Mexico City starts today (Wed March 14)
Mar 14, 2018, 1:31 pm
#1
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Mexico City starts today (Wed March 14)
https://www.paxnewswest.com/news/pnw...gary-vancouver
WestJet's inaugural flight, WS2200 from Calgary International Airport (YYC) to Mexico City International Airport (Aeropuerto Internacional Benito Juárez, MEX) departed this morning, marking the airline's newest flight to Mexico.
Flights between Vancouver International Airport (YVR) and Mexico City start March 15, solidifying WestJet's position as the Canadian airline with the most flights to Mexico.
"WestJet is proud to be at the forefront of expanding on vital trade and tourism linkages between Mexico and Canada," said Ed Sims, WestJet president and CEO. "Non-stop, year-round flights from Calgary and Vancouver to Mexico City connect the country to one of the most important major markets in the Americas and expand on growing opportunities for Canada/Mexico tourism. We welcome our first MEX and YYC-bound guests today knowing these flights are a win for business and leisure travellers on both sides."
Starting today, WestJet begins service with four weekly flights between Calgary and Mexico City. Tomorrow, WestJet will launch three-time weekly service between Vancouver and Mexico City. Effective April 29, both routes move to daily service.
Exciting to see this new service ... I'm flying on it next week.
I expect the YYC-MEX service will do much better than Aeromexico on that same route. AM's schedule was utterly awful -- thanks to their southbound flight being an overnight. Before WS announced their nonstop service, I'd already booked UA via IAH (instead of the AM non-stop) since I'll do anything possible to avoid a redeye.
Oddly, there seems to be confusion about which terminal WS is using at MEX. (Hopefully someone told the pilots today?!) WS told me quite recently that it was going to be T2 at MEX. But FlightAware today shows that it will be T1. And WestJet's "Airport terminal information" page on their website has not been updated to even show Mexico City -- even though it's five months after the route was announced. (I expect it is actually T1, which is somewhat unfortunate. Since these flights are code-shared with AeroMexico, using their same terminal (T2) at MEX really would have streamlined connections.)
WestJet now flying to Mexico City from Calgary, Vancouver
WestJet's inaugural flight, WS2200 from Calgary International Airport (YYC) to Mexico City International Airport (Aeropuerto Internacional Benito Juárez, MEX) departed this morning, marking the airline's newest flight to Mexico.
Flights between Vancouver International Airport (YVR) and Mexico City start March 15, solidifying WestJet's position as the Canadian airline with the most flights to Mexico.
"WestJet is proud to be at the forefront of expanding on vital trade and tourism linkages between Mexico and Canada," said Ed Sims, WestJet president and CEO. "Non-stop, year-round flights from Calgary and Vancouver to Mexico City connect the country to one of the most important major markets in the Americas and expand on growing opportunities for Canada/Mexico tourism. We welcome our first MEX and YYC-bound guests today knowing these flights are a win for business and leisure travellers on both sides."
Starting today, WestJet begins service with four weekly flights between Calgary and Mexico City. Tomorrow, WestJet will launch three-time weekly service between Vancouver and Mexico City. Effective April 29, both routes move to daily service.
I expect the YYC-MEX service will do much better than Aeromexico on that same route. AM's schedule was utterly awful -- thanks to their southbound flight being an overnight. Before WS announced their nonstop service, I'd already booked UA via IAH (instead of the AM non-stop) since I'll do anything possible to avoid a redeye.
Oddly, there seems to be confusion about which terminal WS is using at MEX. (Hopefully someone told the pilots today?!) WS told me quite recently that it was going to be T2 at MEX. But FlightAware today shows that it will be T1. And WestJet's "Airport terminal information" page on their website has not been updated to even show Mexico City -- even though it's five months after the route was announced. (I expect it is actually T1, which is somewhat unfortunate. Since these flights are code-shared with AeroMexico, using their same terminal (T2) at MEX really would have streamlined connections.)
Mar 22, 2018, 10:44 am
#4
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I flew YYC-MEX yesterday.
It’s fantastic to have this new service. Flight times are ideal, with an 11:20 am departure from Calgary ... making for easy inbound connections from across western Canada. And, from the tags at baggage claim on the carousel at MEX, a good number of people were connecting onward with AeroMexico. It will be so nice to be able to get anywhere in Mexico now without having to connect via the U.S. (and without having to endure AM’s now defunct red eye from Calgary).
The plane was almost full — which I was thrilled to see. It was a good mix of English and Spanish speakers on board ... Canadian and Mexican travellers, business and leisure. The captain even came on the PA and did an overview of the flight and weather conditions in Spanish. A really nice touch. Fingers crossed that the route thrives for WS!
It’s fantastic to have this new service. Flight times are ideal, with an 11:20 am departure from Calgary ... making for easy inbound connections from across western Canada. And, from the tags at baggage claim on the carousel at MEX, a good number of people were connecting onward with AeroMexico. It will be so nice to be able to get anywhere in Mexico now without having to connect via the U.S. (and without having to endure AM’s now defunct red eye from Calgary).
The plane was almost full — which I was thrilled to see. It was a good mix of English and Spanish speakers on board ... Canadian and Mexican travellers, business and leisure. The captain even came on the PA and did an overview of the flight and weather conditions in Spanish. A really nice touch. Fingers crossed that the route thrives for WS!
Mar 22, 2018, 8:44 pm
#5
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: YEG
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Posts: 56,446
I flew YYC-MEX yesterday.
It’s fantastic to have this new service. Flight times are ideal, with an 11:20 am departure from Calgary ... making for easy inbound connections from across western Canada. And, from the tags at baggage claim on the carousel at MEX, a good number of people were connecting onward with AeroMexico. It will be so nice to be able to get anywhere in Mexico now without having to connect via the U.S. (and without having to endure AM’s now defunct red eye from Calgary).
The plane was almost full — which I was thrilled to see. It was a good mix of English and Spanish speakers on board ... Canadian and Mexican travellers, business and leisure. The captain even came on the PA and did an overview of the flight and weather conditions in Spanish. A really nice touch. Fingers crossed that the route thrives for WS!
It’s fantastic to have this new service. Flight times are ideal, with an 11:20 am departure from Calgary ... making for easy inbound connections from across western Canada. And, from the tags at baggage claim on the carousel at MEX, a good number of people were connecting onward with AeroMexico. It will be so nice to be able to get anywhere in Mexico now without having to connect via the U.S. (and without having to endure AM’s now defunct red eye from Calgary).
The plane was almost full — which I was thrilled to see. It was a good mix of English and Spanish speakers on board ... Canadian and Mexican travellers, business and leisure. The captain even came on the PA and did an overview of the flight and weather conditions in Spanish. A really nice touch. Fingers crossed that the route thrives for WS!
Mar 24, 2018, 9:52 pm
#6
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: YVR
Posts: 344
I travelled on the first flight out of YVR and returned a few days later. Was pleasantly surprised as well about the strong load factor in both directions. Fantastic city and will definitely be returning there at some point soon.
Had the typical cupcakes and speeches on the way down, and 2 execs on the flight who were helping out in flight as per usual. 1 Spanish speaking FA as well which was helpful to have. Chips and salsa were offered to everyone with the 2nd beverage service. Pretty streamlined service with several water runs.
On the return, significant delays at check in (as in 40+ minutes to process about 10 or so people ahead, with 5 desks open). Visiting Westjet trainer was there going between the desks to assist the agents. Departure delayed 40 minutes due to what appeared to be more issues with the computer systems at the gate while volunteers were gate-checking their bags. No Spanish speaking staff on this flight, which was an issue considering the number of locally originating passengers, and led to passengers needing to volunteer to translate for staff for various issues that arose. An FA indicated that some rostering changes may be made soon to place Spanish speaking staff on these flights, which would be a good idea considering these aren't the run of the mill snowbird flights, with large numbers of business and non-English speaking customers.
Also, it's been a while since I've been on a 737 flight of this length, but is it normal for the FAs to be 2+ hours into the flight to get through beverage service and 3+ hours before doing the first run through for garbage? Meant that, from what I can recall, there was only 1 water run, which is contrasted with the outbound flight, which was somewhat shorter but had at least 3. The difference of having execs on the flight?
Had the typical cupcakes and speeches on the way down, and 2 execs on the flight who were helping out in flight as per usual. 1 Spanish speaking FA as well which was helpful to have. Chips and salsa were offered to everyone with the 2nd beverage service. Pretty streamlined service with several water runs.
On the return, significant delays at check in (as in 40+ minutes to process about 10 or so people ahead, with 5 desks open). Visiting Westjet trainer was there going between the desks to assist the agents. Departure delayed 40 minutes due to what appeared to be more issues with the computer systems at the gate while volunteers were gate-checking their bags. No Spanish speaking staff on this flight, which was an issue considering the number of locally originating passengers, and led to passengers needing to volunteer to translate for staff for various issues that arose. An FA indicated that some rostering changes may be made soon to place Spanish speaking staff on these flights, which would be a good idea considering these aren't the run of the mill snowbird flights, with large numbers of business and non-English speaking customers.
Also, it's been a while since I've been on a 737 flight of this length, but is it normal for the FAs to be 2+ hours into the flight to get through beverage service and 3+ hours before doing the first run through for garbage? Meant that, from what I can recall, there was only 1 water run, which is contrasted with the outbound flight, which was somewhat shorter but had at least 3. The difference of having execs on the flight?
Apr 2, 2018, 10:11 am
#7
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: YYC
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Just returned from MEX last night.
Departing MEX is still a bit of a cluster. Clearly proper training hasn't been provided. Check-in was fine, but at the gate, there was a huge lineup before they even announced boarding (they were late by 20 minutes). Then, they called for Pre-Boarding and tons of people started to board. The staff didn't say anything. They then called for Zone 1, but just started scanning everyone who had lined up in. They didn't look at zone, or enforce it. It made for a very slow boarding process, and we were delayed because of it.
Other than that, great flight.
Departing MEX is still a bit of a cluster. Clearly proper training hasn't been provided. Check-in was fine, but at the gate, there was a huge lineup before they even announced boarding (they were late by 20 minutes). Then, they called for Pre-Boarding and tons of people started to board. The staff didn't say anything. They then called for Zone 1, but just started scanning everyone who had lined up in. They didn't look at zone, or enforce it. It made for a very slow boarding process, and we were delayed because of it.
Other than that, great flight.
Sep 3, 2018, 5:02 pm
#8
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 8,001
Sep 5, 2018, 1:11 pm
#9
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FlightGlobal - September 5 2018
WestJet latest airline to retreat from Mexico City
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/ar...o-city-451689/
QUOTES:
"Calgary-based WestJet will exit Mexico City in October, becoming the latest among several North American airlines to retrench from Mexico's capital city.
The move comes just seven month after WestJet entered the Mexico City market with routes from Calgary and Vancouver.
"It's just not performing up to the standards that we would like to see," WestJet chief financial officer Harry Taylor says of Mexico City. "We don't want to be cost-subsidising at this point."..............
WestJet latest airline to retreat from Mexico City
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/ar...o-city-451689/
QUOTES:
"Calgary-based WestJet will exit Mexico City in October, becoming the latest among several North American airlines to retrench from Mexico's capital city.
The move comes just seven month after WestJet entered the Mexico City market with routes from Calgary and Vancouver.
"It's just not performing up to the standards that we would like to see," WestJet chief financial officer Harry Taylor says of Mexico City. "We don't want to be cost-subsidising at this point."..............
Sep 5, 2018, 2:50 pm
#10
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: YYC
Programs: Hilton Diamond, Fairmont Plat, IHG Spire, SPG Gold, WS Gold, Hertz PC, National E Elite,
Posts: 2,768
So sad to lose YYC-MEX. The Aeromexico flight is a dirty dirty red-eye. WS flight down there was PERFECT. (Return were almost the same times, within an hour).
Sep 5, 2018, 6:01 pm
#11
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: YVR
Programs: WS Nothing, AC Something, AS Gold. Too big for 737Max washrooms
Posts: 893
Sep 7, 2018, 4:44 pm
#12
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https://www.flightglobal.com/news/ar...o-city-451689/
WestJet latest airline to retreat from Mexico City
Calgary-based WestJet will exit Mexico City in October, becoming the latest among several North American airlines to retrench from Mexico's capital city.
The move comes just seven month after WestJet entered the Mexico City market with routes from Calgary and Vancouver.
"It's just not performing up to the standards that we would like to see," WestJet chief financial officer Harry Taylor says of Mexico City. "We don't want to be cost-subsidising at this point."
WestJet latest airline to retreat from Mexico City
Calgary-based WestJet will exit Mexico City in October, becoming the latest among several North American airlines to retrench from Mexico's capital city.
The move comes just seven month after WestJet entered the Mexico City market with routes from Calgary and Vancouver.
"It's just not performing up to the standards that we would like to see," WestJet chief financial officer Harry Taylor says of Mexico City. "We don't want to be cost-subsidising at this point."