FLYGUY From Canada, joined May 1999, 137 posts, RR: 0 Posted (7 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 378 times:
Here's a letter that was written in today's local paper here in Vancouver talking about how Westjet came down to Mexico to pick up stranded 2T pax.
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'Westjet to the rescue'
Canada 3000 didn't come, WestJet did
Kevin Leopold
The Province
Thursday, November 15, 2001
We were awakened at 7 a.m. last Friday by a phone call. My wife said all Canada 3000 planes were grounded and we were stranded in Mazatlan.
Lori, our Canada 3000 representative, arrived at the Oceano Palace in Mazatlan by 10 a.m.
Official news from Toronto was that a Canada 3000 flight from Manzanillo would be diverted to bring us home a few hours earlier than scheduled.
Lori told us to check the board at the airport for updates throughout the day.
Only one hour before our pickup time, we were notified that a special flight would be available during the night, but it would be much later than expected. We left the hotel at 11 p.m. and headed for the airport.
We had a one-hour wait to go through security and then a three-hour wait at the boarding gate.
People tried to sleep while others played cards or opened their duty-free liquor.
Morale was good, but everyone was exhausted. Then the plane arrived. It was a WestJet airplane. A cheer erupted.
We were in the air by 4:15 a.m.
It turns out the crew was assembled Friday afternoon in Calgary, flown to Vancouver to pick up the WestJet airliner which was then flown empty to Mazatlan.
It was a rescue flight.
We were given a sandwich and soft drinks or juice. Most people hadn't eaten in 12 hours or more.
I learned later that WestJet did not expect to be compensated by Canada 3000, but went ahead with the rescue in good faith.
I would like to thank the crew and all the staff involved in this "rescue." They cannot imagine how appreciative we are.
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I think it's quite remarkable that a crew would go out of their way like this; good publicity also. Just out of curiousity, who picked up the tab for fuel, landing fees, etc. for this flight. And was there any other Westjet flights similar to this one?
Cessnapimp From Canada, joined Oct 2001, 1319 posts, RR: 30 Reply 2, posted (7 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 277 times:
This is... this is....
sniff!
Excuse me, I got something in my eye!
Seriously though, the expense it takes to fly a Boeing 737 over to... err... whatever that place was and rescue people, that's a class act! Truly Canadian!!!
Not that it wasn't before, but my mind is more than set on flying Westjet if I need to go.
Canadi>nBoy From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 4, posted (7 years 11 months 4 weeks 23 hours ago) and read 245 times:
Mr. Clive Beddoe and his employees are indeed a unique and remarkable group. I have had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Beddoe on a couple of occasions, and find him to be very down to earth, very personable, and quite insightful. Westjet certainly is quite the carrier.
I wish them all the best of luck.
Flashmeister From United States, joined Apr 2000, 2572 posts, RR: 11 Reply 6, posted (7 years 11 months 4 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 223 times:
Just shows that companies who do the right thing, regardless of their bottom lines, gain the respect of customers and potential customers that no money could by.
Slawko From Canada, joined May 1999, 3790 posts, RR: 13 Reply 9, posted (7 years 11 months 4 weeks 22 hours ago) and read 222 times:
Give me a break, no company in it's right mind would do somehting out of the goodness of it's heart...I don;t know if any of you are aware of canadian laws, but mexico vacation was a charter, and as such was prodected under canadian law. The flight you were on was payed for by the charter company not by C3, and so no WJ will not get compensated by C3, it will be the charter company that you booked with that payes WJ to get you and the others out of Mexico, and if not then WJ can take them to court...WJ didn't become a rich/profitable airline by donating a few hundred thousand US dollars to stranded passengers in mexico.
"Clive Beddoe says he favours competition, but his actions do not support that idea." Robert Milton - CEO Air Canada
Gmonney From Canada, joined Jan 2001, 2105 posts, RR: 29 Reply 11, posted (7 years 11 months 4 weeks 20 hours ago) and read 203 times:
I think if this is true it was a great thing. I would like to see it published in the news papers across Toronto. I'm sure this will help WestJet, not that they need it though.
Good Job Westjet.
Grant
tdotphotography -- You know you are in tdot when all you do is photograph AC A320's!
Polaris From Canada, joined Feb 2000, 1062 posts, RR: 1 Reply 12, posted (7 years 11 months 4 weeks 18 hours ago) and read 190 times:
Slawko is correct. Charter operations are the responsibility of the tour operator. The tour operator in question would have had to charter another aircraft to get their clients home. In this case, WestJet happened to be available. The airline was paid for its services by the tour operator.
It should be noted that WestJet, as with other carriers, did not honour any of Canada 3000's scheduled tickets.
Planeawesome From Canada, joined Sep 2000, 103 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (7 years 11 months 4 weeks 9 hours ago) and read 156 times:
It sounds to me like the Westjet PR (public relations) dept. has a very good relationship with the Vancouver press.
Good for them.They're doing their job well.
Cpt Underpants From Canada, joined May 2001, 166 posts, RR: 0 Reply 15, posted (7 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 hour ago) and read 115 times:
Actually, Air Canada did several of them. Since they were still running a reduced schedule post Sept. 11, they had the aircraft and crews available to do some rescue flights for the tour operators. Skyservice and Air Transat were also doing some of these flights, and they're all getting paid by the tour operators. WJ has a good PR department and they've got certain media friends they can count on for a positive story, and who can blame them for taking advantage of it? It's just good business.
Mandala499 From Indonesia, joined Aug 2001, 4530 posts, RR: 59 Reply 16, posted (7 years 11 months 4 weeks 1 hour ago) and read 113 times:
I think I picked the wrong airline from the wrong side of the border as the bad example (kidding). I was just surprised that Westjet did it... somehow... dunno why...
Mandala499
When losing situational awareness, pray Cumulus Granitus isn't nearby !
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