Westjet slashes Service to Maritimes

[iflyforpie]

It’s just like the west telling the eastern bastards to “freeze in the dark” and then wondering why they don’t buy Canadian oil.....

[The Raven]

challenger_nami

You say the closest airport to your friend that Westjet serves is 2 hours away. Can she get to her original destination through that airport? I don’t consider a 2 hour drive a hardship.

[mijbil]

If they are going to throw up a barrier, that being an inter provincial 14 day provincially mandated quarantine, then this is simply a logical economic response from a company that is there to make money. If the route isn't profitable, it closes. Simple. The rest of the noise is political bluster. At my outfit we are essentially idled until Prince Daffodil or one of his minions lifts the international 14 day quarantine. Why? It's not profitable to operate mostly empty airplanes and people are not going to go to the sun for a week if they have to hang out at home for 2 weeks afterward. It's a business decision for us.
As far as maritimers having long memories, as described by Old Fella, I know they do. I have lived there. I also know that they have a very well developed sense of economy. Nova Scotia is a latinization of New Scotland and we all know about the Scots propensity for thrift. Those stereotypes don't sping out of no-where as I love to point out to the Scots relatives. Two or three years from now, if a WS fare is $30 cheaper, guess where the business is mostly going.

I have my own heretical opinions on this whole business and if the quarantine is warranted, but I won't get into that here.

The maritimes have created this problem for themselves. It would not surprise me to see AC shut things down as well. Nothing personal - it's just business.

[challenger_nami]

challenger_nami

You say the closest airport to your friend that Westjet serves is 2 hours away. Can she get to her original destination through that airport? I don’t consider a 2 hour drive a hardship.

She does not drive. So now she has to take a cab to get to the other airport which is 250 kilometres away in a DIFFERENT PROVINCE.Now how long and how much does a 250k cab ride cost?

There is a possibility of upcoming border restrictions between Atlantic provinces due to rising COVID cases in New Brunswick.

Westjet has the right to cancel the route, BUT WJ has to have the decency to refund the money so she can just book with Air Canada to fly from her own city.



.

[Old fella]

If they are going to throw up a barrier, that being an inter provincial 14 day provincially mandated quarantine, then this is simply a logical economic response from a company that is there to make money. If the route isn't profitable, it closes. Simple. The rest of the noise is political bluster. At my outfit we are essentially idled until Prince Daffodil or one of his minions lifts the international 14 day quarantine. Why? It's not profitable to operate mostly empty airplanes and people are not going to go to the sun for a week if they have to hang out at home for 2 weeks afterward. It's a business decision for us.
As far as maritimers having long memories, as described by Old Fella, I know they do. I have lived there. I also know that they have a very well developed sense of economy. Nova Scotia is a latinization of New Scotland and we all know about the Scots propensity for thrift. Those stereotypes don't sping out of no-where as I love to point out to the Scots relatives. Two or three years from now, if a WS fare is $30 cheaper, guess where the business is mostly going.

I have my own heretical opinions on this whole business and if the quarantine is warranted, but I won't get into that here.

The maritimes have created this problem for themselves. It would not surprise me to see AC shut things down as well. Nothing personal - it's just business.

First of all I agree with your thesis, hard to argue against. My point of contention is not giving the person in question a refund when WJ cancelled 80% of their Atlantic schedule, which again as you correctly identified they have that authority to do. Yes, the bubble here has created that situation, no question there. I would argue a good many of those cancelled routes will not be reinstated in the future. To be honest the competition down here was good with WJ mainline/Encore/Swoop/AC mainline/Jazz and Porter with our small population. Perhaps a shakeout was due and pandemic set it all up.

[Old fella]

challenger_nami

You say the closest airport to your friend that Westjet serves is 2 hours away. Can she get to her original destination through that airport? I don’t consider a 2 hour drive a hardship.

She does not drive. So now she has to take a cab to get to the other airport which is 250 kilometres away in a DIFFERENT PROVINCE.Now how long and how much does a 250k cab ride cost?

There is a possibility of upcoming border restrictions between Atlantic provinces due to rising COVID cases in New Brunswick.

Westjet has the right to cancel the route, BUT WJ has to have the decency to refund the money so she can just book with Air Canada to fly from her own city.



.

Reading your response the individual would in my view have a strong case for credit card reverse charges against WJ under the “services not rendered” clause. Despite what many believe VISA/MC/AE et al are sympathetic to reasonable requests of this nature. I speak from experience, however phone calls, the dreaded fax etc are required. If I was in that situation I wouldn’t hesitate to pursue that avenue.

[challenger_nami]

Reading your response the individual would in my view have a strong case for credit card reverse charges against WJ under the “services not rendered” clause. Despite what many believe VISA/MC/AE et al are sympathetic to reasonable requests of this nature. I speak from experience, however phone calls, the dreaded fax etc are required. If I was in that situation I wouldn’t hesitate to pursue that avenue.

Thanks for that Fella,
I will pass the suggestion along.

[flying4dollars]

challenger_nami

You say the closest airport to your friend that Westjet serves is 2 hours away. Can she get to her original destination through that airport? I don’t consider a 2 hour drive a hardship.

She does not drive. So now she has to take a cab to get to the other airport which is 250 kilometres away in a DIFFERENT PROVINCE.Now how long and how much does a 250k cab ride cost?

There is a possibility of upcoming border restrictions between Atlantic provinces due to rising COVID cases in New Brunswick.

Westjet has the right to cancel the route, BUT WJ has to have the decency to refund the money so she can just book with Air Canada to fly from her own city.



.

Reading your response the individual would in my view have a strong case for credit card reverse charges against WJ under the “services not rendered” clause. Despite what many believe VISA/MC/AE et al are sympathetic to reasonable requests of this nature. I speak from experience, however phone calls, the dreaded fax etc are required. If I was in that situation I wouldn’t hesitate to pursue that avenue.

You beat me to it!

I paid for an 18 month membership at Steve Nash Fitness in Vancouver back in January. Cost me $700. The gym's closed in March and I had then requested a refund as I was starting to see how everything was unfolding. Nobody replied to my email despite several polite and diplomatic requests. I called Amex to dispute, sent them copies of my repeated emails and withing a couple of weeks, they reversed the charges. It was a very effortless process.

Now that being said, does trip cancellation insurance apply in this case? Most credit cards offer this I think. I don't know what the stipulations are but I imagine there's coverage for when the airline itself cancels. I'm sure people who have money withheld by WJ could recuperate through their credit cards.

[challenger_nami]

You beat me to it!

I paid for an 18 month membership at Steve Nash Fitness in Vancouver back in January. Cost me $700. The gym's closed in March and I had then requested a refund as I was starting to see how everything was unfolding. Nobody replied to my email despite several polite and diplomatic requests. I called Amex to dispute, sent them copies of my repeated emails and withing a couple of weeks, they reversed the charges. It was a very effortless process.

Now that being said, does trip cancellation insurance apply in this case? Most credit cards offer this I think. I don't know what the stipulations are but I imagine there's coverage for when the airline itself cancels. I'm sure people who have money withheld by WJ could recuperate through their credit cards.

Thanks for the info @Flying4Dollars
These businesses really need to learn how NOT to betray people’s trust.... but they won’t.... oh well.

[rookiepilot]

Good luck.......

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/credit ... -1.5577722

"But a Marketplace investigation found the process has been fraught with challenges, with several MasterCard and Visa cardholders saying they've met with resistance to opening a dispute and, in some cases, warnings that their airline credit could be cancelled if they proceeded.

Customers say they were also told of policies that exclude cases where a travel credit was offered, or were encouraged to accept a credit rather than pursue a dispute. Some say they were told pandemic-related disputes would not be addressed at all."

[Fanblade]

https://www.news.com.au/world/coronavir ... 7731c3da74

Dr. David Nabarro from the WHO appealed to world leaders yesterday, telling them to stop “using lockdowns as your primary control method” of the coronavirus.

He also claimed that the only thing lockdowns achieved was poverty.

You can not decide on one hand to discourage travel within Canada, and then expect airlines to eat the cost of that decision.

There needs to be some middle ground found. At the moment everyone is saying. You pay. No you pay. No you pay.

Attack the cause not the messenger. The causation is the domestic quarantine. That is the route cause of the problem. Out west people are travelling. Not a lot but enough to keep basic air travel operating.

Again. According to the WHO. The only thing lockdown achieves is poverty.

Quit frankly I am against public money going to cover a problem caused by political decisions.

Fix the problem instead.

[montado]

Lol you should look up the top media articles if you google "who lockdown"

All the mainstream sources are shutting this news down saying we aren't interpreting it correctly as if lockdowns are still really important...

How many days this year have Canadian hospitals been unable to keep up with covid? Zero... Infact I know some people who work in the hospital saying they pull pranks all day because it's the good old days and not busy at all... They are literally bored throwing nurf balls in the hallways. That's what happens when you cancel all elective surgery and only few people trickle in with covid. Our hard earned tax dollars at work, sorry for anyone who's now on a 12 month wait list for surgery. What a joke. The lockdown was warranted for about a month while we figured shit out. The fact that more than half of Canadians today support going back into lockdown if cases climb is insane if you ask me.

Mayo clinic says the virus has mutated and its less deadly, but to be cautious we should keep doing the same policies... Lol, how dumb is that logic? I'm sticking with the US election conspiracy... Give it another month and in the US the will begin to ignore covid and it won't make front page news... Life will go nearly normal. In Canada on the other hand I can't tell. Lots of doomer here...

[mijbil]

Montado is absolutely correct about hospitals. Our neighbor across the road works at the local hospital in reception and it was a ghost town. Even at the time we were saying why not do elective day surgeries to clear some back log with the caveat that IF things suddenly get busy, the surgery is cancelled on next to no notice. People would understand that an emergency trumps an elective. Did it happen? Of course not. It's still a veritable ghost town.
Old Fella - as far as WS not giving a refund likely knowing that the routes were being axed, that is wrong. We know why it's being done - they need the cash but it's wrong. The credit card dispute route is a good idea. Yes you have to stand up for yourself. So do it. If enough make a case of it, then maybe they won't be so difficult in the future. BTW my outfit is pulling the same stunt in issuing 'future credits'. If the price climbs people will be rightly mad if they have to fork out more for the same service a year later. Will marketing be smart and allow people to travel on the same trip for the same previous price as a good will gesture? Who knows.

[bald seagull]

Is there any difference between Westjet and Air Canada anymore?

[CPT.HarshColdReality]

https://www.gov.nl.ca/releases/2020/exec/1014n07/

So I ask. How stupid or incompetent are these people running the provinces? They are upset a private company is reducing services in which they themselves have cut off the demand.

like really eh! makes me want to explode in rage. zero logic.

[Old fella]

https://www.news.com.au/world/coronavir ... 7731c3da74

Dr. David Nabarro from the WHO appealed to world leaders yesterday, telling them to stop “using lockdowns as your primary control method” of the coronavirus.

He also claimed that the only thing lockdowns achieved was poverty.

You can not decide on one hand to discourage travel within Canada, and then expect airlines to eat the cost of that decision.

There needs to be some middle ground found. At the moment everyone is saying. You pay. No you pay. No you pay.

Attack the cause not the messenger. The causation is the domestic quarantine. That is the route cause of the problem. Out west people are travelling. Not a lot but enough to keep basic air travel operating.

Again. According to the WHO. The only thing lockdown achieves is poverty.

Quit frankly I am against public money going to cover a problem caused by political decisions.

Fix the problem instead.

As a Maritimer, and currently living here I 100% agree with what you said. WJ unloaded 80% of their capacity and what will be interesting to see moving forward how much of that capacity will return. I would argue some may but certainly not all by a long shot, much of it is permanently gone in my view. The Atlantic Premiers will howl as they always do and will, but WJ isn’t going to listen if there isn’t profit to be had, especially with the new owners ONEX.

Another issue is airport structure, what will happen to locations like YSJ, YFC, YYG, YQM and YQY. There will be severe reductions at those sites no doubt, gotta happen. Us Maritime lot are in for a f—-ing rude awakening as it comes to air service. Just saying.

[shamrock104]

Off topic slightly but I totally agree with that Doctor. Here in Canada we are now blaming bars for the widespread increase among other locations.
I have family in Ireland and the bars never opened up since the start of this pandemic.Their lockdown has been one of the strictest in Europe and yet the numbers are still increasing daily. I believe they are facing another full lockdown tomorrow for 6 weeks. So we have a lockdown and see if numbers decrease, open things up, numbers increase again and then followed by further lockdowns. Where does this end?
Now the Atlantic regions have been pretty much closed to outsiders and that's their choice and who can blame Airlines for pulling out, its all about profit at the end of the day.
Now its becoming apparent that Air travel is low risk in relation to COVID spreading but we have most of the fleets grounded but this is probably more about protecting borders and not encouraging travel.We are now 8 months into this pandemic and do not appear to be any further in relation to knee jerk reactions when number increase.

[trey kule]

Its all about profit , eh? We certainly like to eat our own, don’t we.

There was almost no one travelling! Why would any airline continue to operate with only 5-10 people going back and forth.
Where there is no demand, there is no need for a service.
Yep, the premiers , mayors, politicos would love 150 seat aircraft moving a half dozen people.

But its fun to look at a big bad airline that is concerned only with their profit.

More crew layoffs. More staff layoffs.
The end of a career for more of those not still in denial.

[Longtimer]

Regarding "
Another issue is airport structure, what will happen to locations like YSJ, YFC, YYG, YQM and YQY. There will be severe reductions at those sites no doubt, gotta happen. Us Maritime lot are in for a f—-ing rude awakening as it comes to air service."
All across Canada airports have found an easy fix *****Increase the AIF*****