WestJet Launches Flights to Cuba

Starting from last Sunday, Toronto travelers in search of warmth have had two new options courtesy of Canadian low cost carrier WestJet. Last week the airline announced they were launching nonstops to Varadero, Cuba and St Maarten, and the first flights duly took off over the weekend.

The company issued separate press releases for the St Maarten and Cuba routes, each identical except for the obviously made up location-specific quotes from Hugh Dunleavy, WestJet Executive Vice-President of Strategy and Planning. That doesn't make WestJet's announcement any less exciting. It just kind of made us giggle.

Both new routes have flights three times per week, and both last only until April 29, 2010. Presumably that's the date they expect Toronto to thaw, with all the consequences for demand that would portend. They're promising more "sun destination" announcements in the coming days though, so maybe those will last past the winter months.

It's probably worth mentioning that we first heard about the new routes last week via @WestJet, which also confirmed that the first airplanes on the routes were in the air. Like many airlines WestJet does plenty of customer troubleshooting over Twitter, so let this serve as your official reminder that frequent travelers need to be following their favorite airlines' streams. Even USATODAY is now writing articles about LCC Twitter streams. So we figure we've got at most 3 months before everything gets ruined for everyone.

Unlike Canada we still don't have a passenger bill of rights—and there's debate over whether we should have one—but someday two or three stranded passengers are going to angrily ping customer service with at-replies. And then things are going to get interesting.

ENDS

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