WestJet Flight from Ottawa
As many of you may recall I had a streak of luck last summer, after wrapping up the Tall Ships 1812 Tour First Port of Call late last June I got a phone call advising me that I had won a VIP Calgary Stampede experience for two courtesy of WestJet. I’ve never really won anything of any real value in my life so getting that call was pretty exciting, it was also an opportunity to take Sound Check to an event outside of Ontario and get some exposure in Western Canada. The trip would be scheduled for the final weekend of the Stampede and would include, round-trip airfare, 2 nights of accommodation at the Delta Bow Valley, admission into the Calgary Stampede as well as two tickets to see KISS live at the Scotiabank Saddledome. The first hiccup came almost immediately when mother nature thought it would be fun to test the organizers of the Stampede and flood Calgary just weeks before the event was set to begin. Although Alberta’s rally to rise up and get the Stampede not just up and running but up and running on-time was nothing short of exceptional unfortunately the damage to the Saddledome was, understandably, too severe to stage a high-octane KISS show (or any of the other scheduled Stampede concerts for that matter). Surprisingly communication from WestJet during the flood period was surprisingly non-existent. As I’m the type of person who prefers to be prepared and not one for surprises, especially when I’m travelling, I had to follow-up with WestJet on numerous occasions just to get updates to make sure that everything would go as planned.
Calgary Stampede flooded
Thankfully the only casualty of the flood was the KISS concert, which was disappointing but I had already experienced KISS in concert a few years before at Ottawa Bluesfest so all was not lost. With the Stampede trip falling in the middle of July it also fell at the tail end of RBC Royal Bank Ottawa Bluesfest, which I had been covering. That meant that the night before our 7am departure on July 12 I would’ve been out at Ottawa Bluesfest covering the Tragically Hip and Kenny Wayne Shepherd shows among others. The next morning at 5am, like clockwork, my step-son (who was going to accompany me on the trip) and I arrived at the Ottawa International Airport. Before I go a lot further let me say that I’m a seasoned traveler. Much of my family lives in Europe so as a child I grew up traveling to Europe every few summer’s and in my teens spent a summer traveling around Europe by myself so travel is not something that intimidates me, if anything I enjoy it. So lets define the word VIP so there is no doubt what we are talking about:
VIP noun \ˌvē-ˌī-ˈpē\ : a person who is very important or famous
Everything at the Ottawa Airport went smooth. We got checked in and eventually boarded the plane, as regular passengers nothing VIP here,…and shortly after that is when the second hiccup happened. My step-son proved to be a slightly less seasoned traveler than I and suddenly felt a bit like a sardine trapped in a tin-can (the plane) and needed to get off. We laugh about it now but at the time it was no laughing matter for him, he’s a tough kid and nothing much stirs him but that morning I saw fear in his eyes for the first (and probably the last time). Just before he got off the flight I asked him if he needed me to disembark with him, he told me that I should stay so I didn’t miss out on the trip.
The flight went off without a hitch and as expected the flight crew was super friendly, not that I can ever recall taking a flight in which the crew wasn’t friendly (it’s kinda part of the job). Upon landing in Calgary is when this VIP trip started to more and more feel less VIP and simply woo hoo you won a plane ticket to Calgary and a ticket to the Stampede. I disembarked the plane and went on the long walk to exit the secure area to get to where the luggage carousel was to wait for my luggage. Fully expecting to see someone waiting for me from WestJet, Calgary International Airport, after all, is their home base. There were greeting parties for a group from Super 8 and a few other small groups but not one person from WestJet in sight.
Calgary International Airport
While waiting for my luggage to arrive I figured I’d call my WestJet contact to let him know I’d arrived and that I’d only be one as the other person in my party didn’t make the flight. Unfortunately his office, cell and email inboxes were all full so I had no way to reach him. A short while after my luggage arrived I got tired of waiting for no one to show up so I decided I’d make my way down to my hotel to rest up before hitting the town later that afternoon to explore the sights and sounds of Calgary. At the Hotel kiosk at the airport it seemed like every hotel in the city was listed but mine. So, thankfully I’m tech savvy and had my iPhone, I looked up the hotel’s phone number and called to confirm my reservation (at this point I figured I better make sure there’s a plan for me before leaving the airport) as well as for information on airport shuttles. The hotel staff was super friendly but advised me that there was no direct shuttle from the airport and that the only one that did run cost something like $18 per person. I asked about alternative methods to get there and was advised that a 20 minute direct taxi ride would cost about $20 and 45 minute transit bus ride would cost about $4 or I could get a ride-all-day pass for $8. Again as an avid traveler transit with luggage also doesn’t intimidate me, I recall my last trip to Germany I landed in Düsseldorf and took a 2 hour train ride to my relative’s home near Bonn with all my luggage in tow. So armed with my ride all day pass, laptop bag, Boots and Hearts backpack (which I should mention they gave me for the trip) and suitcase it was off to the bus stop just in time to catch the next bus downtown.
Boots and Hearts at Calgary Stampede
Once again an amazing customer service experience. The bus driver immediately welcomed me to Calgary (like it was obvious that I was a tourist lol) and asked where I was headed. I explained him that I was going downtown to the Delta Bow Valley and he told me that I had two stop options, one of the first stops downtown (about 25 minutes) was about a 2 block walk to the hotel or I could wait until near the end of it’s run when the bus stops directly across the street from the hotel. It was a decent day so I told him I’d take the walk so I could be at the hotel sooner. The driver told me he’d let me know about a stop or two before I needed to get off so I’d be ready (that’s a rare act of customer service on transit systems in Ontario regardless of what special event is going on). The walk to the hotel wasn’t bad at all, it was a cool morning in Calgary (about 15 degrees) so it was almost refreshing to feel the cool breeze on my tired face. I was really looking forward to getting into my room to try to get some rest and recoup a bit from the really short night before. I arrived at the hotel, and it was completely decked out for the Stampede with hay bales in the lobby and cowboy themed decorations everywhere, not to mention a whole lot of plaid. I can honestly say I’ve never seen Ottawa or Toronto get all decked out for a festival or event like Calgary did for the Stampede, it was amazing to see the participation amongst businesses in the city. Oh and even more amazing was looking down, now dry, streets that just a few weeks before were several feet underwater and other than a water line on the trees no evidence that there had ever been a flood.
2013 Calgary flood waterline
The amazing customer service continued at the hotel. I proceeded to check in but even though I was registered they had no payment record on file and asked how I would be paying for the room. This caught me completely off guard and my first thought was oh no I’m not going to get into my hotel room until this gets sorted out. I explained to the hotel staff that I had won the trip through WestJet and that everything would be covered. Without missing a beat the staff member said no problem, let’s get you into your room so you can relax while we sort this out. Once again my jaw hit the floor, I can’t imagine a hotel in Ottawa or Toronto letting you go up to your room without having your payment information on file, especially not during one of the busiest weekends of the year. By this point I’ve been in Calgary about 3 hours and have had several amazing experiences with customer service and yet not one of those had anything to do with the VIP trip I had won. I can simply imagine how terrifying this experience would be for someone who had never traveled before. After getting settled into my room, writing my recap blog for the previous night of Bluesfest, touching base with home and catching a few hours of rest I decided to head out on the town for a few hours to explore. Now I’m a firm believer in people and WestJet has a world-class reputation on customer service so I figured that something came up and my contact was pulled away from the office that day and that someone would reach out to me over the next few hours, especially since the next afternoon I was supposed to be taking part in a behind the scenes tour of the chutes at the Calgary Stampede Rodeo…that call never came.
After spending Friday afternoon and night taking in the sights, sounds and eats of Calgary I started the day Saturday again trying to reach out to WestJet. This time to get details on the chutes tour later that afternoon at the rodeo, once again I was unable to reach anyone. I wasn’t planning on wasting a lot of time trying as I only had the one day to really get out and enjoy the Stampede as my flight home to Ontario was Sunday morning at 10am, which meant being at the airport for 8am. I made my way down to the Stampede and took in a chuck wagon parade on my way to the festival grounds, now close to 24 hours into my visit I still fully expected that someone from WestJet would connect with me once I arrived on the Stampede grounds (that also did not happen).
There’s so much to see, do and eat at the Stampede one day is not even close to enough. You need a few days (in some cases for health reasons lol) to try all the food options that are available. The exhibits are amazing as well, think of any agricultural fair you’ve been to and then multiply the size by 10 and you’ll be close to an idea of what you can expect at the Stampede. The rodeo was scheduled to start at 1:30 in the afternoon so around 12:30 I started making my way to the grandstand (yes you need that much time to make it through the crowds). Once in my seat I still hadn’t been contacted with information on the chutes tour. The massive amounts of people present that afternoon also meant that cellular bandwidth wasn’t great and fading fast so any hopes for someone to reach me in the grandstand were going away quickly. I recalled receiving an email from my WestJet contact that had been forwarded from a contact at the Stampede so I figured I might as well reach out to them directly, after all I didn’t fly all the way to Calgary to visit an overgrown midway and sit in the grandstand for a rodeo when I could be behind the scenes and watch it all from the cowboy’s point of view. Finally a response. They emailed back, almost sounding relieved that we had reached out to them, asked where I was sitting and advised that someone would be up to bring the group (there were 3 of us, two of which were WestJet employees who also had been told nothing) behind the scenes.
Calgary Stampede – The Chutes
While I waited for the show to start I figured I’d try one last attempt to reach out to WestJet, my supposed hosts, before the end of the day. This time I chose to reach out to them through their social media sites Twitter and Facebook. I simply told them that I was disappointed that my VIP trip to the Calgary Stampede more or less turned into a self-guided day and far short of anything I would consider VIP. I explained that I was a seasoned traveler and to me it wasn’t difficult to go with the flow but the experience for a first time traveler would’ve been traumatic. I also explained that I wasn’t expecting red carpet treatment or even first class but at the very least some form of contact by WestJet checking in to see how the trip was and if there was anything I needed. Out of the two major events that I won, aside from the flight and hotel, one, KISS, was cancelled and the other I had to take care of the last-minute arrangements myself using resources I had received by accident. Although I expected to hear from them, as they have a top-notch social media crew, I didn’t expect them to be able to do much for my last evening to make up for things. The chutes tour was amazing, seeing a rodeo from that perspective gives a whole new level of respect for the sport and the athletes and animals that take part in it. On a side not to those animal rights activists who are against such events, the animals are treated with dignity and respect and are as much performers in these events as the cowboys who ride them. Also interesting to know was that two weeks before the day I was being given the tour the area we were in was 6 feet under water, you wouldn’t have noticed.
After the tour was finished I took time to continue to explore the grounds and do some shopping, give yourself plenty of time for shopping as they had an entire stadium floor filled wall to wall with everything and anything you can imagine with infomercials going on at almost every booth. While shopping the phone call from WestJet came. A young woman in the promotions department who took the time to listen to my experience over the last 36, or so, hours. She apologised and offered to meet up with me later that afternoon to personally show me around the Stampede. I agreed and a few hours later we met up and toured the Stampede grounds for the evening, taking in the midway and the fireworks.
Calgary Stampede midway fireworks
When the night wrapped up I returned to my hotel WestJet assured me that my hotel and transportation to the airport the next morning were taken care of and with that my 48 hour visit to Calgary came to an end.
It’s now been nearly 11 months since I returned from that trip. My original contact from WestJet finally did call me back, about a week after I had returned home. Other than the visit and conversation with the WestJet staff member nothing official was ever said or done to make up for the completely non-VIP, VIP Stampede Experience. I figured I’d wait to see what would happen once KISS rescheduled their show at the Saddledome before deciding on my next course of action. The date was announced and my first email was to WestJet asking if they’d be sending me back to Calgary for the show, naturally I wasn’t surprised when the answer came back as a no that their promotions budget had been maxed out for the year.
I had started writing this post on numerous occasions but didn’t want to come across like a spoiled child but then after thinking about it long and hard decided that it’s a story that needs to be told. WestJet has a shiny reputation when it comes to customer service and although their in-flight service was golden, their on-ground service was simply lousy. I compared it to being invited to visit a relative, they pay for your flight and give you a place to stay and even arrange for some entertainment and then leave for the weekend and are unreachable the entire time you are there. During my debate on whether or not to write this post I talked to a few people and asked their thoughts and the general consensus was that I won a VIP Calgary Stampede Experience.
I asked other people what they would expect from such an experience the answers were almost always unanimous:
- First Class
- Greeted at the Departure Airport and taken to a private lounge
- Greeted upon Arrival and again taken to a private lounge
- Chauffeured limo to the hotel
- A list of sightseeing options available in the hotel room, with transportation available should it be desired
- Refreshments in the hotel room ready to be served
- A dedicated company contact who you could call if anything specific was required (access to a specific show etc)
It’s worth mentioning that I never expected the majority of those just a simple courtesy from my host to actually show up (without me having to chase them down through social media). I’m a festivals and entertainment blogger, I go to events all over the place and don’t expect any prefered treatment. Most festivals I get general admission media passes with no special access, once in a blue moon a festival gives me special access but those events are few and far between. In the end my reason for writing this is partly selfish, if after almost a year I’m still disappointed and can clearly remember the feeling of being ditched, then clearly not enough was done to resolve this. The other side of this is that I want to be 100% certain that an experience like mine is NEVER repeated by anyone ever again. I don’t care if it’s WestJet, Air Canada, VIA Rail or some other organization; if you tell someone they’ve won a VIP trip then you better ensure they are treated like a VIP.
I was WestJet’s guest and they flew me to and from the party and then went their merry way with no one on either of the flights having any clue that I had won a VIP trip through their company.
So I guess that leaves the golden question is what do I want WestJet to do to make it right? That’s a tough question to answer. I could be selfish and say I want a do over, tickets for two anywhere WestJet flies, accommodations as well as a true VIP treatment but that’s being selfish and that’s not who I am nor is it realistic. Ideally I’d love to take my family on a vacation that they deserve more than anything but I don’t just want WestJet to make it right by me.
I want WestJet come up with a better program for VIP Promotions so that this summer their guests feel like rock stars rather than simply part of the crowd, and heck I’m just putting this out there but I’m looking for the next great opportunity and hiring me to help develop this program would make it up to me ten fold…as unlikely as that possibility might be.
So there you have it. WestJet the ball is in your court.
