Enjoying the Friendly Skies with WestJet

I travel a fair bit, and for a variety of reasons – work, conferences, speaking engagements, adventure, to see family and friends, and occasionally to actually relax. Usually when I am departing somewhere, I am exhausted and running on battery power, with maybe 4 hours sleep, if I’m lucky, and a billion and one things to do. As a result I am not at my finest, and become uber aware of who makes my getting wherever it is I am going pleasant and easy, and who tests my limited patience, placing obstacles in front of me.  From over a decade of travelling such, I have learned that as far as air travel goes in Canada and the US, WestJet has become my comfy blanky reminding me that the skies are indeed friendly, and that getting places, even on limited sleep can be relaxing and stress-free.

The reason I love traveling with WestJet is because of how they treat people.  They are friendly, have a genuine smile, and do what they can to help you.  Unfortunately you can’t say that of all transport providers, something I was reminded of last week, when I was traveling elsewhere with another carrier, and had a particularly rude, unpleasant and unhelpful attendant.  The crazy part is, as I was on a work trip, I was in Business Class, and dealing with a most unpleasant attendant, who clearly did not want to be at work.  I don’t care if I get fed and watered in Business Class, the experience is awful if you are taking abuse from the attendant.  And that is exactly where travel with WestJet makes a difference. They are friendly and treat you with respect, no matter who you are or what you do.  That is how all travel should be, and in fact how we should all treat each other. Now while some might be scoffing right now at this utopian fantasy of mine.  It does exist for me when travelling with WestJet, and that my friends is why I keep coming back to them.

WestJet’s motto is that ‘WestJet Cares’ and I can honestly say from my experiences with them, they do. And they instill this culture in those they invite to be a part of the WestJet team, by caring about them, as well as clients (or as this is travel, fares). I discovered this when my sister-in-law did a contract with them a number of years ago.  At the end of her contract, she was pregnant and to be honest had told them as much, and as such didn’t expect to be hired on permanently.  To her surprise, they did hire her permanently, because she was friendly, hardworking and fit the WestJet culture, and because they honestly care.

Similarly, my Mom, recently flew with WestJet to one of their sun destinations. Upon her return I asked her how her trip was. She told me the best part was travelling with WestJet. No joke.  Now granted, my Mom is not a sun destination kind of traveller.  She just went to spend time with her grandkids, and knew the destination was unlikely to be one she’d be writing home about, but she could not say enough wonderful things about WestJet.  Specifically, she was impressed at how friendly and helpful they were, and how they treated everyone well.  And I should add in here that this treatment had nothing to do with my sister-in-law working for WestJet, as after having the kids, she decided to be stay-at-home mom, so hasn’t worked for them in over half a decade.

So WestJet, I don’t think I say this often enough, but thank you!  All that you do for us travellers does not go unnoticed. I for one very much appreciate all that you do. Thank you!