The other day as I was perusing the internet I came across the following story. I have no idea if it is true or not, but it was something that caught my eye. Someone posted it on Facebook and it has garnered some attention by many users.
There was a man with cancer who was flying out to visit his father one last time, but upon arriving in Halifax he was too ill to continue on to his destination. His girlfriend was travelling with him and upon hearing the news the man's daughter flew to Halifax to meet them.
The only thing the man wanted was to pass peacefully at home. His daughter proceeded to call Air Canada, she relayed the situation and they told her, basically, no. They were worried about the possibility that he may pass while on their airplane and what this would mean for them.
With no luck calling on Air Canada the daughter contacted WestJet. She made it through to someone who said that they needed to call her back. They did and told her that they would fly the three of them back to Ontario as well as their dog. This was all provided free of charge.
Once they arrived back in Ontario an ambulance was waiting to transport the man to the hospital from the airport, which was also covered by WestJet.
Again, I'm not sure if this is fact, but the idea that corporations could be this considerate is amazing.
I will admit, since my sister as a flight attendant with WestJet, I am probably biased. It makes me happy the people she is working for care about those they fly. Granted not every situation will be treated in the same way. There are bad experiences and good experiences with anything, but WestJet does seem to care.
I've flown with them a few times, even before my sister began working for them. For the most part they were always just a little bit different than other airlines. They told jokes, gave extra treats out, and the flight attendants always had big smiles while being very friendly.
It's definitely a tough job and I wouldn't blame them for never smiling. Dealing with people day in and day out can be extremely difficult, especially if someone is having a bad day, they often take it out on the people around them. On an airplane this can often mean the flight attendant, who really isn't there to serve you. Yes, that is one aspect of their job, to make the flight comfortable for you, but they're really there in case of an emergency in my opinion.
There is the possibility of something happening on the plane, anything from a heart attack to a plane crash. This is what they're really trained for, to deal with situations as they develop. Keeping you happy on a flight, therefore, isn't the number one reason they are there; but, WestJet employees do their utmost in this area as well.
As the commercials state, they're all owners which is why they care so much. This is true too; each employee has shares in the company, so making sure those that fly with them are happy is important to each person involved with the corporation.
This may be one reason why they like to do things to help others in need. Granted this cannot be done all the time, it is still a business and they need to make legitimate sales in order to survive. They obviously can't offer free flights to everyone and must choose who they are able to do good deeds for, but the fact that they do want to do these good deeds makes them a caring company. A caring corporation is something not always seen and it's refreshing to know that there are ones out there that do.
In response to the story above there were a few comments... 10,412 to be precise when I read the story. Now I didn't go through all of them, that would be a lot to read, but they ranged greatly. Some responding that they believed the story giving their reasons why, others denied the story saying that it was a ploy to get more sales, there were also those that said they would never fly WestJet after a bad experience, while the great majority simply said how much they loved the company.
In addition to the over 10,000 comments there were over 213,000 likes for this particular post. In 100 of these comments only four were negative, while two of these negative comments didn't even say anything bad about WestJet simply that they were skeptical of the reality of the story. The other two said they did have a bad experience with the company. Overall 96 people basically said, "We only fly WestJet," or, "We fly WestJet whenever possible."
Another interesting number includes how many "likes" on Facebook each company has. WestJet with 272,360, while Air Canada has 182,000. I'm not a fan of either one online and simply saw the post above like others would have because somebody they knew "liked" it or commented on it.
Regardless of the story being a hoax or not, that is a huge testament to the company in and of itself. I've personally never had a bad experience with Air Canada, but I do, even before my sister started with WestJet, feel as though WestJet makes their customers slightly more comfortable while travelling. If possible I choose to travel with WestJet and contrary to popular belief I don't get a deal while flying because of my sister, I just personally like the company better.
