After the election next Monday, the losing federal leaders may want to just slip away somewhere. Now, a Canadian airline is going to make a little easier for them -- or for anyone who shares their last name for that matter.
WestJet Airlines Ltd. is offering anyone with the surname Martin, Harper, Layton, Duceppe, or Harris an opportunity to get a free domestic fare on the day following the Jan. 23 election.
Gillian Bentley, spokeswoman for the airline, says it's just “a fun way to get a free flight on a specific date.”
Ms. Bentley says the promotion is similar to ones the airline has run in the past, including a Halloween promotion that awarded flights to people with the surname Black or Orange, or one that ran on Valentine's Day that did the same for the surname Love or Heart.
Customers will be required to book their flights by 7 p.m. MST, and will be on the hook for the surcharges and taxes. Ms. Bentley said hundreds of people take advantage of these promotions.
A quick look at Canadian phonebooks found thousands of people named Martin, Harper, Layton, Duceppe, or Harris.
WestJet Airlines WJA-T Last Trade:Jan 18, 2006 16:10 EST
Last: C$ 12.520 Net Change: C$ -0.210 % Change: -1.65%
We make the news in the G&M and Calgary newspapers (we were on the front page of G&M's website yesterday). I say its taking advantage of a good advertising opportunity.
It's cheap advertising. I don't think too many people could take advantage of this opportunity based upon last minute travel, last names and then when you take into consideration that it's only covering the fare and not taxes and fee's it's not a huge payout compared to the ammount of publicity it generates.
If you’re a corporation making political statements is never a good idea. Hmm if the Liberals, win aviation will retain the present Transport Minister. If the Conservatives win, rumor has an interesting new Transport Minister. Someone at WJ didn’t do their homework very well..
Rebel wrote:If you’re a corporation making political statements is never a good idea. Hmm if the Liberals, win aviation will retain the present Transport Minister. If the Conservatives win, rumor has an interesting new Transport Minister. Someone at WJ didn’t do their homework very well..
I'm not sure about your reasoning, WJ is not supporting one party over another. You can qualify for a free trip regardless if your last name mimicks the BQ, NDP, Conservatives, or liberal party.
Rebel wrote:If you’re a corporation making political statements is never a good idea. Hmm if the Liberals, win aviation will retain the present Transport Minister. If the Conservatives win, rumor has an interesting new Transport Minister. Someone at WJ didn’t do their homework very well..
You have the inside track on everything, don't ya?
BTW, did Ralph get back to you with the documentation that proves your claim that the Heritage Fund paid for the WJ hanger in YYC?
whipline wrote:Its a great way to get free advertising. One question thought, how come when Jetsgo did the same thing it wasn't seen as great advertising?
It was. It was one of the smarter things ML did. Unfortunately , the rest of his business plan stunk.
this isn't anything new for wj marketing ...I remember about 4 yrs ago we did a similar ad at halloween letting anyone with the last name "Black" and something else that doesn't come to mind fly for free too on that day...it got lots of press too...
Rebel wrote:If you’re a corporation making political statements is never a good idea. Hmm if the Liberals, win aviation will retain the present Transport Minister. If the Conservatives win, rumor has an interesting new Transport Minister. Someone at WJ didn’t do their homework very well..
you didn't even read the article, did you Eintstein? Or did you and not understand it?
Sat, January 21, 2006
Airline 'names' its price: Free
By CP
OTTAWA -- Here is the final count everyone has been looking for: Martin 265; Harris 110; Harper 92; Layton 33; Duceppe 0.
No, they are not federal electon returns.
It's the number of people who share their names with the federal party leaders who booked free flights during a WestJet promotion this past week. The airline wanted to have fun, so it offered the freebies to the leaders' namesakes for the day after the Jan. 23 election.
WestJet has in the past offered free flights to people called Orange or Black on Haloween and also flew passengers without charge if they shared names with past prime ministers.
