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Westjet flight changes. Adds Toronto flight

Westjet flight changes. Adds Toronto flight

Happy_ Hour
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 918

Happy_ Hour
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 918

I was
9/18/2016 at 6:18 PM

In the Brandon airport last Wed. picking someone up and there was a sign that showed Sept 15th as the final day of the seasonal Toronto flight.
foxtrot11
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 2688

foxtrot11
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 2688

I think
9/18/2016 at 6:26 PM

Happy_ Hour said "In the Brandon airport last Wed. picking someone up and there was a sign that showed Sept 15th as the final day of the seasonal Toronto flight. "

They have this totally backwards - they should have tried them out for December thru March when hot weather travellers would take advantage of the flights.

I would far rather roll out of bed at 4 am and get the 15 minutes down to the airport here than have to either stay a night in Winnipeg, or leave home at 2 am to get there safely.

Wasn't really seriously planning a winter get away yet, but I had been thinking of flying from here to TO rather than backtracking to Calgary with those ridiculous layovers.
traveller
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 9145

traveller
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 9145

:):)
9/18/2016 at 6:36 PM

that sucks, while i cant say i know the airline business well in my mind i think December to February or march would be peek times to fly east, more people going home for Christmas and many more travel connections out of TO
rogercsr2007
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 261

rogercsr2007
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 261

.
9/18/2016 at 7:03 PM

We haven't received an email yet from westjet and we fly out on Dec 23
Adam

Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

Adam
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

Toronto direct cancelled
9/18/2016 at 7:14 PM

The City has confirmed this news, citing info from Westjet that booking has been "sluggish""
http://www.brandon.ca/public-notices-details?var=2360

Hard to blame anyone for seeing it as disappointing to have it announced and un-announced and for info to come out the way it has. In everything can't lose sight that it's been a case of two steps forward, one step back and that we're light years ahead of where we were a few years ago in having the two Calgary flights and a soon to be brand spankin new terminal.

WJ will have their reasons for why they arent able to follow through with this route, but can't help but wonder if there's an opportunity here for Air Canada.
grandmaB
Joined: This month
Posts: 310

grandmaB
Joined: This month
Posts: 310

in your dreams
9/19/2016 at 1:14 AM

Air Canada would never come to Brandon....I'd sooner see New Leaf come instead....they are adding more and more destinations and are much cheaper priced....makes for good competition.
Brenda..
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 9544

Brenda..
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 9544

Wet Jet cancels direct flights
9/19/2016 at 6:27 AM

WestJet says demand for its Brandon to Toronto flight 'soft'.

from CBC

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/westjet-brandon-toronto-1.3768246

Happy_ Hour
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 918

Happy_ Hour

Joined: Mar 2009

Posts: 918

Yeah

9/19/2016 at 6:40 AM

traveller said "that sucks, while i cant say i know the airline business well in my mind i think December to February or march would be peek times to fly east, more people going home for Christmas and many more travel connections out of TO "

And just the weather alone.
Winter is harder to jump in the car and travel far distances. Summertime one can more easily take the long road trip.

Oh well it was good while it lasted, (I assume, I don't know I only fly West)

Adam

Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

Adam

Joined: Mar 2005

Posts: 15663

East

9/19/2016 at 10:41 AM

grandmaB said "Air Canada would never come to Brandon....I'd sooner see New Leaf come instead....they are adding more and more destinations and are much cheaper priced....makes for good competition. "

Never say never.
To me if there's a "dream on" it's probably more from the perspective of [i]"if one airline couldnt make it work, why could another?"[/i]
Would be a very valid question but to that I'd point out this exact thread where its clear that not everyone even knew about their announcement that they were extending this from being just a summer thing to being more permanent thing. Westjet has to take some responsibility for that with the on-again, off-again route changes over the last couple years. It can’t be easy as a business trying to expand in a new market during these economic times but folks need predictability and other than the main initial Calgary flight things have gotten a little confusing for the average consumer as far as what flights are/arent offered, on what days, etc. I’m sure they know their business a heck of a lot better than me, but hopefully whether its WJ or another airline there are better conditions in the future to give a flight East the best shot possible.

Once the updated airport is open I wonder if conditions might be more ideal for "stopover" flights (be it from Calgary or elsewhere) that continue East. I don't think any airline would've wanted to stop here and make paying passengers from other markets put up with our old terminal but the updated airport should hopefully open more doors!

I think NewLeaf has their own challenges right now and haven't shown any signs of getting into our type of market yet (they actually just put a few routes on hold themselves), but maybe their head office being in Winnipeg could work to our advantage some day?

trapper
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 511

trapper
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 511

Flight to Toronto
9/19/2016 at 12:03 PM

Flew Brandon - Toronto Return 2 weeks ago and both flights were about 80% Capacity
Cizzthabizz
Joined: This month
Posts: 113

Cizzthabizz
Joined: This month
Posts: 113

Another airline would be a nice option.
9/19/2016 at 12:24 PM

How many times are we gonna go through WJ announcing additional flights and then taking them away? It's disappointing. New Leaf would be nice.
Johnbisonbear
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 4183

Johnbisonbear
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 4183

statement from WJ
9/19/2016 at 12:54 PM

trapper said "Flew Brandon - Toronto Return 2 weeks ago and both flights were about 80% Capacity "

on CKLQ says that less than 5% of seats were booked for fall flights. That`s pretty sad, where`s all the people who said they would take advantage of the service if it came?
Hackeda
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 2746

Hackeda
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 2746

WestJet is a for-profit business
9/19/2016 at 1:16 PM

WestJet's main objective is to make a profit. It's unfortunate that they've pulled their YBR-YYZ flights but if I had skin in the game, I wouldn't want to waste my money either.

I read tweets regarding WestJet's flight reduction is a sign of how Manitoba's "sluggish" economy is showing now. Now? So will YBR-YYC flights also be cancelled or reduced? Or is Manitoba's sluggish economy only affected by eastbound travellers and not west-bounders?

(The crappy economy is not a new & recent thing)

And the sluggish Manitoba economy can still afford to expand the airport.

I hope that the huge wad of cash being spent on the airport expansion is made well worth it eventually. To expand so vigorously for only two flights west seems over the top to me but I am not a supporter of "build it and then will come" especially in today's economy.

The bottom line is that people weren't booking flights east. The strong supporters of Brandon air service needed to book more flights. Apparently, WestJet saw this east flight as Brandon's want, but money is made when there is a need for service.

More organizations need to be run like a business. For profit, less hand-outs.

Fishin Guy
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 6897

Fishin Guy

Joined: Dec 2005

Posts: 6897

....

9/19/2016 at 2:03 PM

Johnbisonbear said "

trapper said "Flew Brandon - Toronto Return 2 weeks ago and both flights were about 80% Capacity "

on CKLQ says that less than 5% of seats were booked for fall flights. That`s pretty sad, where`s all the people who said they would take advantage of the service if it came? "

I think they pulled out too soon. Talking with our travel agent it is harvest season and people are still making plans for winter. If they would have pulled the fall flights sure, why pull the winter destination flights? We have flown south and seen many people from this area on those flights. We booked for Cuba in Jan and now westjet is paying for a hotel room to go in early and for when I get back. So for two of us couples westjet is paying for 4 hotel rooms in total. Well how is that cheaper for them?

Danzig
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 382

Danzig
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 382

Refunded
9/19/2016 at 2:12 PM

At least they were good with the refunds. My Feb flight was re-routed through Calgary which I really did not want and so a quick call and it was all refunded and I'll be looking at Regina, Wpg or Minot now.

Really didn't want to drive 3 hours in Feb but I'm still flying one way or another; just driving now too unfortunately!

foxtrot11
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 2688

foxtrot11

Joined: Feb 2009

Posts: 2688

I tried

9/19/2016 at 2:51 PM

To use it for a biz trip next week and the connections made it nearly impossible. Hubby would have had to fly to Calgary and sit for 6 hours or over night to get to TO for his connector to Germany.

I was hoping something would line up so we could take a trip this winter right from here, but even those flights (after the supposed non stop to TO rather than backtracking to Calgary was done)weren't working well.

I wish WJ would have scaled back to even one a week before dumping it completely - especially during vacation season. But then, they are a business.

Notredame
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 86

Notredame
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 86

I smelled it coming
9/19/2016 at 9:08 PM

I flew YBR-YYZ round trip this July and loved it. Part of the reason why I loved it was because coming back to Brandon, there were only 38 passengers onboard. Practically everyone had a row to lay down on. I knew that wasn't good though for service retention on this small town. I smelled this one coming.
Jellybean
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 1378

Jellybean
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 1378

?????
9/20/2016 at 2:58 PM

Instead of canning it all together, why would they not have just reduced bookings? Instead of 4 flights per week, try 2, or even 1. I'm sure a saturday flight would have filled fast, as that is the day most people will start a vacation. Gradually increase from there.
I just had to fly through TO a few days ago, and would have much preferred to fly out of Brandon instead of Winnipeg.
campfire3
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 153

campfire3
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 153

...
9/20/2016 at 7:03 PM

Fishin Guy - did WestJet call you like the media outlets have been stating they would or did you call the customer service line to get your trip plans straightened out? Thanks!
rogercsr2007
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 261

rogercsr2007
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 261

...
9/20/2016 at 7:57 PM

I called westjet myself, choose to fly out of Wpg as they had us flying all over the place at Christmas and even staying over night both ways if we sticked to flying out of Brandon.
Adam

Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

Adam
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

WJ
9/23/2016 at 9:35 AM

Not necessarily directly related, but an announcement two days later of another 737 use for WJ (more than 100 weekly Alberta flights for Suncor workers starting in early Nov):
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/westjet-signs-multi-contract-suncor-215900799.html:_ylc=X1MDMTE5Nzc4NDE4NQRfZXgDMQRfeXJpZANkM3I0dnJ0YnVhZWI2BGcDZFhWcFpEeHVjejQwTURFNFptVmlNeTAzWTJVMExUTTVNRE10WVRRME1pMW1NVGhrTkdObE1XTXlOMkU4Wm1sbGJHUStkMnBoTG5SdgRsYW5nA2VuLVVTBG9yaWdfbGFuZwNlbgRvcmlnX3JlZ2lvbgNDQQRwb3MDMQRyZWdpb24DVVMEc3ltYm9sA1dKQS5UTw-?.tsrc=applewf