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Calgary International Airport

Surprised they can't fill a 787-9 on that route. After already cutting Frankfurt a few years back. While competition is good, I do have to admit WJ's long haul international pricing is still very competitive. Looking at YVR, or similar airports to YYC in the US (i.e. SLC which is a mid-size city but with a large Delta, and only Delta hub) WJ pricing is among the lowest.
 
This definitely has to do with fierce WS competition, but AC has still has made it clear that they're not interested in Calgary anymore. This reduction was probably inevitable regardless.
 
Flair Airlines is all, "we fly international too!" I still don't trust flair for a flight longer than Vancouver maybe that's just me. I worry if I book too far in advance they might not be around to actually get me to my destination. Although it has been awhile since I've seen negative news about Flair, being quiet and competent is probably not a bad thing for them to do right now.
 
Their quality of service is genuinely improving. I flew with them to Phoenix a little while back and I have no complaints. They don't have terrible on-time performance, in fact it's typically higher than Air Canada and Westjet every month.

But booking far in advance could definitely be a gamble given their track record of having aircraft seized and being in crippling debt on the edge of bankruptcy.
 
I have taken 3 flights on Flair, two of which were delayed (one by about 5 hours which resulted in me getting home at 4 am). I would definitely not take a connecting flight with them, and would be reluctant to fly them again unless the savings were huge. I'm too old to roll the dice on abysmal service for the sake of $50 or even $100.

On the other hand, I have nothing but praise for Porter.
 
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Haven't flown flair in a while, but I see posts on Reddit of huge lineup at the check-in counters. Are they charging for digital boarding passes? Or is it to measure/weigh carry-on bags? With the new basic tickets, Flair's cost advantage is pretty small. And a friend recently flew Toronto-Edmonton and they didn't even have water service? You could ask for a cup of water for free, but nobody was coming around to hand it out.
 
trtcttc said:
Haven't flown flair in a while, but I see posts on Reddit of huge lineup at the check-in counters. Are they charging for digital boarding passes? Or is it to measure/weigh carry-on bags? With the new basic tickets, Flair's cost advantage is pretty small. And a friend recently flew Toronto-Edmonton and they didn't even have water service? You could ask for a cup of water for free, but nobody was coming around to hand it out.
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It's definitely the carry-ons. The sizing containers are smaller than the space under the seats and the agents get a commission for charging carry-on bag fees.

I flew a ton on Flair flying out to work on TransMountain in Abbotsford for a couple years only because the company was booking flights. I don't think I was ever on time to board a flight
 
CalgaryTiger said:
The obvious move is to allow free carry-on and increase ticket price. You'd improve people's experience and your employee's time efficiency.
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Problem is, low ticket prices are about all Flair has going for them. Take that away and why not just take WJ or AC, and at least you can count on a reasonable degree of reliability.

Porter at least differentiates themself with a unique product- narrow body jets with only 2 seats a side, free beer and wine and free wifi (although WJ now has that also thanks to their partnership with Telus). But the first two are enough to entice me when I'm flying back to Toronto.
 
Albertasaurus said:
Problem is, low ticket prices are about all Flair has going for them. Take that away and why not just take WJ or AC, and at least you can count on a reasonable degree of reliability.

Porter at least differentiates themself with a unique product- narrow body jets with only 2 seats a side, free beer and wine and free wifi (although WJ now has that also thanks to their partnership with Telus). But the first two are enough to entice me when I'm flying back to Toronto.
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AC also has free wifi and better availability. WJ currently on all 737-800, started on some Max 8, and it won't come to 737-700. Westjet also has a lot of variability to their fleet. You may get a nice modern plane, or a former Lynx/Sunwing plane with tighter seating.
 
Albertasaurus said:
Problem is, low ticket prices are about all Flair has going for them. Take that away and why not just take WJ or AC, and at least you can count on a reasonable degree of reliability.

Porter at least differentiates themself with a unique product- narrow body jets with only 2 seats a side, free beer and wine and free wifi (although WJ now has that also thanks to their partnership with Telus). But the first two are enough to entice me when I'm flying back to Toronto.
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I willingly pay more not to fly Flair
 
trtcttc said:
Surprised they can't fill a 787-9 on that route. After already cutting Frankfurt a few years back. While competition is good, I do have to admit WJ's long haul international pricing is still very competitive. Looking at YVR, or similar airports to YYC in the US (i.e. SLC which is a mid-size city but with a large Delta, and only Delta hub) WJ pricing is among the lowest.
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It is for sure. I priced out tickets from Calgary to Tokyo and Seoul back to Calgary, for several different dates and almost always Westjet was the cheapest option. Also that and I ran into a few fellow Canadians (From Toronto, Ottawa, Kitchener, and Labrador) and all of them flew Westjet through Calgary. A coworker today told me he's flying to Tokyo via Calgary in December.
On a side note, Seoul back to Calgary was mostly all Koreans, but there were also connecting passengers from China. Quite a few actually. The guy beside me was one of them, and had booked Korean Air from China to Seoul and Westjet doing the Korean air portion. His final destination was Kamloops.
It feels like Westjet may have created a small hub and spoke system.
 
Surrealplaces said:
It is for sure. I priced out tickets from Calgary to Tokyo and Seoul back to Calgary, for several different dates and almost always Westjet was the cheapest option. Also that and I ran into a few fellow Canadians (From Toronto, Ottawa, Kitchener, and Labrador) and all of them flew Westjet through Calgary. A coworker today told me he's flying to Tokyo via Calgary in December.
On a side note, Seoul back to Calgary was mostly all Koreans, but there were also connecting passengers from China. Quite a few actually. The guy beside me was one of them, and had booked Korean Air from China to Seoul and Westjet doing the Korean air portion. His final destination was Kamloops.
It feels like Westjet may have created a small hub and spoke system.
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The Asian traffic will likely continue to increase. Purely anecdotal evidence but people in the community and family I have in Asia, Calgary is becoming a more common middle/upper-middle class destination than Toronto or Vancouver. When it's $3M to buy a house in a good neighborhood in Vancouver, the winter of Calgary becomes far more tolerable
 
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