WestJet Wants Hotel Quarantine Plan Over by May 1: “Hopeful” That Will Take Place
March 24, 2021 Jim Byers
WestJet today said it has asked the Trudeau government to end its controversial quarantine hotel plan by May 1, and that they’re optimistic that will take place.
Speaking on a conference call with the media to talk about their restored flights to Quebec and Atlantic Canada, Andrew Gibbons, WestJet’s director of government relations, said WestJet would like to expand its international offerings this summer. But he said the removal of the quarantine hotel policy would be an important consideration in that decision.
“The current hotel policy is a deterrent to travel and it’s deliberately designed to dampen demand. We have requested that that policy transition as of May 1 to a more traditional regime around testing and reduced quarantine. So that is our request and expectation, quite frankly, of the government, that we successfully transition from that hotel policy on May 1 to allow greater international” travel.
The hotel quarantine plan began in mid-February and has proven very controversial. Travellers who arrive at any of the four international airports open for business in Canada must undergo a COVID-19 test and then check into a hotel while they await results. Travellers are required to arrange for three hotel nights and, in some cases, are paying upwards of $2,000.
Many travellers are getting their tests back after only a day, but it doesn’t appear as if many hotels are offering refunds for unused nights. Travellers also have complained of poor food and bad hotel service.
In response to federal government concerns about COVID-19 and new variants of the virus, airlines in January agreed to suspend their Caribbean and Mexico service until April 30, Gibbons noted.
“But that is a temporary policy. So our expectation and our hope is that that policy will transition on May 1. And what we mean by transition is we’re instructed by the success of the pilot project at Calgary International Airport, which reduced quarantine, and, according to Dr. Hinshaw (Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health) was very effective in actually limiting and curbing the spread of variants. And, so we take the Prime Minister’s commitment to heart, to review the relationship between quarantine and testing, but we are looking for policies that can achieve the public health goals of the government but also allow the safe restart of travel and tourism.”
“The hotel policy that is in place is not designed to facilitate a safe restart, it is designed to dampen or eliminate travel, and given the rate of vaccination and where we are as a country, that’s why we use the term transition.”
In the last Air Canada quarterly call, now-retired Air Canada President and CEO Calin Rovinescu said that “while vaccines hold great promise, we believe effective and robust testing is far and away the most immediate and practical way to protect communities [and] restart the economy by allowing a return to some of our normal activities and restore travel.”
On a related question, John Weatherill, Executive Vice-President and Chief Commercial Officer for WestJet, said that the idea of vaccine passports are “absolutely” under discussion with the federal government.
“Absolutely there are discussions on a wide variety of issues, from the technology platform required to how it can work with our own systems and what is required to unlock safe travel and tourism,” he said. “So, we’re working with our international partners, we’re working with other airlines in Canada and those discussions continue with the federal government, as they do on a variety of issues.”
Asked if WestJet might require passengers to show proof of vaccination before flying, as some airlines have suggested, Weatherill said that is “currently” not the plan.
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Stop the hotel quarantine now! No science to prove this is effective and killing the airlines and countries that depend on $ for the economy!!
This is looking promising! Hopefully with vaccine certifications and covid19 negative tests, this quarantine will be lifted. I’m keeping positive that things will move forward but with continued safety protocols in place.
Right now a person has to have a negative covid test to fly out of tropical destinations and since they can’t fly directly to Canada they have to fly through the USA and have another covid test to fly from USA to Canada. Then the person has to have another negative covid test at Canadian airport upon arrival and then take one more test 14 days after getting to their home. Four tests from start to finish. Isn’t that a bit of overkill yet the question is “ is air travel safe?” I think all the testing should make us feel air travel is pretty safe. Too bad WestJet lost a lot of the flights shutting down their airplanes from their previous passengers to American Airlines and probably their future clients.
There should be a proof of vaccine and Covid free test results by passengers to protect fellow travellers and crew.
So I can show proof of been fully vaccinated but still have to quarantine when I come back to Canada. crazy. Someone tell me what is the purpose of vaccine if it makes no difference if you are vaccinated or not.
Of all the people who have been quarantined at the airport hotels, how many tested positive for Covid?
Just do rapid testing is that so damn hard .
This government doesn’t care at all about this industry. The current quarantine scheme and the 72hr test abroad before flight are impractical, do nothing to actually prevent spread and, as stated above, DESIGNED to deter travel. All that at the expense of the Charter of rights. Not to mention that you can’t even get a passport without a « valid » reason right now. It’s the stuff of oppressive régîmes. The population shouldn’t allow this to happen, pandemic or not. There are other, wayyy better ways.
This whole quarantine hotel thing was set up solely to take the focus off the poor job that our government was doing with vaccinations, it is exactly the type of price gouging and overcharging that the Ford government wanted people to report, every single day I get email notifications of Toronto hotel special pricing and the very most at a 5 star is 169.00 a night. Sad…..
The YVR study also verifies that rapid testing is as effective as traditional tests. Hotel quarantine should and can be eliminated by using tests that provide results within the hour.
I came to Mexico in January before the quarantine hotels came into effect. I came here because my physician told me I had basil cell carcinoma and it would be at least 4 months before I could be treated in Toronto. I had it biopsied and treated in Mexico within two weeks. By then quarantine came into play and I cannot pay $3000 to book a hotel room in my own city when I have my own safe, apartment in Toronto to quarantine in. Stop the unproven quarantine hotels now!
Thank you Jim for the article. I must say I agree that the quarantine hotel stays were, are and will be a continued deterrent to travel. I don’t believe they have been a success at ‘preventing the spread’ , 25% of travellers are exempt and traveling from US to land it’s not a requirement. Could you please do a follow up article. I want to be informed and think that there are a plethora of additional questions that should be asked. My opinion, mandatory hotel stays are draconian.