Wal-Mart picks WestJet
 

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazett...f8d41e&k=57801

One up for Air Canada's rival WestJet. The low-cost airline said today it will be Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s preferred Canadian carrier. That means WestJet provides transportation services to all the giant retailer's business travellers in Canada and crossborder.

So many possible jokes, so little time....

I doubt they are laughing at Air Canada HQ.

This connection makes sense. Walmart is known for being "thrifty" even for travel by its top executives. Does anyone know what Walmart flies in the US? Southwest would be a logical choice.

AA has the walmart account and flies a series of nonstops from XNA as part of their corporate contract.

I could see this partnership as a match, but would be unclear if there would be any value to the "crossborder" portion. Seems to me that Walmart is not the kind of brand that would send its employees to a corporate retreat in Hawaii, and it is doubtful that XNA is Westjet's next transborder destination, considering Westjet only serves a handful of US destinations at the moment.

Given Wal-marts "thriftiness" they probably are. The two "W's" deserve each other.

Indeed, WJ does deserve Walmarts business.

I'm sure that AC, with it's LCC pricing and legacy cost stucture, are thrilled to see corporate customers abandoning them.

I expect Wamart won't be the last to make the move.

AC is heavily pushing its flight pass products onto its corporate customers.. some, as evidenced by our growing corporate accounts, don't want to dance.

Here's an interesting background piece which shows the changing nature of corporate buying and how the Walmart decision plays into it. Walmart wasn't your average large corporate account. They have a philosophy about how travel should be booked and distributed that favors the status quo, but isn't necessarily shared by others. For Walmart, the end fare is the sole determining factor, while for some others, the type of product and the transaction fees are more important because they "buy up". It seems as if Walmart is the perfect customer for Westjet while others would find AC - with the ability to buy in bulk with minimal transaction fee cost - to be superior.

http://www.travelweekly.com/articles...rticleid=55556

:confused: What forum is this?????

Is this Sebring vs Hypnotize or Dagger vs CanadaEh !!! :p

No, its the forum for Westjet employees trying to deny they're the trailer park crowd's carrier of choice.

A truly helpful contribution to the discussion at hand....

I see no problem with both airlines in Canada earning corporate business. It helps to keep them both healthy and the rest of us with choice and competition. I fail to understand why people wish ill to either airline?

Not too shabby...Good for WS ^

That's BS...AC is pushing passes but not forcing the issue with corp clients who get discounts in various ways. Westjet is simply lowering their prices even further to get some of this business because they have more planes to fill. Lets see the results this year b/f crowing.