Westjet Suspending all TB and INTL (commercial) flying
 

In case anyone missed this today...Westjet Blog PostToday, Prime Minister Trudeau made an explicit declaration to all Canadians abroad that it is time to come home. Based on this statement and the recommendations to Canadians to control the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19, we have made impactful decisions related to our operations.

On Sunday, March 22 at 11:59 p.m. MDT, we will suspend scheduled commercial operations for all international and transborder flights for a 30 day period. To be clear, this means our final commercially scheduled flights from international and transborder destinations will launch on Sunday night by 11:59 p.m. local time; after that, we will be operating rescue and repatriation flights in partnership with the Canadian government. As of tonight, international and transborder tickets are no longer available for sale during this 30 day period.

On Wednesday, March 18 at 11:59 p.m. MDT, WestJet will suspend all outbound international ticket sales for travel until Sunday, March 22 at 11:59 p.m. MDT, so we are no longer sending Canadians out of the country and can instead focus on bringing them home.

To assist Canadians in returning home on short notice, we are in the process of lowering prices on our remaining seats into Canada in all cabins.

In addition, we will also reduce our domestic schedule by approximately 50 per cent. At this point, all network changes are in place for the next 30 days.

WestJetters are known for our level of care and this situation is no different. While this is a difficult time, we now have the responsibility as a Canadian airline to bring our citizens home.

-Statement from Ed Sims, WestJet President and Chief Executive Officer

Thankfully Westjet has made the decision on their own, I found the post pretty refreshing to be honest. I'm disappointed in our government for simply leaving this up to the operators themselves. But it is what it is and the situation of course is fluid.

They use the word MDT and local time interchangeably. So if my KOA-YVR flight is currently scheduled to leave at 10:50 pm Hawaiian time on the night of the 22nd, will that flight leave (because according to the post, operations will be suspended “March 22nd 11:59 MDT time” which is 4 hours ahead of Hawaii).

Yea you're right it seems like there's some details there that need to be fleshed out, but I'll leave that to people who are on those flights and need to worry about it :) I'm just a casual observer who no longer works under the WS thumb but have friends that do still.

What I find interesting is that in the Prime Minister's address yesterday afternoon he mentioned that the Government will not be stepping up to the plate to bring Canadians home. But Ed is saying that WestJet will work with the Government on setting up rescue flights to bring Canadians home. I wonder if they struck some sort deal last night or if one of two is speaking incorrectly.

Canada has run the two evacuation flights from China out of a city in lock down where commercial flights were banned. They have also evacuated Canadians off of two cruise ships where the passengers were under quarantine and transferred from local government authority to Canada. Sounds like the common threat is to use government charters when/where normal commercial flights would be prohibited. They have used charter airlines out of Portugal and the US.

Given there are three cruise ships in limbo just now searching for ports to let off potentially infected passengers there will likely be more rescue flights. Makes sense to use a Canadian airline if available.

What is interesting is some of the posts from the westjet rep on the WestJet blog when asked about flights scheduled after they stop flying.....

I quote:
"Please either seek space on a flight before this Sunday (space may be limited or unavailable), or visit https://travel.gc.ca to register with the government for a repatriation flight."

Sounds like after next week some shift into how Canadian will be repatriated .....

I have a Canada to USA flight scheduled on the 23rd. Given this operation suspension, any sense if Rule 75 in their International Passenger Rules and Fares would now enable a refund instead of the travel credit policy in the prior Covid-19 updates?
On hold with Chase now as it was booked through them...

International Passenger Rules and Fares - https://www.westjet.com/assets/wj-we...us)-tariff.pdf

I have only had to fight WestJet on a cash refund in the event of a cancellation or gross reschedule once.

Here is a great resource to understand the industry-wide status of schedule shutdowns: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...gid=1072793355

I don't see Swoop on the list, but I'm assuming it's under the WS reduction..

Swoop's international routes cancelled until at least June:

https://www.routesonline.com/news/38...mar20-31may20/

so...will they issue refunds to people who are affected by these flight suspensions, or will they keep the money ?

Based on the email I received, flight credit only.

Flight credit into your travelbank. It's no biggie, just use the credit to pay for your next trip or two.

Neighbor says WestJet will be parking much of their fleet nose to tail on one of the runways at YYC, should be a sight to behold.