Making an airline work in these times isn’t an easy feat. You have to give credit to any company that can struggle facing the adversity of today’s marketplace.
Porter Airlines has done just that and now is battling Air Canada for the rights over Toronto’s Island Airport. Air Canada is suing for the right to have access even though they left years ago.
I can appreciate being an independent fighting a huge National Corporation with government support and funding even though it’s proven to not be reliably profitable.
So today, for me, when I read stories like THIS in the National Post I say the heck with Air Canada and when I have to fly I’ll go Westjet or Porter!
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Sorry guys, but I decided personally for Porter and Westjet long ago. It didn’t take this latest episode to make me favour David over Goliath. Support for the little guy over the big should be a given. No one should favour bullies in any situation. The mills of the Gods grind exceedingly small.
I can’t even remember the last time I flew with AC. People like Porter, Bearskin and Westjet deserve our patronage and to hell with the Big Brother tactics of Air Canada
I intend to consider Porter first from now on.
I’m not a fan of monopoly in airports and that is exactly what porter enjoys and they charge a high premium for it. Competition is great and will cool prices down. I think Porter is a great airline. But westjet? Give me a break it should be called Circus airline.
A correction needs to be made to the article… Air Canada was kicked out of City Centre, they did not choose to leave. Air Canada had been serving City Centre since the 80s, it was legal action that got Air Canada kicked out; then those same people who kicked Air Canada out started Porter. That action should outrage people, yet it never has because Air Canada is always seen as the “bad guy”.
I haven’t flown with Porter yet; however I’ve heard nothing but good things about them. I’ve got great things to say about Westjet as well. Although I’ve had some bad experiences with Air Canada, they have been better with the last flight that I took. In the end, real competition benefits the consumer and I’m not enthusiastic about doing things that would reinforce a monopoly in the marketplace.
Today I’m having a real hate on for big bully corporations 🙂 I love Westjet and always look there first for flights. There does seem to be a lot of consumer issues with Air Canada, and from what I’ve heard a lot of staff morale issues which can’t help. Of course AC was forced to absorb CP about a decade ago which never helped them much…..
In response to James, I think monopoly is great! i mean the little pieces are kind of a pain but why not truck your boardgames to the airport… might as well, seeing as we have to be in any airport about 30 hours before the flights scheduled departures. LOL
Every single person I know has a horror story about flying Air Canada, some people have a horror story for every single flight they have taken on Air Canada. The sooner they fail the better.
Derek, dear you are either very young and uninformed or completely biased in your views in favour of Air Canadaflot. They had the City Center Iarport all to themselves for years after driving City Express out of business using the same underhanded techniques of saturating the market, but then shrunk the market to only 20,000 passengers a year. At the same time, they took the airport and its facilities for a hostage by not committing to a contract and only renewing on very short term basis. In fairness, they do not deserve to be let back in since they have shown that their interest was never to serve that airport and its patrons, rather to drive the competitor out of business. This has always been Air Canadaflot’s tactics: to drive others out of business and force people to fly with them because they know they do not have in any shape or form a valuable product to present. Air Canadaflot, shame on you! You do not deserve to bear the name of this country and must be stripped of it. You lack imagination and innovation to gain public’s trust and business.
James, you too dear. You are either very young or some low level manager at Air Canadaflot trying to protect your job which will be pulled from under your feet when the big shots decide they want more money, like uncle Milton. You talk of monopoly but as I mentioned, your bosses had that very monopoly for many years out of that airport and they destroyed that airport and retarded its progress. They also gained monoply over the country by buying Canadian which actually was a much better airline than they ever were and then saw its market share dwindle due to their mismanagement and lack of service to the likes of Westjet. You can call them or Porter and other airlines whatever you want, but they are the ones who provide good service and fight for every passenger with imagination and innovation and without dipping into the pockets of the government like Air Canadaflot does every few years. The best thing for Candian aviation would be the bankruptcy of Air Canadaflot when the other smaller airlines will flourish and fill in the gap based on the merit of their service, as opposed to nagging and moaning and wasting. Resistence to Air Canadaflot is not futile and sends them where they belong: history!
I don’t think the Canadian government would allow Air Canada to fall which is why they’ve been allowed to behave in the manner they have. Splitting off profitable units; cutting nasty labour agreements; bullying their way around.
I had someone fly in from Vancouver to Ottawa. It was a late night flight so I had to pick them up from Cornwall. AC bumped them with no credit or even a sandwich. We ended up getting back here at nearly 3AM! There was the Pet issue also where you were forced to put your animal in the hold where the risk of death and certain discomfort was great too.
No; courtesy doesn’t cost money. Westjet has earned my personal appreciation; and as a small business I can tell you that you have to treat your customers like gold; and as a small business person that gets mauled by big nationals the way we do I can definitely empathize and support a company like Porter. I’d love to have them as a sponsor here too!
Every story has two sides.
http://afuitbs.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/i-got-the-tpa-porter-air-blues/
I have flown a lot over the years and have seen a lot of needed improvement at Air Canada. Their fares are now competitive with Westjet. I would rate both of the big airlines as equally good and both better than any US airline I have flown. I have lost my luggage only once on any airline over several decades but I did get it delivered to my hotel room the next day. The cincreased ompetition we have is wonderful and let’s have more. Too many people still rate on their services of 20 years ago which certainly needed improvement.