Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by JakeLRS

Did some searching to find some Flair loads on their Sun Routes

Phoenix-Mesa, and Las Vegas seem to be performing very well (85%> Loads)

The Florida routes are doing TERRIBLY (Same story in YEG). Loads are well below 60% (St. Petes being the lowest -- Under 50%).

These are booked flight loads for the next 3 weeks so numbers may increase slightly.

I don't see Flair attempting Florida next year, but Mesa and Vegas are bound to return.

Originally Posted by buzzg

Honestly though that's less of a Flair issue and more of a Western Canada thing. BC people tend to go to California, Prairies go to Arizona, and Easterners go to Florida.

I'm flying Flair to Mesa next Thursday, will report back. I've heard some of their planes are awful, haha. But if you're going to Scottsdale/Glendale and many other places – the Mesa airport is way more convenient. PHX is a nightmare sometimes, especially if you need a rental car.

I'm going for a quick trip to visit the parents. Fly down next Thursday at 5pm, fly home Sunday at 11 pm. Direct both ways, including bags, was $250. Hard to beat that, and the flight times are much better than WestJet (for me at least).

Update: I received a new itinerary for my flight last night that was SIGNIFICANTLY different from my original. I booked for next Thursday to fly at 5 pm direct to Mesa. My flight is now 8am connecting through Edmonton. I'm livid. I booked meetings that morning on purpose.

Did some online searches – this seems to be a regular practice for Flair. There's thousands of complaints – this airline is a scam. They just sell direct tickets that they pretty much know they aren't going to run, then a week out completely change them to route through Edmonton. I called to figure out wtf was going on, and when I told the guy that they're scamming people his response was "well that's why we offer full refunds."

But when you change the flight a week out, it's usually too late to book anywhere else for another airline. They clearly do this so often, there's an are on the site that you can get an automatic refund due to "involuntarily changed" flights.

It is a full-on scam. I only booked because it was direct, it wasn't even cheaper than the WestJet options at time of booking. I've launched a formal complaint with CATSA, as they're doing this all the time.

[esquire]

^ I hate to say it, but I've heard so many horror stories about Flair that I won't book with them. Fortunately, AC and WS will generally compete on price on routes that Flair runs (they will often be in the same ballpark if they don't match the fares exactly), so you can take advantage of the low fares without subjecting yourself to the Flair nonsense.

I realize that once Flair disappears the low fares will too, but I just don't want to inconvenience myself when Flair inevitably pulls its shenanigans.

[buzzg]

^Yeah, never again. Will be interesting to see how the other new ones operate. Swoop likely has the best chance at success, as WS at least has the ability to support it while ramping up a bit more, and could merge flights Swoop/WS flights early on IF NEEDED as opposed to what Flair is doing with low-selling flights.

[esquire]

I would expect Swoop to disappear once Flair and that other ULCC (Canada Airlines?) go out of business, much the same way that AC Tango and Zip disappeared in the mid-00s after Jetsgo and Canada 3000 went belly up.

[wave46]

Originally Posted by esquire

I would expect Swoop to disappear once Flair and that other ULCC (Canada Airlines?) go out of business, much the same way that AC Tango and Zip disappeared in the mid-00s after Jetsgo and Canada 3000 went belly up.

I disagree.

Westjet will keep Swoop around as a deterrent for any potential ULCC that thinks they might be able to set up in Canada.

It will also help Westjet management keep costs in line. A route not making enough profit? Swoop it. Employees getting too demanding for salaries? Ship the mainline Westjet route to Swoop.

I could see Swoop being used as a competitor to Rouge, Sunwing and Air Transat to sun destinations too.

[esquire]

^ Yeah, fair enough... it could remain as WestJet's equivalent to Rouge.

[JakeLRS]

Originally Posted by buzzg

Update: I received a new itinerary for my flight last night that was SIGNIFICANTLY different from my original. I booked for next Thursday to fly at 5 pm direct to Mesa. My flight is now 8am connecting through Edmonton. I'm livid. I booked meetings that morning on purpose.

Is your flight on February 16?

If so, I noticed the fares SKY-ROCKETED to $700 ONEWAY that day.

Looks as so only that day has been altered. Yikes.

[Rogie]

Originally Posted by wave46

I disagree.

Westjet will keep Swoop around as a deterrent for any potential ULCC that thinks they might be able to set up in Canada.

It will also help Westjet management keep costs in line. A route not making enough profit? Swoop it. Employees getting too demanding for salaries? Ship the mainline Westjet route to Swoop.

I could see Swoop being used as a competitor to Rouge, Sunwing and Air Transat to sun destinations too.

This is an interesting thought. In their conference call with investors yesterday, executives said Swoop had a downward pressure on fares (including Westjet's own fares), but at the same time, Swoop's costs were approaching 6 cents / available seat mile, which is the lowest in Canada.

[CoryB]

Another Swoop advantage is that WestJet can move old planes from its fleet to Swoop pushing the quality of its fleet up some and perhaps using it to limit flight delays due to maintenance on the mainline. The 787 with the lay flat business class seats makes it clear WestJet is hoping to play with the big airlines and chase those high value business travellers v its roots as everyone's airline with a single fare class.

[Riverman]

^ I get to fly on a Dreamliner at the end of the month. I'll write a full review!

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Riverman

^ I get to fly on a Dreamliner at the end of the month. I'll write a full review!

WestJet? Where to?

[EspionNoir]

Originally Posted by Riverman

^ I get to fly on a Dreamliner at the end of the month. I'll write a full review!

Where will you depart from?

[UPP]

Originally Posted by Riverman

^ I get to fly on a Dreamliner at the end of the month. I'll write a full review!

The Dreamliners are nice. The interactive tv's are kind of fun. Probably the coolest thing is they don't have plastic shades over the windows, you can 'tint' the windows as deep blue as you like. Kind of neat.

[esquire]

^ The Dreamliner is my favourite plane so far. There is something about the air on board that keeps me feeling good throughout the flight... I never get that half-asleep, drowsy, headachy feeling on arrival that I occasionally get after flying a long distance on older planes. Because they're new, the décor is still pretty fresh and nice, and the at-seat entertainment is great. So far I've sampled Air Canada, United and LOT's Dreamliners.

I'll be taking the comparable Airbus model, the A350, for the first time in a few months. I'm looking forward to seeing how that compares.

[wave46]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ The Dreamliner is my favourite plane so far. There is something about the air on board that keeps me feeling good throughout the flight... I never get that half-asleep, drowsy, headachy feeling on arrival that I occasionally get after flying a long distance on older planes. Because they're new, the décor is still pretty fresh and nice, and the at-seat entertainment is great. So far I've sampled Air Canada, United and LOT's Dreamliners.

I'll be taking the comparable Airbus model, the A350, for the first time in a few months. I'm looking forward to seeing how that compares.

The 787 is pressurized to simulate ~6000ft. altitude and ~15% humidity versus ~8000ft. and ~4% on older aircraft.

I've been on a couple of 787-8s on AC. They're nice. The biggest complaints are the fact that AC puts the overhead light switch on the armrest and the seat pitch is kind of tight (who isn't these days, though?)

[Riverman]

Originally Posted by esquire

WestJet? Where to?

Victoria via Calgary. Visiting my son before he goes to sea again.

[jmt18325]

Originally Posted by esquire

I'll be taking the comparable Airbus model, the A350, for the first time in a few months. I'm looking forward to seeing how that compares.

I found the experience very similar, though I was spoiled to have 3 seats to myself on the A350.

[Wpg_Guy]

Winnipeg Airport on Instagram: “The Ground Services Equipment (GSE) Building is one of the steps to enhancing our airport campus not only for tenants, but for our entire community.
Building on the great foundation we've already made will help us enhance connection for Manitobans, businesses, and travellers like you. Here's a progress shot; stay tuned for more!

[JakeLRS]

Flair canceles select U.S routes due to low load factors.

Miami — Canceled eff. Feb 25.
St. Pete’s — Canceled eff Feb 25.
—
Orlando — unaffected (2x weekly) — Ends April 7
Las Vegas — unaffected (2x weekly) — Ends April 15
Phoenix Mesa — uneffected (2x weekly) — Ends April 7

I don’t think St. Pete’s loads ever exceeded 50% — suprised they didn’t pull the plug sooner. Miami could have been successful but it’s really only useful for cruises and not sure if flair really marketed themselves well for that.

Vegas and Mesa are the two destinations that I know have been performing decently (averaging above 70%), haven’t really checked the numbers for Orlando yet tho.

[esquire]

^ I vaguely recall from the Canadian airport threads that Florida routes from YEG, possibly other western airports, were similarly disappointing.

It's interesting how westerners don't seem that interested in going to south Florida. It has dependably warm winter weather... more consistently warm than Phoenix or Palm Springs, for example. The beaches are nice and there's a fair bit to see and do. There are downsides like the sheer size of the place and traffic headaches, but I'm a bit surprised that it was such a tough sell as a destination.