Review of WestJet flight Calgary Toronto in Economy

Airline WestJet
Flight WJA654
Class Economy
Seat 16K
Aircraft Boeing 787-9
Flight time 03:37
Take-off 15 Oct 22, 08:15
Arrival at 15 Oct 22, 13:52
WS   #1 out of 21 Low-cost airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 46 reviews
Dor
By BRONZE 795
Published on 10th March 2023

introduction


After 6 days in Alberta, I flew back to Toronto.
I saw beautiful places and also found some time for plane spotting :)



Finally I took a photo of DC10! What a rare aircraft!

Since my flight was a morning flight, I woke up early,
I also returned my rental car, so I scheduled extra time.

I started my day in the rental car parking in Calgary airport:


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I returned the car without any issue and made my way to the terminal.


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YYC AIRPORT - TERMINAL 1


I went to the check in area and found those self check in kiosks:


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This process was pretty annoying, since I also needed to balance our (mine and my fiancee) suitcases.
In Israel and on some occasions in Europe, I could check in 2 suitcases that sums up to 23kg x2, meaning if I flew without someone, and my suitcase weights 25kg and the other one weights 21kg, there's no problem.

We went through the security check, and started to made our way to the gate area:


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I wonder who can eat Burger king in 6 am… Definitely not me.
I bought coffee and cookie in Starbucks, the price were pretty reasonable for airport, 8$ (CAD).

I went to the toilets:


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As you can see, the toilets were clean and in very good condition.

The terminal was pretty empty on this time:


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The sorting on this screen was very strange. Usually they order it by take off or boarding time.

More photo of the empty terminal:


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Our gate area:


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The boarding started on time.
I made my way on the jet bridge:


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Aircraft information:
Boeing 787-9
C-GYRS
In service since March 2020
Currently 3 years old, was 2.5 years old (approximately) on my flight


FLIGHT EXPERIENCE - YYC TO YYZ


We entered the aircraft from door 2L, meaning I could see the premium economy cabin, which looks pretty nice in my opinion:


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Economy class:


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As you can see, each seat equipped with personal IFE, USB sockets, foldable table, as well as power outlet.

Wing view during sunrise:


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Legroom:


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The legroom was pretty good on this aircraft, even on a standard economy seat, the headrest was adjustable and the seat itself was comfy.
I could definitely fly on this aircraft on much longer flight without any issue.

IFE:


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This was a modern PSU, but thing 787 doesn't equipped with air vent for each passenger.


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We started the push back with a small delay.

Plane spotting during taxi:



Take off video:



Shortly after take off IFE view:


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The tray table was nice, clean and steady:


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40-45 minutes into the flight, the crew served drinks and small snack.
I chose coffee and pretzels.


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This was a nice gesture, but for 4 hours flight, I would expect to get sandwich or small meal.
Another IFE view:


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Cabin view during cruise:


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2 hours into the flight, I went to the toilets:


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As you can see, the toilets were clean.

We started our descent 20-30 minutes before the landing:


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Although we had a delay in the take off time, the pilots managed somehow to land on time.

Landing video:



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Plane spotting on YYZ, during taxi to terminal 3:



Cabin view during deboarding:


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Bye bye C-GYRS!


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YYZ AIRPORT - TERMINAL 3 (AND A BIT FROM TERMINAL 1…)


On the way to the baggage claim area:


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I measured 7 minutes of walking from the gate to the baggage claim area. Not bad.


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After I found my suitcase, I headed to the train to terminal 1.
Since there were no rental car companies that worked in terminal 3, I had to take this train to terminal 1,
which was inconvenient with a big bag and suitcase.


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The ride on the train was very short and I made my way to the rental cars area:


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Finally I got to the rental cars company counter!


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And shortly after, I received my rental car:


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The service in National and Alamo was very good and they workers were friendly!

See more

Verdict

WestJet

8.8/10
Cabin9.0
Cabin crew10.0
Entertainment/wifi10.0
Buy-on-board menu6.0

Calgary - YYC

9.6/10
Efficiency10.0
Access10.0
Services8.5
Cleanliness10.0

Toronto - YYZ

9.4/10
Efficiency10.0
Access7.5
Services10.0
Cleanliness10.0

Conclusion

The flight with Westjet was very good!
The aircraft was new, clean, and the cabin looked great!
The only downside I could find was the fact that this aircraft wasn't equipped with personal air vents. Thus I reduced point on the cabin score.
The service on board was great, the flight crew was nice and friendly.
The wifi service was very good and I had no problems on this flight, the IFE was pretty good as well.
The catering was lacking in my opinion, a sandwich or small meal could be more appropriate for this flight.

Probably if I will visit Canada again, I will choose Westjet. I hope that they will fly from TLV to YYC... Maybe some day it'll happen?

YYC airport was pretty good, it was clean, I found it easy to navigate and very efficient.
Yes, I mentioned the suitcases weight thing in my flight report, but I think that it was my problem, so I won't reduce the score.
The services in 7AM were pretty limited, but for this period on the day, I could find many things to eat and drink. Nothing to shop unfortunately.

YYZ airport was clean, terminal 3 was easy to navigate and had a lot to offer (shopping, places to eat, etc.) and the suitcases arrived quickly,
However, since I had to take a train, down 4 floors in an elevator and then walk to the rental cars area, I reduced the access score.

Related

2 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 623696 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6744 Comments
    Always nice to get a widebody on a domestic flight! And this 789 looks really brand new inside--the cabin looks very nice.

    The only downside I could find was the fact that this aircraft wasn't equipped with personal air vents. Thus I reduced point on the cabin score.

    I'm the same way. I really don't like the trend in newer aircraft of not having air vents. I usually have them off for most of the flight, but really appreciate them when boarding as I'm usually warm from running around the airport and a little air is refreshing.

    Thanks for sharing!
    • Comment 623768 by
      Dor BRONZE AUTHOR 114 Comments
      Since there is very high demand on the YYC-YYZ route, I found many flights performed on a wide body aircraft.
      In fact, this was one of the reasons why I wanted this flight.

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