Review of WestJet flight from Paris to Calgary in Economy

Hello everyone, and welcome to this flight report that takes me on a 15-day journey to Western Canada. I’ve been posting for a long time on the French side of the site, but now I want to explore and contribute to the English section! The Western Canada had been a dream for my partner and me for quite some time, and all the FRs on this region increased our interest!

Due to work constraints, we booked this trip quite late, so we went through a tour operator for the reservations. When we made the booking in early March, WestJet turned out to be the cheapest option, even though fares were already quite high at that time. The airline seemed reliable, and since we planned to travel by car from Vancouver to Calgary, the direct return flight was an advantage. Plus, the Paris-Calgary route hadn’t been reported in our good old database yet!

Here is the routing for this trip:

On departure day, we decided to take a taxi to Terminal 2E instead of the usual Uber. In the end, it didn’t change much, except financially. I thought taxis could use reserved lanes, but that not the case. We arrived at Terminal 2E 2.5 hours before departure:

I checked the flight on the Paris Aeroport app, which directed us to check-in at Terminal 2F, which seemed odd… but it was true! Although our departure gate was in 2E, check-in was indeed at Terminal 2F!

So, after an underground trek between Terminals 2E and 2F, we finally found WestJet’s check-in counters at 2F — a first for me on departure, though I had an “exceptional” arrival there in a previous FR from Nice:

There wasn’t much of a queue at the counters, so our luggage was dropped off quite quickly:

We then made our way toward Terminal 2F:

Security was relatively fast, although we did have to let François Adamski himself (the 2F lounge chief), pass through! Just afterward, our flight was confirmed at Terminal 2E, Gates M:

This area isn’t very spotter-friendly:

This complicated path gave me the chance to see Terminal 2F with my own eyes for the first time:

For us, it wasn’t Terminal 2F but rather border control to cross before reaching terminal 2E:

Then we needed to take an elevator down to a lower level:

This allowed me to capture a few medium-haul AF planes:

It was this way for us…

…where we waited about 10 minutes for a bus to take us directly to Gates M at Terminal 2E:

Seven minutes of travel await us. Between the T2F/T2E complcated path and dropping off our luggage at T2F, it took us over an hour (!) to reach this precise point:

Fortunately, the PAXBus is on time and can accommodate all these passengers:

The driver’s rather sporty driving style only allowed for this brief spotting moment… and these are actually planes I've already photographed from the terminal ^^:

After seven minutes which shook us, we finally arrive at T2E via the "backstage" entrance:

One escalator later, we’re in the Duty-Free area:

Then into the shopping area of T2E’s M gates, my favorite terminal at CDG. We’ll take the opportunity to grab some food, as lunchtime is well overdue:

The last time I passed through here, it was to the right, heading to New York on the dearly missed A380:

This time, it’s to the left, into this spacious and pleasant pier:

The large windows are perfect for spotting, like this 787 with its Smurf nose borrowed from KLM. The owner of this rather unique nose is F-HRBI, departing today for Beijing:

A beautiful Air France A350 passes just behind, heading to Boston:

A second Air France 787 is present at the gate, this time with a traditional nose. You can see the tail fin of our WestJet 787 right next to it:

Before visiting our plane, I’ll head to the other side to spot another A350, which is definitely photogenic:

Especially this stunning winglet:

The terminal is truly pleasant, with large open spaces and not too crowded in this early afternoon:

Here’s my first encounter with what will be my first flight on a 787! WestJet owns six, and today we’re lucky to fly on the newest one in the fleet, C-FAJA, less than a year old at the time of this flight:

Our GEnx engines, with their distinctive "toothed" rear design, look impressive:

I really like the colors of the livery:

Boarding is by zones, and it’s now our turn:

Even the smoking area looks pleasant here — at least visually speaking :)

Boarding towards new horizons with great excitement:

We can’t see much of our plane from this angle:

This red carpet is leading us to Western Canada and i'm very exited at this point ^^:

The door shot didn’t turn out great, but a bit of a "PlayStation moment" was captured:

Fuselage shot featuring WestJet’s slogan — English on this side, and French on the other. The bilingual display is respected!

After a warm welcome, we are now in the cabin, which leaves a good first impression. The famous dimmable window system is activated on all windows, which has the advantage of keeping the cabin temperature very comfortable on this summer day:

The cabin equipment includes a pillow and blanket in the airline's colors. Headphones will be distributed later:

A 3-3-3 configuration, which has sadly become the standard:

The seat is equipped with adjustable headrests:

Legroom is decent for my height of 1.80m:

A similar Air France 787 is parked next to us:

The 787’s window is marketed as the largest, and indeed, it’s very spacious:

Its great innovation is the small button to adjust the tint, with the crew also having control over it. At this moment, I’m praying to have full control over it throughout the flight:

The IFE is generously sized with minimal glare. The background image showcases Calgary’s skyline with the Peace Bridge in the foreground:

The safety instructions are shown right on time, with a fun, cartoon-style ambiance:

For the flight map, the excellent Flightpath 3D is featured. The upcoming route looks appealing!

It’s worth noting that there was an option to bid for upgrades to Premium Economy and Business Class, starting at CAD 550 (€368) and CAD 1200 (€850), respectively. No, thank you! :)

At 2:50 PM, we pushed back, but we had to wait several minutes before moving again:

On taxi, we crossed path one of the two SkyExpress A321neo planes, a Greek airline I wasn't familiar with:

We will take off from the northern pair of runways, as 09R/27L is closed for maintenance:

Takeoff is from runway 27R:

The cabin is as quiet as on an A350. Goussainville and Louvres are visible slightly to the right, and the RER D train line is clearly outlined:

Here is the takeoff in video format:

Now, we are in the land of eternal sunshine. I am particularly fond of our 787 wing design:

We leave France near Berck (which means yuck in english ^^) — a name that perfectly fits the gloomy weather below us:

Indeed, upon reaching England, the weather is still quite bad. I don’t recall ever flying over this area without encountering clouds:

Luckily, farther north over the Great Britain, the clouds clear slightly, revealing the English countryside:

About 45 minutes into the flight, the first refreshment service begins. It includes biscuits (with REAL milk chocolate, as amusingly emphasized) and a beverage. The crew is fully English-speaking:

Cheers to all fellow Flight Reporters, with this brand personalized plastic cup:

My partner and I decide to explore the in-flight entertainment system, which features Who Wants to Be a Millionaire — with a perfect question for me who was born and lived in Franche-Comté, of which Besançon is the capital!

I also check out the safety card — one of the most aesthetically pleasing I've seen so far. Naturally, gravity dictates it becomes a prized keepsake for my friend TangoBravo380 and myself!

Wi-Fi is available onboard. I opted for full-flight access for just over €15, which I find reasonable:

Forty minutes after the first snack, the classic "beef or pasta" meal is announced:

It's a bit less than two hours after takeoff that the meal arrived at our seat. I am quite disappointed with the portion sizes, which seem really small to me:

Here's a hand-to-tray comparison to give you a better idea:

Opening the lid reveals a compact dish… but really delicious! The meat was tender, and the overall flavor was very satisfying:

Oh look, we are now over Iceland…

…with the only available view being this uninterrupted layer of clouds ^^:

And this is when the drama unfolds: the crew decides that after a good meal, it's nap time, and they forcefully dim the windows… At that moment, I hoped it wouldn’t last too long, as the Greenland and Canadian Arctic views were upcoming:

I even tried peeking through the rear door window, but unfortunately, it was also dimmed…

To my great regret, the flight over southern Greenland was likely to take place entirely in darkness:

I turned to the IFE, which was really comprehensive and had a large catalog of fairly recent movies (note the occasional Quebecois translations like "magasiner" :-)):

It was possible to find information about the airline and its current fleet:

Several press articles were also available:

Luckily, given my dimmed window, most of Greenland was under clouds. However, it cleared up right at the end. I deeply regret not being able to see it without a filter. Fortunately, after some photo editing, I managed to get a decent image:

A quick jump in time of fifty minutes brings us over the first Canadian lands, above Nunavut… unfortunately, still with a dimmed window:

I rediscovered these photos while editing them to post here. The landscapes are truly stunning, and I admit feeling a bit resentful towards the crew for depriving us of such magnificent scenery:

The vast icy landscapes kept passing by:

The landscapes of Nunavut are incredible. Next time, I’ll try not to fly over them on a 787 ^^:

After these landscapes, and shortly after reaching the skies over Manitoba, a snack was served 1.5 hours before arrival. I don't recall seeing any free snacks in the galleys; it seems to be a paid service on WS. However, according to their website, soft drinks and alcohol are free throughout the flight:

Here's the content. We were told it was "A traditional pizza base folded in half and filled with mozzarella and marinated semi-dried tomatoes":

Well, under this somewhat pompous label was an industrial pizza. Nevertheless, it was a smart choice for that time of the flight, as it filled the stomach quite well:

Oh, and I hadn’t mentioned it yet: daylight returned to the cabin after more than four hours of forced darkness! Hallelujah :)

I wasted no time in taking advantage of my restored window view, observing the landscapes of Saskatchewan that we were now flying over, though it started with some cumulonimbus clouds:

I noticed on the ground, stretching endlessly, these shapes that intrigued me greatly… which turned out to be locations of drilling for hydraulic fracturing:

As we crossed into Alberta, we encountered other types of fractures, these ones natural, but still surrounded by similar zones:

The vastness of countries like Canada will always amaze me:

Sullivan Lake, about 350 km from Calgary:

Horsethief Canyon, with its impressive landscape fractures. This canyon owes its name to horse smuggling between Alberta and the U.S.; apparently, the poor horses were hidden by smugglers in this area ^^:

As we got closer to Calgary, the landscapes became more classic with endless fields:

The northern suburbs of Calgary appeared under our wing, with the town of Airdrie here, home to more than 60,000 souls:

There's no doubt with this kind of highway interchange — we're in America!

The landing took place with only a few minutes of slight delay. Unfortunately, the northern approach didn’t allow us to see Calgary:

The whole sequence of landing is in this video:

Under clear skies, we parked after this 8-hour-and-36-minute flight:

It's now time to disembark. While I hated the 787's window experience, I must admit that flying on it was very pleasant:

It’s time to bid farewell to our bird, Calgary airport offers a far clearer view than at Roissy:

Here we are in Calgary for a 3-hour connection, and it seems like our flight was the only one arriving at this time:

The hallways leading to immigration were sparse, which boded well for our upcoming passage:

But all of this will be covered in the next episode!

The FR24 flight path:

Thank you for reading, and see you soon for the next flight to Vancouver!