TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Arrived safely yesterday

Came in on Westjet yesterday and actually arrived more than a half hour early. However, because we were earlier than scheduled, we had to wait a few minutes on the runway before deplaning. We got a jetway and there was a long line for immigration due to Air France arriving at the same time. However, since I had wheelchair assistance, I was through in 2 seconds with a stamped passport! My entry form was all visible on their website so no questions asked.The wait for luggage was about 20 minutes and then off to the car rental at the departure entrance. The welcoming rep was there waiting, but the car and driver was tied up in traffic. There was a serious accident in Simpson Bay on Airport Road and nothing was moving. Finally the driver arrived and we were on our way.Quickly picked up my rental car and checked into the Hilton by 5 PM, about 2 hours later than expected.Spent the night unpacking and had a dinner of chicken cordon Bleu brought from home.Since I had not gone to bed the night before and did not sleep on the plane, I went to bed by midnight which was early for me. The airport is a welcome change and most things seem to be working at least for me they were yesterday. Hopefully, I brought the sunshine as it was sunny and hot upon arrival and another beautiful day today. There is still some standing water in places after all the rain they had here last week - end. Looking forward to three weeks of rest and relaxation!

Glad to see you arrived safely! So you were on the swoop plane from Toronto? Have a great time!

Those Swoop planes are being updated, but that plane had not yet been done. I realized why my flight numbers had been changed!

Enjoy your trip!

I'm glad to know your arrival went flawlessly, other than the traffic. Traffic on Airport Road just seems to keep getting worse and worse each year. Enjoy the nice weather! I use wheelchair assist as well, so it's good to know how that went.

Just to clarify about the Swoop aircraft. All the WJ flights were changed to the new numbers effective October 31st. It has nothing to do with the Swoop aircraft. Even the flights with regular WJ aircraft use the new flight numbers. I had to change my downward flight for January, since they changed the aircraft to a Swoop and so all seats are Economy.

I'm now arriving two days earlier! Hopefully that flight and my return flight don't get an equipment change, too!

Hi there.
We too are flying out of T.O on WestJet flights in Jan/25. We just fly economy plus. I got a notice that our flight numbers had changed. Is there anyway to know whether it has changed from Westjet to Swoop? or am I missing something.
I am assuming we are still on Westjet and our seat selection is the same, and we just have a different WJ flight number??
Thanks

There is nowhere to know if they will be using a Swoop plane. WESTJET owned Swoop. It was their low fare airline, but now they have discontinued Swoop and just using the planes for regular Westjet flights. They are very basic aircraft with no Wifi or entertainment and seats closer together and no premier seating. They say they are in the process of updating the Swoop planes which may take awhile. My flight numbers were changed as well, but I only realized it was a Swoop plane upon boarding.

Meg,
When it comes to airplane schedule changes, assume nothing. You may be in the same assigned seats but then again, if there is an equipment change you might be scattered all over the plane as has happened to us once way back when. Can’t hurt to call or email and verify the seat assignments or at least, that’s what I would do.

The flight numbers have changed to the new flight numbers on ALL WJ flights between YYZ and SXM as of October 31st. It has nothing to do with equipment changes. That Is a separate issue.

There are two ways to tell if your flight has had an equipment swap to a Swoop aircraft.

First, do a dummy booking for your flight. When you get to the part where you choose your booking class (i.e. Economy or Premium), if there is no Premium option, you may be on a Swoop aircraft, since they have no Premium seating.

Second, if there is no Premium option on booking, it may simply be that the Premium section has sold out. In that case you can go into the manage your booking section and hit the change seats option. When the seat map comes up, if rows 1 to 3 are 3x3 seating, then it is a Swoop aircraft. On regular WJ 737 equipment, the first three rows are Premium class with 2x2 seating.