Westjet is absolutely failing its customers
Dec 1, 2020, 2:41 pm
#16
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: Copenhagen
Programs: skyteam
Posts: 575
In fairness to the passanger.... WS is benefiting from a government subsidy program that is covering somewhere between 75-100% of their labour bill for front line workers. They should have nearly the same number of call center staff available to handle 1/10 the flying.
What they should have is not always what is reality. They probably are operating much smaller in the reservations dept.
Operating expenses account for roughly 75% of all non-fixed costs of running an airline.
Labor accounts for approximately 35% of the total of airlines' operating expenses.
Other operating expenses such as maintenance, parts and labor, handling luggage, airport fees, taxes, marketing, promotions, travel agent commissions and passenger expenses. As a whole, these account for nearly 55% of total operating costs.
Fuel costs account for 10% to 12% of operating expenses
Dec 1, 2020, 8:29 pm
#17
Join Date: Feb 2020
Posts: 1,203
Becaue they are in a net negative cash situation -- paying out gobs of money to refund customers for flights from March onwards that never operated, for reasons that were totally beyond WestJet's control? (And because I'd expect most calls into their call centres are lengthy and complicated ones regarding getting WestJet to give out refunds, not people actually spending money with WestJet.)
Dec 1, 2020, 9:08 pm
#18
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Vancouver
Programs: Aeroplan, Mileage Plus, WestJet Gold, AMEX Plat
Posts: 2,026
Try 65% wage subsidy. It is not a silver bullet to an airline’s financial well being.
What they should have is not always what is reality. They probably are operating much smaller in the reservations dept.
Operating expenses account for roughly 75% of all non-fixed costs of running an airline.
Labor accounts for approximately 35% of the total of airlines' operating expenses.
Other operating expenses such as maintenance, parts and labor, handling luggage, airport fees, taxes, marketing, promotions, travel agent commissions and passenger expenses. As a whole, these account for nearly 55% of total operating costs.
Fuel costs account for 10% to 12% of operating expenses
What they should have is not always what is reality. They probably are operating much smaller in the reservations dept.
Operating expenses account for roughly 75% of all non-fixed costs of running an airline.
Labor accounts for approximately 35% of the total of airlines' operating expenses.
Other operating expenses such as maintenance, parts and labor, handling luggage, airport fees, taxes, marketing, promotions, travel agent commissions and passenger expenses. As a whole, these account for nearly 55% of total operating costs.
Fuel costs account for 10% to 12% of operating expenses
Dec 1, 2020, 9:41 pm
#19
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: Copenhagen
Programs: skyteam
Posts: 575
In Australia , Qantas has just outsourced their ground handling .https://www.businessinsider.com.au/q...rvices-2020-11
These are desperate measures every company in the world is having to take during these desperate times . Customer relations everywhere is severely affected everywhere. Here in the uk alone I am struggling to get my sky fibre optic appointment but lack of technicians due to the obvious pandemic.
Last edited by cirrusdragoon; Dec 1, 2020 at 9:48 pm
Dec 2, 2020, 1:37 am
#20
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: YYJ
Posts: 4,137
The flight cancellations were not for reasons beyond Westjet's control. Westjet could have operates the flights, even with only one passenger onbord but decided to cancel them due to lack of profitability. We are not talking about weather, volvano smoke, airspace closure or any reasons that would prevent planes from safely and legally taking off from airport A and landing in airport B.
Dec 2, 2020, 1:41 am
#21
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: YYJ
Posts: 4,137
Selling speculative flights THEN cancelling the ones that don't stick or meet revenue goals seems to affect all the Canadian airlines. They don't seem to be affecting US carriers who keep their schedules in tact once you are within 60-90 days they will operate flights with marginal loads if they sold tickets.
Perhaps WS and AC could put an icon next to a certain few flights once they are "guaranteed to operate" vs speculative? If there are 4 flights a day and I need to be somewhere, show me the probability of it actually running. Green/yellow/red dot? Small surcharge?
Perhaps WS and AC could put an icon next to a certain few flights once they are "guaranteed to operate" vs speculative? If there are 4 flights a day and I need to be somewhere, show me the probability of it actually running. Green/yellow/red dot? Small surcharge?
Dec 2, 2020, 7:31 am
#22
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Vancouver
Programs: Aeroplan, Mileage Plus, WestJet Gold, AMEX Plat
Posts: 2,026
The airport and reservation staff cuts were not the only dept in the organization to face severe cuts. All departments were reduced, no stone left unturned . How do you think they have averted collapse ala Virgin Australia? Not to mention a complete lack of a specific government airline specific financial assistance yet!
In Australia , Qantas has just outsourced their ground handling .https://www.businessinsider.com.au/q...rvices-2020-11
These are desperate measures every company in the world is having to take during these desperate times . Customer relations everywhere is severely affected everywhere. Here in the uk alone I am struggling to get my sky fibre optic appointment but lack of technicians due to the obvious pandemic.
In Australia , Qantas has just outsourced their ground handling .https://www.businessinsider.com.au/q...rvices-2020-11
These are desperate measures every company in the world is having to take during these desperate times . Customer relations everywhere is severely affected everywhere. Here in the uk alone I am struggling to get my sky fibre optic appointment but lack of technicians due to the obvious pandemic.
As a customer of an airline that is doing 10-15% of its normal business asking me to sit on hold for hours for the opportunity to give it money is unreasonable. So unreasonable that I am going to hang up and call Air Canada.
Dec 2, 2020, 10:06 am
#23
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: Copenhagen
Programs: skyteam
Posts: 575
As a human I am sympathetic. I am even more sympathetic if it is a company that is being hit with a massive increase in demand that is struggling to scale up. Your cable company being an obvious example as more people work from home and need better connections.
As a customer of an airline that is doing 10-15% of its normal business asking me to sit on hold for hours for the opportunity to give it money is unreasonable. So unreasonable that I am going to hang up and call Air Canada.
As a customer of an airline that is doing 10-15% of its normal business asking me to sit on hold for hours for the opportunity to give it money is unreasonable. So unreasonable that I am going to hang up and call Air Canada.
https://fonolo.com/blog/2019/06/fono...th-air-canada/
https://www.consumeraffairs.com/trav...nt&filter=none
lol
Then perhaps you may try a private charter flight
Last edited by cirrusdragoon; Dec 2, 2020 at 10:14 am
Dec 2, 2020, 1:05 pm
#25
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Vancouver
Programs: Aeroplan, Mileage Plus, WestJet Gold, AMEX Plat
Posts: 2,026
Until you are on hold with their reservations line for hours
https://fonolo.com/blog/2019/06/fono...th-air-canada/
https://www.consumeraffairs.com/trav...nt&filter=none
lol
Then perhaps you may try a private charter flight
https://fonolo.com/blog/2019/06/fono...th-air-canada/
https://www.consumeraffairs.com/trav...nt&filter=none
lol
Then perhaps you may try a private charter flight
Dec 2, 2020, 2:33 pm
#26
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: YVR
Programs: WS Nothing, AC Something, AS Gold. Too big for 737Max washrooms
Posts: 893
Dec 2, 2020, 5:18 pm
#27
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: YYC
Programs: AC SE
Posts: 2,342
I haven't been flying much, but my impressions from doing a recent domestic flight with AC and one with WS is that AC is generally handling things better than WS these days.
- Call center wait times: I've called WS 3 times and AC about 3 times over the past month. WS call times were anywhere from 30 minutes to upwards of an hour. I tried the WS callback feature once, but it was only offering a callback on different days (I would have been fine with a callback later that day, but couldn't wait days). I've called AC a few times and had no wait at all; AC's hold times were atrocious earlier in the year, but it doesn't seem like they cut back their customer service/call center staff as much as WS
- WS onboard offerings for economy are inferior. AC gives you a decent little care kit with bottle of water, wipes, mask, hand sanitizer. WS giving you a single wipe out of a container is pretty sad.
- AC is better about proactively offering to switch flights when a flight is almost full and more flexible at offering a less full flight. I had a WS flight where the seatmap was showing almost full when the next flight 2 hours later was wide open with only a handful of seats taken. WS insisted that customers need to pay a same day change fee to move to a less full flight to mitigate potential COVID risk, whereas AC offers more same day change flexibility from full flights.
- AC's IT has been improving (i.e. ability to see seat map via app, change flights) while WS is stuck back in the 90's where the app has very little functionality
Dec 2, 2020, 6:31 pm
#28
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 980
One can always ask for more. There’s not a hard limit on one per guest. And if you ask onboard to change seats once you’re already seated, you can ask for more wipes if not offered by one of the FAs.
Dec 3, 2020, 10:30 am
#29
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: YYC, Canada
Programs: AC 35k
Posts: 1,898
Dec 3, 2020, 9:11 pm
#30
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Canada
Programs: Marriott Plat; Air Canada E75K; Westjet Platinum
Posts: 1,161
The issue is that the airline is floating a lot of flights out there that it has no intention of flying. If it looks like the load is less than 50 % for these flights, let's get rid of them and put it to another week. Sunwing back in Sept was selling packages for October departures to Cancun. Fast forward to December, it says they are starting service from Western Canada to Mexico starting in January 2021. But what about the money I paid for that October departure? In the meantime, it is hard to plan your travel when your flight can disappear and you don't get your money back. Even the alternatives they offer you are unlikely to go either.