Swoop

My husband and I flew with Swoop from Halifax to Hamilton and were incredibly pleased with this airline. As long as you read their guidelines (and follow them, ahem, arrive more than 45 minutes ahead of time), you will have no issues! We flew a lot in Australia using budget airlines and this one far succeeded our expectations. Will definitely be booking again with Swoop!

Not Verified | I was supposed to fly home to Hamilton today from Halifax with my infant son. I arrived at the airport and received terrible customer service from swoop. I was turned away because I was 5 minutes passed their deadline to check-in. The counter agents where rude and unsupportive. They offered no solutions to my problem, just said I would not be getting on the flight. I phoned swoop and waited to for an hour on the phone to speak to an agent. The agents were rude and unfriendly. Both the agent and manager told me they would not put me on a flight home tomorrow and would not give me anything for my missed flight. They said it was my fault I missed the flight and were unsupportive and unsympathetic. I realize now that the fine print says you have arrive 45 minutes prior to leaving. Unfortunately life happens and when travelling with children you sometimes fall behind. The complete lack of support, kindness and professionalism was disgusting. I would recommend never booking with swoop. It is not worth it if something goes wrong.

✅ Trip Verified | I booked a flight for my son, daughter and I on Swoop to visit family in August 2018. Unfortunately, due to a work conflict my son was not able to join. I cancelled the trip 3 weeks before we were to travel. I understand, though am not happy with the fact that the refund is Swoop credit that expire in 90 days. What I am really upset about is the luggage fees. We were only going to travel with 2 suitcases between the 3 of us. I purchase one for my ticket and one for my sons. Since he is no longer travelling the money we paid is gone, not refunded and not transferable to my daughter who is still part of the original reservation. My daughter and I still need a second suitcase which I now need to purchase again. So I lost the seat selection fee, lost the $60 I paid to check a suitcase and need to pay another $60 to get the second suitcase on board even though I originally paid for 2. My flight east is now more expensive the with the other more common airlines and I still get only the discounted service. As a person who travels a lot for business and personal this is a real shame. Been looking forward to sending my business to someone other then Air Canada and apparently that isn't going to happen any time soon. Really sad news for us travelers.

Not Verified | We flew Swoop from Hamilton to Edmonton at the end of June with two toddlers. The flight to Edmonton from Hamilton was fine, the wifi did not work the entire flight which was annoying but the rest of the amenities on board were pretty standard. Our July 7th flight home on the other hand was non-existent. Swoop advises passengers check-in closes 45 minutes before the flight, we arrived 1 hour before our flight, there were 2 attendants working the check-in counter both had passengers with "issues", by the time the couple ahead of us got to the wicket the attendant stated "sorry the flight has been cut we cannot check you in". That was it, done deal. Our flight was scheduled for 10:25am, check-in closed at 9:40am, the couple in front of us got to the wicket at 9:53am the two attendants knew we were all in line waiting but made no attempt to get assistance or put the passengers with issues aside to get us checked in. Swoop's attendants left us stranded in the airport with a customer service number that was useless. We received zero compensation and had to pay an additional $1500 to get our family home with another airline. To top it all off the flight was delayed due to lightning and did not leave till after 10:25am - we absolutely could have made our flight. I do not recommend flying this airline, the staff from the check-in desk to the customer service call center is uncompassionate and extremely rude. If you choose to fly Swoop go in with zero expectations and you might have a good experience, If they let you board the plane!

✅ Trip Verified | Hamilton to Halifax. At 1:42pm on a Sunday we received an email saying that our flight was delayed by 30 minutes now leaving at 5:30pm not 5:00pm anymore. With the new departure time we arrived at the airport to check in at 4:30pm. My husband went to return the rental car and I went to check our bag, we were already checked in. The gate agent told me they were closed. I said ‘What are you talking about?’ and she pointed to a sign telling me there was a customer service number I could call. I called the number and customer service was closed on Sundays. I chased her down because she left the desk and she said she was going to get a supervisor. I kept saying this doesn’t make sense and she told me the plane wasn’t even there yet. I called my husband and told him they’re not letting us on the plane. The supervisor came and she confirmed this. I said I have a 4 year old and a 2 year old I had to get home to and she didn’t care. My husband in the mean time called WestJet customer service. Long story short the supervisors phone rang and my husband said ‘We’re getting on the plane right?’ She nodded. We are very frequent flyers with WestJet. We were told we were getting on the plane but our bag would not be travelling with us. We live 3.5 hours from the airport in NS. When I called the next day it was in the notes we were irate and the customer service agent called us liars, they wanted us to pay to get our bag to us. A girlfriend was going to the airport and got it for us. I was horrified at how we were treated when we were there 15 minutes before the 45 minute cut off time listed on their website. Everything else could have been ok but that kind of fear, to be left there with no where to go when I have young children at home makes this airline not worth anything. Poor, disgusting behaviour.

✅ Trip Verified | Hamilton to Abbotsford. A wooden bench to sit on would be an upgrade. Gives new meaning to the term All A-'Board'. I used to think Air Transat in the USA was the worst airline I'd ever flown. My $250 one way flight turned into $900 with an error they refused to fix. One passenger slept across many benches in the waiting section and woke up only to remove his shoes. Almost lost my breakfast. Entertainment system was broken. This cheapskate airline is a total embarrassment to Westjet and Alberta.

✅ Trip Verified | This is my very first experience with Swoop and already a very bad one. I just used my regular carry one case, which I have been using many times in other airlines such as Air Canada and Westjet. However, they did not allow my carry one in even though I have fully paid for it. They even not accepted the credit, that I have paid for the Carry one, to be applied to the newly incurred charge of $42 (for checked bag at the time of boarding). It's totally outrageous. I know you would say, cheap ticket, even cheaper customer service. I guess this is my first and last experience with Swoop.

✅ Trip Verified | The pricing was amazing. The pricing was amazing and the cost to check a bag was comparable to other airlines when I booked my flight ($260 round trip with a checked bag there and back!). The staff were very friendly and I had no issues with either flight. Both flights were on-time or very close to on-time. They offered free inflight entertainment for the summer as a promo which was great but did cut out a bit throughout the flight. A heads up that they only accept major credit cards for inflight purchases. I can see connecting flights being an issue as other customers experienced. I don't think I would book a connecting flight due to the limited time options and that there is no guarantee it will depart or arrive on time. Check in was easy online and like any airline you need to adhere to their strict check in times so I made sure to arrive early in case there was any issue. The seats are small but again they are trying to get as many people on as possible to give a discount. If you need more room pay the extra for more space. I hope they stay in business in the long-term as it is great option for those of us who are fine with no frill flying so they can take the trips within Canada they want to without breaking the bank.

✅ Trip Verified | Abbotsford to Hamilton. We really enjoyed our flight. We booked early and chose the cheapest seats and to our surprise, we had double the leg room. I have always had a stop in Calgary trying to save money and swoop was a direct flight-cutting down travel time by 2 hours. Luggage arrived in good condition. You get what you paid for- we brought our own water bottles so didn’t need any beverage service. Staff was friendly and flight was smooth!

✅ Trip Verified | Hamilton to Halifax. I have flown a lot, and never have I been treated so terribly. I was unable to check in online due to a computer system error and we arrived 5 minutes late for the 45 minute check in at the airport. We had no bags to be checked and apologized that we were not there at the 45 minute mark. A stewardess was so nice and said it was no problem; the flight is delayed because they just waited 20 minutes for passengers on the incoming flight because "we don't leave any passengers behind". (Please mind you the Hamilton airport takes 5 minutes to get threw security). A pilot came out from the incoming flight and told us he couldn't get us through - another passenger came after us and they helped her get threw because she checked in online but would not help us. I called customer service and the lady was extremely rude telling me it was all my fault. I told her I understood we had just missed the 45 minute mark but we had a 9 month baby at home who did not have a place to stay tonight. She was rude, but said she would change the system only this one time so we could board. She heard the other late passenger being helped and said "oh it looks like you are being taken care of so I don't need to help you". The supervisor at the airport refused to let us through security and told us to call the call center only after the plane was fully boarded. She showed no compassion and told us we should have been on time. I called customer service back and they said they charge low prices so there would be no compensation or help rebooking a flight. After telling them how uncompassionate they were for only being flying for a few days they told us they would send one of us home the next day, and the other 6 days later. We told them that was unacceptable and they said "that is your choice". We ended up not getting any compensation or help rebooking. We paid 700$ for another flight with another airline so we could get home to our daughter at Pearson Airport. Moral of this very long story is do not fly with this airline. If you have uncontrollable circumstances such as traffic, which is common in the area, they will not allow you to board or help you to get home.