weStJet mini case

a great guest experience
As the filled-to-capacity Boeing 737 taxis to the ramp at Maui’s Kahului Airport, 200 weary travellers are brought back to life by the a capella stylings of the lead flight attendant’s playful rendition of “Over the Rainbow.” Customers, or “guests” as WestJet prefers to call them, quickly realize that they are now part of another unique WestJet moment. They chuckle as the WestJetter cleverly integrates local time, temperature, and gate information into the lyrics, but he earns genuine LOLs when he works in the verse, “flying to Hawaii is free when you’re a WestJet employee.” Thus, despite being awake since 4:30 a.m., boarding a plane in Calgary in the dead of a prairie winter, and enduring a seven-hour flight with two young children who refused to sleep, these “guests” are ready to embrace the magic of Maui. The travellers may never know the reason for the improv performance, but maybe it was just another example of what the advertisements have been telling us for the better part of a decade: “Owners care,” a slogan communicating how the airline’s employee stock option package motivates participating WestJetters to go just a little bit further to please. WestJet’s philosophy of creating customer value is not based in its industry-leading turnaround times, modern fleet of planes, or even its competitively priced fares. Customer value stems from the core of a corporate culture, something only achievable when your people are engaged. In the words of Bob Cummings, executive vice-president of sales, marketing, and guest experience, “the big success factor in the whole corporate strategy is making sure that your employees are understanding and with you all the way.” Richard Bartrem, vice-president of communications and community, adds “we want all of our frontline employees to leave their inhibitions at the door, knowing, one