Westjet Going Downhill?

Who?
Company: 
Westjet
Place: 
Canada
Product
Product: 
Flight
Ratings
Happiness Rating: 
2
Company Rating: 
3
Product Rating: 
4

So I travelled again, via Westjet, to Edmonton and back last week.  I'm starting to get a little worried about Westjet, my favorite airline (out of Westjet and Air Canada).

Fares

The fares were good between Montreal and Edmonton.  They beat Air Canada.

Schedule

Leaves much to be desired.  Air Canada has far better flight options both leaving and returning.

Flight Experience

Ugh.  On the way out we were delayed by nearly an hour.  The plane was there the whole time but apparently they did not have the crew.

During the 4 hour flight the television was not working.  They didn't announce anything to anyone.  When I asked, the flight attendant told me that the television was not working and they could not make it work.  Then, after about 2 1/2 hours they explained that now they could try to reboot the system.  They did not do it before because some people had purchased movies.

During the 2 1/2 hours I did looking around a couple of times and saw maybe 5 or so people who had purchased movies.  So to protect those few $5 purchases the flight crew decided to prevent over 100 people from getting the promised in-flight entertainment.  Don't worry though, they did walk through the cabin selling headphones for $3.  Probably a lack of training or something as I think it was obviously a wrong decision.  On the way back, also with Westjet, I asked the attendant what she would have done.  Apparently it is a simple thing to reinstate the movies to those who purchased them even after rebooting so that they would have lost nothing anyway.

AND NO PEAK FREENS IN EITHER DIRECTION!

Conclusion:

Well Westjet, that's a few mediocre to bad experiences in a row and spanning all areas of your company from the website, to the call centre, to the gate staff to the flight staff.  What's going on?  I think I'm going to give Air Canada a try.  This is shocking to say because I have been an absolutely loyal traveller whenever possible.  It's also embarassing because I never fail to tell everyone I know that they should travel Westjet any time.  Please fix whatever needs fixing.

When we flew from Montreal

When we flew from Montreal to Calgary for Christmas last year, we got a better fare on AC. Westjet fares were nowhere in comparison.

The in-flight entertainment system was broken, so to compensate, we each received a $50 voucher that we can use towards any future AC flight. You had to get a voucher, email customer service, wait until your next flight, email customer service again with your new flight ticket number and the voucher number, and then wait until your credit card gets reimbursed. A bit of a rigamarole for $50 (but in our case $100), although I would have to say it's much better than a "sorry, there's nothing we can do about it."

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