Oliver and I decided to fly to Ontario for the weekend (actually, I decided, and forced Oliver to come with me; he happily complied).
We made the decision to take this trip last Sunday, which meant reserving tickets 5 days in advance. The Air Canada round-trip fare from Charlottetown to Toronto was approximately $700 per person, for a total of $1400. A lot of money for a weekend trip.
I surveyed the alternatives: WestJet from Moncton to Hamilton, and CanJet and JetsGo, both from Halifax to Toronto. I left out Tango because I figure Air Canada itself is bad enough — do I really want to see how they act when they admit they’re being cut rate?
By far and away the best website, with the best price, and the best flights, time-wise, was JetsGo. Total fare for Oliver and I together, return, was $560, a saving of almost $900 over the Air Canada fare from Charlottetown, and certainly enough to get us to go to the trouble of driving to Halifax.
The JetsGo experience was great: no lineups at check-in, very friendly and helpful staff, on-time departure, friendly flight crew (very snappily dressed in custom tailored leather jackets), lots of room between the seats, and a clean airplane (most Air Canada flights are missing at least two of these items these days). We arrived at the relatively uncrowded and modern Terminal 3 about 15 minutes late due, the captain told us, to a fierce head wind.
The downside? Well, no free drinks or food. But that’s not really a downside: on Air Canada you get either tasteless pretzels or a uninspired boxed lunch and 1/2 a can of soda. On JetsGo, Oliver and I shared a Montreal bagel with cream cheese, a fruit cup, an iced tea and an orange juice (both with the full can) for $5. Given that I was saving $900, I had no problem paying this, and I could have just as easily brought my own food.
JetsGo is coming to Charlottetown early in the new year, and I, as a new and satisfied customer, welcome them with open arms. Based on our experiences today, I’d have no hesitation recommending the airline.
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Comments
Your right! Jets Go is great.
Your right! Jets Go is great. $780.70 for 2 adults from Charlottetown to Toronto and back. I’m thinking about taking a little week long trip to Toronto in May to see the city for the first time. It is so affordable now that we have Jets Go.
winds generally are stronger
winds generally are stronger heading westbound and probably could delay a flight by 15 minutes.
SAYS IT ALL…‘There are issues
SAYS IT ALL…
‘There are issues, and if people want to throw insult after insult, or cream pies at me - whatever they want to throw at me, they can throw at me’
-AIR CANADA CHIEF EXECUTIVE ROBERT MILTON [The Toronto Star May 17th 2000 ]
“Right now, some of our customers are upset, and I understand but in 180 days we’ll have it done. You’ve got my word on it”
AIR CANADA CHIEF EXECUTIVE ROBERT MILTON [The Toronto Star August 4th 2000 ]
this lady must have been
this lady must have been under her lucky star. I just got off Jetsgo after a TWO DAY tripfromhell. Our through flight from Fort Myers Florida was cancelled and the only alternative was a 9pm flight that was to get us to Toronto at midnight with a stayover in a hotel - the Sheraton at the airport, we were told.
We arrived at the Fort Myers airport at 6:30 pm to be told that the flight was delayed until 10:30. That meant getting to Toronto at 1. At 9:30 we discovered - by inquiring - that the flight was now scheduled for 11:30! Eventually we arrived in Toronto at 2:20 to find that no one was aware that we were to go to a hotel. The agent we finally found made a few calls and came back to tell us that we were booked into the Ramada Inn. The Sheraton was “all booked up” we were told - not true, we checked! The Ramada was a 20 minute ride from the airport and it was a real dump.
Lest anyone think this was a blip in an otherwise well rum airline, the very same thing, more or less, happened to my sister-in-law two weeks ago coming back from Fort Myers.
Never, but Never will I go near that company again, no matter how cheap their flights.
Like all things, Jetsgo is
Like all things, Jetsgo is great unless something goes wrong (obviously). But things will happen and nothing is perfect. What sets Jetsgo apart from the pack is their HORRIBLE customer service. I truely believe they could care less if you ever fly with them again, they know there are suckers out there who will fly them on price alone. I would gladly pay a reasonable premium to fly with anyone but Jetsgo again.
Jetsgo is a great Airline.
Jetsgo is a great Airline. Yes, they may have delays or miss places luggages, but that happens in every airline. The problem are we, human beings who are simply made to complain about everything or anything that does not go our way. If you have a problem with the way Jetsgo function, join them and try to improve it. A famous quote is “If you have nothing good to say, don’t say anything at all.”
Dear Jetsgo. I wish to become
Dear Jetsgo. I wish to become a Jetsgo points member but I can’t figure out how to work your on web application.
Also I would like to get points credit for my recent trip to Winnipeg from Toronto return (reservation code CEEKNY )
Jul 27 Tor to Wpg SG 0171 seat 15c
july 29 Wpg to Tor SG 0172 seat 15B
Lovely trip, excellent check-in & flight crew. I’ll use you again.
Harold Altman 61 Strathearn rd Toronto M6C 1R5 416 781 4440
will not use jetsgo if i can
will not use jetsgo if i can help it .they were very rude
and would not help with my luggage im 67 yrs &had hard time to go up &down stairs &no help thanks for nothing now westjet were angels you could learn a lesson from them
Jetsgo is affordable, basic
Jetsgo is affordable, basic service. I will fly them again. Found charging for soft drinks tacky, but if it keeps costs down I guess they have to. Found the cabin crowded and tight, but again for what I paid I can’t complain
My boyfriend and I travelled
My boyfriend and I travelled to the Dominican Republic. Our flight was delayed 6 hours and when we got to the airport at 2:30 am we were told that they had called us….right….anyway, we were then given a 50 discount on our next non charter JetsGo flight within a year..
On Tuesday December 21 2004,
On Tuesday December 21 2004, I was to fly out of Toronto to Las Vegas on Flight 701 at 10:45 am and arrive in Vegas at 12:25 in the afternoon.
The flight was delayed until 8:30 pm. (This was not a weather, back-up or Holiday crowd delay).
Nearly everyone on the flight received a room at the Sheriton at terminal 3 in Toronto. For some reason I was NOT informed of a room for the layover. I live over an hour from Toronto and to my surprise alot of the passengers who got a room lived within minutes of the airport in Mississauga.
I spent the morning trying to sleep on the seats in the termial, when I asked if there was any place to go to pass the time until the next flight, I was told I could go the Woodbine Mall 10 minutes away.
I took a cab (ZONE metered at $25.00) walked around in circles until a 3:30 movie was to start. Spent $20.00 for lunch and another $20.00 for dinner and $20.00 dollars to get a cab back to the airport at 6:00.
I feel ripped off, I spent $85.00, walk around a mall all day, Missed an entire day of my three day vacation to Vegas (We arrived in Vegas at Midnight).
The guy who sat next to me confirmed he got a room a half hour after I went to the JetsGO check-in counter. So I ask, How do you decide who gets a rooms?
I was given (as was everyone else) a $100 discount for any future flight I might book for JetsGO. However, I spent close to that amount waiting 10 hours for the next flight when I would have spent nothing if I was given a room like everyone else on the flight.
Well now Jetsgo won’t be
Well now Jetsgo won’t be servicing Charlottetown anymore! You can forget about any great deals that you have wrote about in your article back in 2002 or whatever year that was. Their President Michel Leblanc surely knew ahead of time this was going to happen and the idiot didn’t warn employees or give any notice to customers who were booking flights hours before this announcement. If anyone knows his email address I would surely love to email that prick. I didn’t even fly or by a ticket but I feel so bad for all of the people who were stranded and the poor employees who left other jobs or turned down offers because of Jetsgo.
Michel Leblanc you are a piece of trash, and you should have stayed out of the airline business after your Canada3000 went bankrupt years ago you shithead.
Michel Leblanc you are really
Michel Leblanc you are really an asshole! Honestly, how can I say it any other way. How could you not know that this was going to happen? How could you allow people to continue to book tickets when you knew this announcement was coming. I haven’t even mentioned the impact this has on your employees! You are an absolutly ignorant piece of dog shit! And you owe me $600 fucker! Oh, one more thing… you can forget about restructuring JetsGo, because nobody in their right mind would fly with one of your airlines ever again. Eat shit. Kiss my ass. Go to hell.
I hope what happen to you
I hope what happen to you today it is the last bad things to airline business and these customers as well. Hoping the gouvernment will not give you again any kind of commercial permit for the rest of your life.. You receive today what you deserve.
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