough.
If you go with the extra legroom seat, it’s not too bad. Standard seats look pretty tight from what I saw. If they keep the fares low, even with the extra fees it still works out cheaper than rouge, so on that basis Swoop should do pretty well. My flight was absolutely packed.
Would I do it again? Probably not, but then I’m not really target market. Pax on the flight I took were a mix of seniors who probably last flew in the 70s, and many young families with multiple screaming kids. Oh – and they all clap like hell upon landing. The couple seated next to me even brought their own toilet paper ... yes it did make a trip up the aisle at one point, and no, I’m not kidding.
That’s what you get in the cheap seats. So if you wind up on Swoop make sure you arrive with headphones - and plenty of patience for all the screaming toddlers.
Extra legroom seating. I'm 6' 1". Did not try the standard seat, but it looked visibly tighter.
Menu.
App display.
Internet pricing in app.
Not kidding about pax bringing their own toilet paper. You can't make up stuff like this.
Like a lot of business travelers I was more than a bit concerned when Westjet first announced Swoop. Having gone through AC’s rouging of so many routes, my first thought was oh no, here we go again. So I decided I should probably check it out first-hand and a last-minute trip to Halifax provided the perfect opportunity. The flight from YHM was $99 each way. I also sprung for an extra legroom seat (located at the front of the cabin) for $19 per segment, which seems a reasonable cost for another maybe 3 inches of space.
Seats appear to be the same ones Westjet uses in its mainline fleet, only the seat headliner being changed to a bright (garish?) pink. A planeload of these pink headliners – complete with the pink stripes running along the length of the overhead bins, is a bit much IMHO but you only get the full effect when you board, so fair enough. Underseat space is the same as the mainline fleet, reduced in the aisle seats, and sharing space with a steel box in the middle seats. Window seats get the most underseat space. All seats have AC power. Comfort was ok for a two hour flight. Only had an overnight bag; since it fit under the seat ahead of me, I did not have to pay for checked luggage or a carry-on bag.
The ticket purchase went without a hitch, as did OLCI. I downloaded the Swoop app, in-flight entertainment is limited but streams fairly well. They do have in-flight internet, which I did not try. In-flight service consists of various sundry snacks and drinks, some beer and some wine – all at a cost. Prices seemed reasonable, but I didn’t bother. Cabin crew was pleasant enough.
If you go with the extra legroom seat, it’s not too bad. Standard seats look pretty tight from what I saw. If they keep the fares low, even with the extra fees it still works out cheaper than rouge, so on that basis Swoop should do pretty well. My flight was absolutely packed.
Would I do it again? Probably not, but then I’m not really target market. Pax on the flight I took were a mix of seniors who probably last flew in the 70s, and many young families with multiple screaming kids. Oh – and they all clap like hell upon landing. The couple seated next to me even brought their own toilet paper ... yes it did make a trip up the aisle at one point, and no, I’m not kidding.
That’s what you get in the cheap seats. So if you wind up on Swoop make sure you arrive with headphones - and plenty of patience for all the screaming toddlers.
Extra legroom seating. I'm 6' 1". Did not try the standard seat, but it looked visibly tighter.
Menu.
App display.
Internet pricing in app.
Not kidding about pax bringing their own toilet paper. You can't make up stuff like this.
Last edited by Symmetre; Jun 21, 2018 at 10:22 pm
