WestJet’s Vice President of Sales, Duncan Bureau, sent a message to travel agents from the pages of the carrier’s onboard publication, “Up”. Pictured standing with an upraised glass of white wine (or apple juice), Bureau toasts WestJet guests and “travel agent partners”, thanking them “for their great work on behalf of travellers”.
Publicly endorsing travel agents in this fashion is unusual and underscores WestJet’s attempt to mend fences following the difficult launch of the Sabre Sonic System. In a note to sent to Open Jaw, Bureau emphasizes that “We are working very hard to rebuild the equity we had with our travel trade partners prior to the launch of the Sabre Sonic System. We believe the system is stable and that agents are now used to the environment and we have made significant progress on some of the key items that we had.”
A toast to our travel agent partners
I hope you are resting comfortably in one of our leather seats as you read this. As a WestJet owner, I really want you to enjoy your time with us. As the V.P. of Sales, I’m very aware your WestJet experience begins the second you book your flight or WestJet Vacations getaway. Some of you flying with us today no doubt relied on the services of one of our trusted travel agent partners to book your reservation.
As an airline that truly cares about our guests, we think it’s great that knowledgeable travel agents are available to help you research and book your travel reservations. Since communication is the passport to successful partnerships, WestJet is proud to work closely with both the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies and the Association of Retail Travel Agents.
We thank travel agents for their great work on behalf of travellers, and we thank you for being our guest today. If I was sitting next to you, I would raise my complimentary WestJet pop, juice, tea or coffee in a toast to you and our travel agent partners for supporting WestJet. Since I can’t be there in person, please accept my best wishes from afar and have a great flight.
Duncan Bureau
