When I saw cheap round trip tickets from Abbotsford, BC to London, Ontario for $288 I knew I had to give it a try. SWOOP is a budget airline division of WestJet. They have been offering flights as low as $99 (one way tickets) and have been getting a lot of heat from the media due to cancelled flights and stranding people in July & August 2019. Well, I can say that I am safely back from my 2 week trip to London / Toronto Ontario, and I had a GREAT experience!
This is about my trip experience only and everything expressed on my blog is my opinion only. I have only flown with this airline once August 17 to Sept 1 2019.
The roundtrip flight includes one personal item (it must fit in the seat in front of you). Since this is a budget airline, they do nickel and dime you for every single thing, so a carry on costs $37 EACH WAY, so I decided not go for this since it would substantially increase the cost. The cost can range from $35 (initial booking) to $80.50 (at the gate) depending on when you add on your baggage for flights within Canada. My main destination was Toronto, so I also pre-booked a roundtrip Greyhound for London to Toronto for approximately $45.
Before going on the flight:
– I had to make sure to pack everything into one single personal item that didn’t exceed the size. I had done some research and most people had said they rarely check, so I measured out my bag (approximately 19″ x 6″ x 13″ ) which is about 3″ higher than the regulation size and packed 5 days worth of clothes, laptop, electronics, toiletries (just the essentials). TRUST ME, IT WAS HARD. Would I do it again to save $74? YES! I opted to use the Black Ember Citadel which is a waterproof and extendable backpack. I was never questioned or asked about my bag either way.
– With RyanAir, I remember I had to print out the boarding pass before every flight, or else they would charge you upwards of $55 Euro to print out a piece of paper. Luckily, it was very easy and simple to check in with Swoop and they produced an electronic boarding pass that I just took a screenshot and use to go to the airport and check in. I also downloaded their app later on and it worked wonderfully with online check in and accessing your boarding pass.
– In order to achieve such a low fee, many budget airlines fly out of rural cities. In my case, Vancouver has no public transit to take you to Abbotsford at 5AM (for a 6AM flight) so I had to get my husband to drive me or to incur a cab fee of over $70 from Vancouver depending on where you live. You must be prepared for when there is no public transit or ride sharing options, so you would have to preplan and determine if you can park and ride, get a ride from a friend, or rent a car. There is a bus/skytrain route that can take you to the airport from Vancouver, but it would take you 2 hours. It is possible, but you would have to make sure your flight time is within the bus schedule.
– I read online that they charge you for everything including water, so it is recommended to bring your own water bottle so that they can pour water in for you. I normally do this for travelling but unfortunately it was not possible because I could not fit anything else into my bag. On this note, make sure to pack some snacks (granola bars, ect.) because there are limited and pricey offerings on the flight.
– I was prepared for no entertainment device, so I had downloaded a bunch of Netflix shows and brought my own earbuds to prepare for the flight.
– I really wanted to make sure that my flight would not be delayed since I had to catch a Greyhound to get to Toronto, so to prepare I checked every couple days in the week prior to see if the same flight number got delayed and amazingly, all of them were on time. I would recommend doing this for your flight route in order to anticipate and prepare for if there are delays. Often, at the smaller airports there are not many food options and lack of resources, so I had McDonalds breakfast at a 24 hour drive through and brought some granola bars.
Boarding the Flight:
– I checked in the day previous and had my boarding pass on a screenshot as well as in my email, so I walked into the airport and straight to the security line. I arrived at about 5:15AM for the 6AM flight and made it through security with no problems. After a quick wait, it was time to board and everyone got on the full flight quickly and efficiently. You have to walk outside onto the tarmac and go up a ramp, and since I did not pay additional for a seat, I ended up on the very back row near the washrooms.
Flight Experience:
– On the flight, I was able to get my bag onto the overhead bin a couple lanes ahead. This was great, because I had a big bag and there wasn’t a lot of space in front of the seat. I took out my essentials and sat down. The couple beside me had their bags under the seat and to be honest it did not look that comfortable, so I got lucky (also had space on the way back as well). There was netting in front to hold your gadgets, a table, and a charger. As expected, there were no tv’s or entertainment devices offered. I checked the app as well and there is only the option to buy wifi via “stream.” The plane was surprisingly clean – again this may have been due to the early flight, so if possible I’d recommend taking the first flight out (also decreases your chance of having it cancelled to the next day).
– The plane took off without a hitch. I watched an episode of a show that I downloaded on Netflix and snoozed off since it was so early. I noticed there are a lot of young couples on the flight and some with kids. I am sure most of the crowd were on there due to the cheap cost. I didn’t expect there to be kids, but there were about 3 families on there. One was super adorable and didn’t cry once, another one cried a LOT. For this purpose, I always travel with ear plugs and an eye cover so you can sleep uninterrupted, so I was not too bothered by this. As well, there is one washroom at the front and two at the back, so there were often people going in and out of the washroom. There was no smell, but sometimes people would nudge me at the aisle seat by accident.
– There was A LOT of turbulence, but we did make it right on time with no problems.
Overall, is it worth it?
A normal roundtrip flight from YVR (Vancouver International Airport) to YYZ (Toronto Pearson Airport) costs an average of $600-700, so I saved approximately $300 (minus Greyhound ~$50) so a grand total of $250.
If you plan ahead, I’d say the experience is pretty much similar to a regular flight, other than no free drinks & snacks (coke, water, pretzels), no entertainment system (though most smaller flights don’t have this anyway), and travelling with limited luggage (this depends on your personal travel style). The other benefits of travelling this way is that you have a lot less wait time due to the number of people at the airport. There is less traffic to get to the airport, there is less time to wait while going through security, and everyone boards quickly and efficiently without people complaining. To my knowledge, there is no loyalty program so either you have paid for priority boarding or you did not, so everything is very black and white. Overall, if you are not picky, you will do great! And if you do want to make sure you have a better seat and have a carry on, the price is still substantially cheaper than a bigger airline and you save time by going to a smaller airport.
My big advice is to make sure you are prepared so that you have a great time. Here is a quick checklist for you to see if you’re ready to ride with SWOOP:
– Make sure you have means of transportation to get to the airport
– Check in Online & Download or screenshot your Boarding Pass
– Downloaded Entertainment (Netflix / Amazon Prime / Ect.)
– Water Bottle & Snacks
– Pack only your Essentials
– Bring eye covers & noise cancelling headphones or ear plugs
– Make sure you have means of transportation at the airports
Thank you for reading and good luck!
happylamby 