My Vegas Story Episode #1

As an employee of Westjet I can fly for cheap - but it is standby. So this story begins with three women at an airport for many hours trying to get on a plane. In Westjet's world the bottom line is always that we are a low cost, low fare airline. To keep prices down we do everything to keep costs down. One of these methods is to never have a last minute seat sale - or standby for the general public. This allows for the company to always know how many staff it will need for each flight. We decided to fly to Vegas on Sat night because Friday was sold out and Sat was looking wide open. On Friday when I left work there were 30 some seats available on the flight. Lots of space for the 10 people that were trying to fly standby.

We arrived at the airport over four hours early for the flight. We had some lunch and then prepared to wait in line. A flight does not open for check in until 3 hours prior. After choosing the wrong line and the wrong wing of the airport - we were finally ready to check in. The Agent tells us that they have put a lid on the flight. That means that the 136 seats available will not be full. If the flight has less than 120 people on it they can send 3 flight attendants instead of the usual 4. This saved money in wages because those seats weren't going to be sold - no revenue coming in. So now there are 9 seats and 10 standby people. To make matters worse there is a priority for standby - employees, companions, parents then buddy passes. So for this flight that puts Stef right at the bottom of the list. Once through customs we sit and wait, and stress out for 2 hours. Just 30 minutes before the flight the Agent who checked us in sits down beside us and say that it looks like Stef won't make the flight- we may want to consider buying her a ticket. So mom shelled out the money and Stef had a confimed seat on the flight. All of us made the flight and were finally able to relax.

These are the faces of three very relieved and excited people!