WestJet Aircraft Tour

Tuesday, 21 August 2018 10:51

An Ingersoll mother's open letter to WestJet has got a lot of attention on Facebook.

INGERSOLL - An Ingersoll mother is very thankful after WestJet helped her calm her daughter's nerves about flying.

Stacey Swartz will be taking her 10 year old daughter Melody for her first flight this Saturday. Melody has ADHD, and was very nervous about the long flight to Vancouver.

Swartz decided to reach out to WestJet through the inquiry page on their website.

"I submitted the form I think at 10 o'clock at night and I was speaking to an agent 25 minutes later on the phone, it was fantastic! The agent called and said 'I'm really sorry I know it's really late but I just had to talk to you. You just connected so much with us and we want to be able to help you.'"

The agent gave Swartz some information resources to show her daughter and contact information so she could arrange the tour herself. After hitting a dead end, Swartz reached out to WestJet again and they helped arrange their tour at the Region of Waterloo International Airport on Thursday August 9th.

They started the tour by walking through security, just like you would on a regular flight.

Swartz says they were also able to walk around the plane, and check out parts of the aircraft the average traveler wouldn't be able to see.

"She mentioned that she wanted to bring her sewing kit and she was so scared that it was going to get lost because she loves sewing so much! They showed her exactly where they were going to store it underneath the aircraft."

They boarded the plane afterwards and met the pilots in the cockpit.

"They were able to answer every single question she had. Even if it was a totally random, crazy question they answered it for her which was fantastic!"

The flight attendants later showed Melody her seat, the bathroom and where the food is prepared.

After the wonderful experience, Swartz posted an open letter to WestJet on Facebook last Thursday. Today the post has over 7,000 likes and almost 4,000 shares.

The mother-daughter pair will be boarding their flight to Vancouver this coming Saturday. Swartz says Melody is now "optimistically nervous" about the idea.