Questioning the reliability of WestJet

By Letter to the Editor on April 26, 2019.

Only a few months ago it was announced that WestJet was to have regularly scheduled flights from Medicine Hat. We waited in anticipation for al those promises … more choices, lower fares, etc. Those were promises. Now for reality. These are recent examples:

– On a recent international flight into Calgary on Boxing Day (very cold) we transferred onto the final leg of our flight to Medicine Hat. We sat on the plane, with the doors open for 47 minutes, waiting for someone to load the luggage onto our plane. After the luggage was finally loaded the plane was further delayed because of a supposed storm in Medicine Hat. The result was having to find an available hotel room at 11 p.m. during the Christmas period only to start again the next day.

– More recently our neighbours were planning on visiting family. The plane at 7 p.m. was cancelled. They were then rebooked ford a flight at 5 a.m. the following day. This resulted in miss connections and a five-hour layover.

– Easter weekend our family coming in from Vancouver arrived in Calgary only to find the flight to Medicine Hat was again cancelled. After approximately eight hours or so our Prairie Sprinter came to the rescue.

These are only three examples. I understand that WestJet uses subcontractors but who is responsible? After all, we deal with WestJet and pay our money to WestJet.

Is WestJet reliable? I for one do not think so.

Nick Medwid

Medicine Hat

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