Good morning everyone, my name is Alex, and thank you for tuning in to this very special
trip report!
Today I’m flying from Toronto, Ontario to Calgary, Alberta, on the very first revenue
flight of WestJet’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
Just a note before we begin, what you see here is what you’ll experience on a domestic flight.
The experience on a transatlantic flight will be a bit different.
Now unfortunately I missed some of the festivities due to a late inbound flight, but here we
are at gate C35 in Pearson’s Terminal 3!
In 2017, WestJet ordered 10 787s, with options for 10 more.
The aircraft I’m flying on today is the first of these, with the registration C-GUDH.
WestJet will take delivery of 3 Dreamliners this year, as they prepare to launch transatlantic service
from Calgary to London, Paris, and Dublin.
As preparation for these long-haul flights, WestJet is flying the aircraft between Toronto
and Calgary until late April.
Today, I’m sitting in Economy Class on board the Dreamliner, in one of the extra legroom
seats, which are located in the first six rows of Economy Class, rows 9 to 14.
Here’s my seat for this 3 and a half hour flight, 10K.
The legroom here is decent for me, though I am 6 foot 8!
Even with slightly more space, the seats were a bit tight for me.
Keep in mind, I do make a lot of seats look smaller than they actually are.
The headrests are adjustable though, and do actually go high enough for me!
Here’s a look at the contents of the seatback pocket.
Just before departure, I also got this great gift of a 1:200 scale model of the very aircraft
I’m on, thanks WestJet!
WestJet’s Dreamliner features in-flight-entertainment screens in every seat.
I’ll go through the system once we’re in the air.
This also included Westjet’s first ever safety video, which I really enjoyed, very
Pixar-like!
For now, here’s our departure from Toronto, pushing back, taxiing, and taking off from
runway 06L.
After takeoff, I had my usual can of Coke with a purchase of WestJet’s tasty Margherita pizza.
This in-flight entertainment system is a first for WestJet.
They originally had live TV in their first next generation 737s, but moved to mobile
entertainment through the WestJet app on the rest of the fleet.
On the Dreamliner, screens like these were a great addition!
This Panasonic system is easy to use and very responsive, with a good selection and moving map.
WestJet connect is still available, if you prefer, and there’s wifi for purchase, which
worked well and was pretty fast!
Let’s take a look at the rest of the cabin.
There are 276 seats in Economy Class, in two cabins aft of the second entry doors.
There's one detail that might go unnoticed from a wide angle cabin shot though - the colour
gradient that you see on the walls is actually made entirely of WestJet deltas, and it looks
VERY cool up close!
Later on, the crew dimmed the windows and showed us how the lights will change during
their transatlantic flights.
Here’s a peek at the Premium cabin, as well as a quick look at what the legroom is like for me.
With that announcement, we started our descent, and we landed on runway 35R at Calgary International
Airport just a few minutes later.
As we taxi to the gate, here are my usual thoughts on the flight.
I really do like the interior, it looks amazing, especially the little details like the stitching
on the headrests and the colour gradients.
Now, the only issue I had was that after about an hour or two of sitting, the seat starting
feeling a bit stiff and uncomfortable, so I did end up standing for quite a while.
That being said, it’s very likely thanks to my... above-average height.
I spoke with some fellow Economy passengers and they had no complaints about the seats,
other than shoulder room, so it could just be me.
Again, and I really want to stress this, everything else, the cabin, the food, inflight entertainment,
WestJet hospitality, it was all fantastic.
It was a great experience and one to remember!
After deplaning, I stuck around the gate to check out the festivities for the return flight!
WestJet’s 787 is a big leap for the company, and it’s clear that they’ve put a lot of work into the
whole Dreamliner project.
I wish them the best, and very much look forward to flying with them again!
So that was my experience on board the inaugural WestJet 787 flight!
Thank you very much for watching, if you’d like to see more, do subscribe to the channel
if you haven’t already, and I will see you in the next trip report.
Until then, safe travels.