Screwed By Westjet

[sleeman]

My inlaws picked up a bunch of crabs and snails for me at J&L's last night and hopped a flight from Abbostsford out to Edmonon this morning. When they checked in they were not allowed to bring the livestock. Can't bring anything packed in water was the problem. So for 66 bucks ELS marketing shipped it for them. Here is the clincher. ELS Marketing is Westjet. And they flew the frickin box on a westjet flight!!!! Oh, except they waited for the next flight so I can drive an hour each way to go get the snails. To make it even worse, my inlaws tickets were only 49 bucks.
If I had J&L ship them I think it would have cost 45 bucks for shipping.

Gotta go to the airport,

Al

[Quinn]

Ouch that's kinda harsh. What if you called to refuse the shipment and had J&L reship, wouldn't the bill fall on Westjet?

[sleeman]

Kind of tough to do when they are stepping on a flight in 30 mins. My father in law asked the girl to keep thm at 78 degrees and check the salinity until they got back next week. SHe was not into that. It was either pay the shipping or toss the box. There was about 100 bucks worth of livestock. All said and done I still saved some coin.

Cheers,

Al

[ed99]

I called up Westjet before a flight once and they told me the same thing- i.e. no livestock in water in the cabin. I don't know why, so once or twice I have snuck it through anyway. The downside is that they get their X-ray taken.

[Tman1973]

FYI about shipping livestock.

There is a huge difference about trying to ship something in the cabin of an aircraft as opposed to the belly.

If something is shipping in cargo the appropriate precautions must be taken to ensure that no water could escape and damage the aircraft. This is taken care of by the LFS that ships livestock on a daily basis. The shipper takes responsibility that the package will not damage the aircraft, if it does the shipper can be held responsible.

If you try to sneak some live stock in the cabin of the aircraft and it leaks out you run a much higher risk of damaging something because the cabin of an aircraft is not sealed in the same manor as the belly would be. Once again the individual runs the risk of being held responsible for any costs associated to the damage.

ELS is not part of WestJet, it is simply a Marketing company hired by WestJet to sell cargo.

If your going to ship livestock from J&L or someone else let them take care of shipping is for you, you'll run into allot fewer problems.

It's not so much screwed by WestJet but screwed by yourself for not doing your homework.

[pluff]

:rolleyes: Hmmmmm that seem weird? So what if a person is bringing live lobster say from east coast to the west coast?So it has to go into the cargo part of the plane?I've taken live lobster from New Brunswick to Ontario in the cabin of the plane many of times before.And never once had to put it into the cargo part.And all the boxes went throught the xray machine.This was all on Air Canada flights.Maybe its just different for different Companies? Anyway seems very weird to me. :cool:

[kuatto]

It's been awhile,but if memory serves me ,they pack the lobster in dryice or ice,not water,but I could be wrong.

[christyf5]

Ya know, I never even thought about water bring a problem on the plane. The last time I went to Calgary I flew AirCanada. Leaving Nanaimo the security people wanted to know what I had in the bags and I believe the response was "cool". One guy even had a SW tank so we chatted for a bit while he went through my stuff. On the way home, the Calgary security people weren't even interested in my bags although one girl wanted to look at my tiny bangaii cardinalfish that I got from EmilyB. :mrgreen: \

Christy :)

[Tman1973]

When you bring lobster in a plane they are not pack in water.
Even when you buy the live ones it's simple an ice/gel pack in the bottom of the wax lined double packed box.

I've brought many lobsters back from Moncton in the past.

[EmilyB]

On the way home, the Calgary security people weren't even interested in my bags although one girl wanted to look at my tiny bangaii cardinalfish that I got from EmilyB. :mrgreen:

Christy :)

That would be BUG. We need a new pic of him all grown up.. :cool:

Yes, I asked on Air Canada if they could stow my bag upright somewhere, because it had bags of fish and coral with water in it.

She said, get the stewardess to throw it up top for you... :eek: At least, I didn't do that, I relied on my packing and stowed it under the seat..

[sleeman]

Just to clarify, all livestock was packed by J&L. It was triple bagged, packed in their cooler wrapped in their plastic, placed in their box and sealed with their tape. Just as if they were to ship it themself. When I picked up the box from "West Jet Cargo" They had done nothing to the package to ensure it would not leak. ELS may be a contracted company but I bet the money ends up in the same hands.
I found it very dissapointing coming from WJ. This is something I would expect from AC.

CHeers,

Al

[Tman1973]

Al

You have to understand that the airline staff is not trained in handling cargo. That is left up to the people that do it on a daily basis. WJ has simply made a standard not to accept bags of salt water in the cabin or there aircraft or as checked in luggage. That is there prerogative. There are a large number of items that airlines in general will not accept in there cabin or even as cargo. The responsibility is on the person wanting to ship or fly with something to check it out before they are trying to hop in the aircraft. Don't expect them to put it on there aircraft because you think they should.

Perhaps you do not understand the possible consequences.....

About 10 years ago a Dentist flying from Hong Kong thought it might be a good idea to bring home with a few jars of mercury because it was a good deal. When the aircraft go to it final destination the jars or mercury had broken open and mercury had been flowing along the belly of the aircraft. Mercury is damaging to aluminum.... guess what. That Boeing 747 aircraft was a complete right off.

Cheer,

Trevor

[EmilyB]

How do you bring livestock back with you Trevor? :confused:

[Tman1973]

Hey Deb

I have to use cargo myself like everyone else. All though I get a reduced rate because of my job.

Cheers,

Trevor

[eposer]

I just got back from Toronto and had no problem bringing back a bunch of sps frags carry on with Air Canada. They even had a look through the bags instead of X-raying them :biggrin: . I thing one reason they might have had no problem was that I had them all in my watertight Pelican case so there was no way it could possibly leak.

Pelican site: http://www.pelican.com

[AJ_77]

Hey Evan! What did you get? Was the selection what you hoped for?

:cool:

[eposer]

I went to Aquarium Depot http://www.aquariumdepot.com which is right beside the Pearson airport. The selection was pretty good and he was still waiting for a bunch of premium acro pieces to come in at the end of the month. I got some nice teal acro, blue millepora, purple with green polyp acro, purple/blue acro.... Really nice pieces I must say, it's too bad my timing sucks and I was too early for the big shippment. Some of the pictures they had from the last batch where amazing(blue with bright pink tips acro...).

It's a cool shop and I'd defenitly reccomend it as a stop for anyone heading to Toronto espescially as it's so close to the airport.

Evan.

[Marcus K]

Could I purchase fish, corals and have them boxed as if being shipped. Then take them to WestJet to have them ship in the heated cargo area and pay the cargo bill. Does J&L charge to get the box from the store to the airport? I would not mind to pay for cargo if it would be on the same plane as I.

I flew WestJet a couple of years ago from Victoria to Calgary on to Saskatoon. I paid $40 to have my Dalmation fly with me home for X-mas. Westjet was great at pulling her off and letting me walk her during the layover. When I got to Stoon she was not pulled off the plane, I was approched by a staff member in Stoon that said my Dog was OK and that she is being walked and watered in Edmonton.... What the F**** is she doing in Edmonton. The heated cargo area was full of parcels due to X-mass. Remember that she was paid for such as my seat was. I had even told them to pull me off if she would not for any reason make the flight. The staff member for Westjet thought it might help to tell me that I was taking it very well since the other night they had a Cat come in Frozen. Two hours later she made it. I was not charged for her return in Stoon but I was after my layover on the way home this time in Edmonton. I still fly Westjet but I am more cautious and ask lots of questions.

Marcus