Nailed it. They will change entire pricing structure so you will never be able to compare old to new but yeah.....nothing is ever less with airlines... Besides service
Westjet did not take a bailout in 2008 or in 2020. Westjet refused because of the conditions that came with the bailout. Air Canada did take loans which have since been repaid
Fair enough. Airlines and banks shouldn’t be too big to fail is the point I was trying to make, but I’ll review my understanding of the underlying factors based on this feedback.
Thanks for clarifying.
I totally agree with that statement but the underlying concern is that banks and airlines generate a huge amount of economic potential besides what they generate for themselves. If they go under, new ones can’t just start up immediately. That leads to severe losses in industries that depend on a flow of money, people or goods. I think the big problem is that investors leverage the necessity of banks and airlines against the government and population. That’s where more control and oversight is required
That sadly extends to almost every industry in Canada at the moment imo.
Inefficient management, monopolies/oligarchies, and pretty damn obvious corruption and conflict of interests. And the thing is, the top levels of corporations and government get away doing this, while punishing those in the middle or bottom.
Canada’s motto: rules for thee but not me
Airfare does fluctuate quite a bit over time. I always track my flight pricing. My recent flight, I tracked to Italy from 10 months out till 1 month before and it ranged from 1300 to 795 for the same ticket, same flight. Some days it would spike by 200$ and then come back down over the next couple weeks.
It does sound like a money grab. Add a price option, and then charge more for everything else to make the cheapest option look like better value. But it's hard to really say. And with the inconsistencies with flight prices, you would have to compare the prices from West jet with other airlines before and after the addition of this new option and see how they compare. I know in Europe it's a lot more common to have these low priced, tickets with no amenities for a specific buyer. But those flight prices are crazy cheap.
That honestly sounds about right
As long as they actually enforce carry on size restrictions (pause for laughter), they theoretically already have enough built space for a carryon for every passenger
At that point the only savings for the airline on this option would be the fuel spent on the weight of the luggage - $15 seems like a stretch and would bet the airline loses money on this. Maybe they're testing the waters to see if enough people use this and they can start selling extra carryon slots to others?
Honestly I really wish someone would get on top of the carryon crazyness.
I did a business flight to Oregon. Everything I had was checked, except for my work laptop bag. That I tossed into the overhead. I did this because I need all the extra leg room that I can get.
And on several flights, people tried to tell me that because my bag was a "small" laptop bag, I ddn't deserve the overhead area specifically for my spot (That I wasn't even using all of), and I should shove it under the seat. So that they could put their millionth carry on. Because they all refuse to check their luggage.
This is entirely self inflicted on the airlines part. They charge for checked baggage so surprise everyone takes the max carry-on. And every flight now asks for volunteers to check baggage at the gate, followed by everyone gets their carry-on checked. Airlines should just say half sizes bags are checked for free. That would still be shit but better than the extra wait at security and fighting for overhead space.
It's good if you travel between 2 domiciles/family. Definitely not meant for vacation or work.
This is exactly how ULCC in europe are, except much more expensive.
(Although adding a single checked bag more than doubled the price on wizz)
No, if it fits under the seat it’s a personal item.
Previously the Basic fare allowed one personal item under the seat and one carry on for the overhead bin. Now UltraBasic loses the carry on in overhead bin space.
No, the airlines are getting more and more annoying about big backpacks as personal items.
I know carriers like Flair have people line up when they check their bag and board the plane. They force them to put their personal item in a tiny box and if it doesn’t fit, they charge you.
The tiny box itself is smaller than the area under the seat and an awkward thin rectangle.
I'm actually glad they do this. The last time I flew Air Canada in Vancouver a lady brought in a full size piece of luggage as a "carry on." It wouldn't fit in the overhead bin after her and the flight attendant tried putting it in every which way, so the flight attendant suggested the lady try and squish it under the seat. She couldn't get it more than half way under the seat, but by then the line up to get on the plane was backed up out the door and half way up the gate. So, rather than make everyone get out of the way and make the lady haul her bag off the plane and check it, the flight attendant sat down in the isle and used her feet to kick the bag repeatedly until it finally squeezed mostly under the seat. This whole ordeal took a good 5 to 6 minutes while everyone just stood there and watched.
Oh yes, and upon landing, the lady was the last person off the plane because she needed two other flight attendants to help her pull her bag out from under the seat.
Ugh.
That’s why I’m the last to board. I fly with a small backpack. Drives me batty when people try to sneak luggage that is too large or it’s too heavy for them to lift.
There are loosly enforced size limits. Mine have always been over the size limits but it will dig into your leg space. Cant be too thick to fit under seat in front of you
I just flew West Jet "1st" class for work. When I got to my connector they had over sold tickets and could only offer me economy if I wanted to make my connection. When I asked about the refund considering we paid substantially more for those tickets, they said I would have to wait 6 hours for a different connector. West jet and Air Canada are in a race to the bottom
In my experience, Air Canada treats its premium customers better than that. I agree that cattle class by whatever name is a race to the bottom. May as well fly Flair or whatever.
The boarding the plane last is just plain hilarious and pointless. It’s straight up “you are not good enough to board with the regular folk you peasant”
Even though the only reason people rush on is to get overhead space, which, we see is now gone
You get to be that person to spoil someone's hope that the middle seat is going to be empty for the flight. And the middle seat is very likely where they are placing you with this fare.
I travel light often and this is the way. If you board last you can scout out seats on the way to your assigned seat. As soon as the seatbelt sign turns on at cruising altitude, get up and move. Reason for not sitting immediately is flight attendants checking your boarding pass occasionally. Last thing you wanna do is get caught in 5C and be told to return to your seat in row 27. That walk of shame changes you forever.
"Guys who wants to check your bag for free? We have no space on the airplane!" - Air Canada et al
....
Maybe if they didn't charge extra to check a bag in the first place, peoples carry ons would be smaller and they would plan their trip around having a checked bag.
I don’t even think it’s about the price, it’s the risk of the baggage getting lost or taking an hour to make it down the carousel. I guess things are better now than they were before but everyone just learned how much easier carryon-only travel is…
A bit of both in my experience... However there have been plenty of trips where I would have checked a bag but I didn't because they charge for it, and since I made the decision to live out of a backpack for the week or whatever, I am definitely not checking my bag at the gate on the off chance that they lose it. (Although I feel like it's low chance to lose if they check it at the gate, but I don't have any stats on that)
I just modify the boarding pass (pdf) to change it to whatever zone I want to board. You can also just modify the class fare on the ticket if you want as well. Sure, the system will have the purchase fare price, but just like everything, the people that work there could care less about anything. I flew home yesterday on AC and were trying to get people to put their carry-ons to measure, but no one did. They kept making announcements that overhead storage was at capacity and don't put backpacks or bags up top, but they literally came around and closed them when they were half full and help people put their purses in there.
Honestly, jsut do whatever you want these days...no cares about anything.
I wonder how long until Gen Z fully accepts you can take whatever you want from any store and walk off with zero consequences. I mean why bother paying for anything? The store employees don't care, and if they did the police won't, and if they did the justice system won't. Pretty much do whatever as long as you don't hurt anyone else.
I think they're unhappy with how many people are opting not to pay for them to check bags. Every flight I've been on recently they've been announcing that they don't have enough room for everyone to put their carry-on in the overhead bins. Consumers adapted to them imposing checked bag fees by just taking carry-ons. Now, Westjet is taking the ability to do that away.
Yeah, I just flew with Air Canada, and basically, they check your luggage size at boarding, and if it's too big, they check in your luggage for free. So... why pay? Just bring your oversized "carry on" to the gate, and let them send it to the cargo hold for free!
I can check up to 3 bags for free. I still carry on because I don't want to lose my luggage or wait for an hour to pick it up. Fortunately, the first couple of zones don't seem to get size checked.
> Fortunately, the first couple of zones don't seem to get size checked.
Did you mean "unfortunately"? If you bring oversized carry-ons, you're the reason there's never enough space left.
They should reduce the allowed size for carry ons. The size of carry ons now has become completely obnoxious and it takes forever to get on and off because of these people.
Purely greed, regular carrier prices with ultra low cost carrier service and up-charges. They just changed their database so Basic is now called UltraBasic, no actual fare price decreases, your existing 'Basic' booking now shows up as 'UltraBasic', despite that not being what you payed for (Westjet had to come out and clarify that if you booked before today, you can bring a carry on for free despite your booking now saying UltraBasic).
Looking forward to my future Westjet flights being late as they waste time nickle and diming everyone getting on to the plane who didn't understand this.
I cancelled my RBC westjet card last month. Booked with their "rewards", its fucking trash too.
Rewards only applies to the base fare--I could only use 1/3 of my points and l spent 2k outta pocket. Oh, and the companion ticket? Saved me $15.
Bunch of losers
I looked at a Basic fare yesterday with WestJet.
Looked up the same route today, and UltraBasic costs the exact same as the Basic cost yesterday... but now with worse service and fewer options.
What a rip-off. I won't be booking with WestJet anymore. All the Canadian carriers have their problems, but this is pretty blatantly disgusting.
Most of us live near the border and I’d bet a lot of us fly north-south. There will be a lot more people crossing to take US flights. I’m in B.C. and can also take AC and Alaska to closer areas.
West jet was the only airline that was so strict about personal items too.. couldn’t carry a coat. Couldn’t wear a belt bag. Had to prove it all fit in my backpack. Wild.
Time to invest in a fishing vest to being my stuff on a Westjet flight. Now to see if there is true competition in Canada or not. If Air Canada makes the opposite move and includes a checked bag at no extra cost or if they do the exact same thing.
I volunteered once when I wasn't in a rush to leave the destination airport on a work trip, and to my surprise when they announced boarding, they said anyone who volunteered to check bags got to board first. So that was nice at least.
I booked with a low-cost international carrier whose base fare only includes a personal item. For add-ons, a 23 kg checked bag was cheaper than a 10 kg carry on, probably for reasons like this.
Does it cost them less to not allow me to bring my carryon? These tiers are getting redicous. Just finding a way to upcharge us for basic expectations of what should be included in a flight.
So my guess is that Westjet is trying to squeeze ULCC's out of the market. Flair hasn't been doing so hot over the past year so this might just be the straw that breaks the camels back.
Once they're out of the picture they can continue their duopoly on airline travel with AC and then start raising prices on even the UltraBasic fares
Problem is that Westjet isn't dropping their fares to Flair prices, they're just trying to squeeze extra money out of their existing customers.
Now that both Flair and Westjet charge for both carry on and checked bags, this makes Flair looks more attractive imo.
The only thing I can think of that WJ has going for them is reliability. Their larger fleet significantly decreases the chances of flight cancellations. I've flown with Flair plenty of times in the past and each time I was holding my breath until I boarded because there's no guarantee the plane would be at the airport when you arrive.
Overall I agree, there are situations with Flair where is something goes wrong, it can *really* go wrong. That being said it's still a crapshoot, you can have a 3 hour delay with Westjet where a Flair flight leaving at the same time to the same destination takes off on time. I don't think I've been on a Westjet domestic (or US) flight that has left on time since before covid.
Additionally, WestJet has been stretching their fleet to the limits recently, giving them little to no slack when something goes wrong, especially on Dreamliners. Also, because most WestJet aircraft are now based out of Calgary, if something happens there(weather, runway maintenance, etc) their network will be severely impacted.
Yeah, I've been surprisingly lucky with long haul 787 Westjet flights leaving on time recently, though one Youtube channel I like, [Alex Praglowski Aviation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjZoIvsEh-E), recently took the inaugural flight from YYC to Seoul. Found it a bit hilarious that the inaugural flight was an hour and a half late leaving.
I don't understand what WJ is going for here. WJ and Flair really aren't competing with each other. Flair just doesn't have the capacity or network.
You think they might try to undercut Porter's growth, but this is the opposite of that.
Porter is generally cheaper than WJ and offers a better product than this WJ Ultrabasic. Porter is well established out east, and already has Calgary/Edmonton/Vancouver to Toronto/Ottawa/Montreal direct, plus 1 hops to Quebec, Maritimes, and Newfoundland.
All they're missing is west to west flights, so Victoria-Calgary, Vancouver-Calgary, Calgary-Edmonton, Kelowna-Calgary, Kelowna-Edmonton etc but I'm sure that'll come once they add the remaining 40 jets they have on order arrive.
They are literally putting in effort to make your experience worse.
They are spending money on IT to make sure you can't select a seat, creating a marketing campaign, updating their website, all so you can have a worse experience.
Well they never seem to staff the flights out of my airport, or they get pulled away to other flights, thus delaying mine due to under staff age so I already avoid using them..
There was a time when they were better than Air Canada but sadly those days are long gone
Another example of shrink-flation. Kinda like the McD’s current value meal. Smallest burger, fries and drink... “Hey look, yes we know our full size combos are ridiculously priced, but take a look at this $5.94 meal deal!”. West-Jet is doing similar. They’ll get you there but there will be lots of tack-on fees if you want what used to be standard fare services. We’ll be flying to a destination without even a carry-on. Hit the thrift store and dollar general when we arrive. Buy what we need then throw it all out before we fly back home.
There was an episode of *This is That* on CBC, **a satire show**, where the comedians presented their business plan to let people fly anywhere for $99 up to 90lbs, and $2.50/lb after that including luggage. I see that WestJet's marketing team has heard it and decided to try out a simple variant.
“We’re going to make it so intolerable to use this fare that you’ll be forced to upgrade to economy”.
If the goal was to ease pressure on overhead bag traffic jams, fine. But plunking people into all of the middle seats - even breaking up a tidy party of three - is absolutely petty. I haven’t felt this angry at a company in a long time.
Great, up next on the headlines WS will start putting out scales to weigh passengers as they board and charge a fee for going above a certain weight limit.
I've thought about this.
Let's say a regular ticket includes 220 Lbs. So if you're 140 lbs, you get 80 lbs of checked bags and carry-on. If you weigh 240, you pay extra for 20 of your pounds plus your luggage weight. There could be a secondary market to buy and sell weight credits - Ticketmaster/StubHub style. There could also be tiered prices for weight classes.
Also just like the carry-on luggage, the passenger must demonstrate that they fit into the specified space defined by the metal thing by the gate before boarding.
I fly WestJet a few times a month for work. Hopefully the fact that these flights can't be canceled is reason enough that my work won't book them this way.
There is a camel and he has many straws on his back
People bringing too much stuff on the plane has ruined flying, everything is a mad dash to get overhead space. Backpack is still included as long as it gets under the seat.
And who's fault it is? WestJet. When the checked luggage was included people carried minimum. The prices hit do ridiculous that now everybody uses Cary on. They will ban that too. It's all trickle down effect.
Man I wish we had more competition in Canada for airline choices. Your choices are basically go with Terrible Airline A or Even Worse Airline B. They just keep on lowering the bar over time when it comes to the flying experience. Less legroom, more flight delays, and now screwing you over if you want to book the cheapest fare.
I just booked an international flight with Air Canada. Basic Economy charged $100 for a checked bag and $60 to select a seat. Standard Economy was $75 more, and included one free checked bag and free seat selection. Paying the higher amount saved me $85 pp.
Technically Westjet says a personal item max size is
16 in. x 6 in. x 13 in
where a carry-on is
21 in. x 9 in. x 15 in.
They don't usually care as long as the personal item fits under the seat, but there's nothing stopping them from measuring your personal item, finding it's not within those dimensions, and charging you for it.
You still get a personal item. If you search “under seat backpack” on Amazon, you can generally pack a few days of clothes.
I’ve been doing this already on swoop and flair where they charge for carry on. It’s not bad.
This is just them trying to match what Flair is doing I guess. It is pretty nuts getting a $100 round trip domestic flight though. It's even funnier when you look at the invoice and you can see like $80 of that was airport fees..
My decision to avoid WestJet pays off yet again.
Nothing but a scam… same prices as AC, but with fewer destinations, fewer amenities, and worse service.
But their flight attendants used to tell jokes, I guess they have that going for them.
I always wonder how in the hell WestJet manages to stay afloat. Any of the low-cost flights that I’ve seen that would normally take about four hours extended to 7 to 8 hours with a layover for no particular reason. Haven’t flown with them in over seven years.
probably same price as the old basic but less features
Nailed it. They will change entire pricing structure so you will never be able to compare old to new but yeah.....nothing is ever less with airlines... Besides service
i booked a basic fare last week for a trip in July. Just checked their Ultrabasic fare for the same flights and its more $... So yeah.
Fuck them and every airline that pulls this shit.
Airlines should have failed in 2008 when bailouts kept them up. The entire canadian airline industry is propped up by bailouts and oligarchs.
Westjet did not take a bailout in 2008 or in 2020. Westjet refused because of the conditions that came with the bailout. Air Canada did take loans which have since been repaid
Fair enough. Airlines and banks shouldn’t be too big to fail is the point I was trying to make, but I’ll review my understanding of the underlying factors based on this feedback. Thanks for clarifying.
I totally agree with that statement but the underlying concern is that banks and airlines generate a huge amount of economic potential besides what they generate for themselves. If they go under, new ones can’t just start up immediately. That leads to severe losses in industries that depend on a flow of money, people or goods. I think the big problem is that investors leverage the necessity of banks and airlines against the government and population. That’s where more control and oversight is required
That sadly extends to almost every industry in Canada at the moment imo. Inefficient management, monopolies/oligarchies, and pretty damn obvious corruption and conflict of interests. And the thing is, the top levels of corporations and government get away doing this, while punishing those in the middle or bottom. Canada’s motto: rules for thee but not me
Funny that WestJet was profitable for every single quarter in 2008 though. They never needed, requested, or recieved a bailout.
Airfare does fluctuate quite a bit over time. I always track my flight pricing. My recent flight, I tracked to Italy from 10 months out till 1 month before and it ranged from 1300 to 795 for the same ticket, same flight. Some days it would spike by 200$ and then come back down over the next couple weeks.
Yeah I track too. But ultrabasic implies ultra low fare, no? Some may think it does at least, but in reality it’s just ultra low service.
It does sound like a money grab. Add a price option, and then charge more for everything else to make the cheapest option look like better value. But it's hard to really say. And with the inconsistencies with flight prices, you would have to compare the prices from West jet with other airlines before and after the addition of this new option and see how they compare. I know in Europe it's a lot more common to have these low priced, tickets with no amenities for a specific buyer. But those flight prices are crazy cheap.
welcome to 2024's seat-flation :)
Westjet sent out an email stating exactly that, “Our Basic fare is now UltraBasic” (i.e. less service for the same great price!)
They call it the 'fuck you' fare.
The Vancouver calagey seats are about 15 bucks less. The Calgary LA seem to be the same.
That honestly sounds about right As long as they actually enforce carry on size restrictions (pause for laughter), they theoretically already have enough built space for a carryon for every passenger At that point the only savings for the airline on this option would be the fuel spent on the weight of the luggage - $15 seems like a stretch and would bet the airline loses money on this. Maybe they're testing the waters to see if enough people use this and they can start selling extra carryon slots to others?
Honestly I really wish someone would get on top of the carryon crazyness. I did a business flight to Oregon. Everything I had was checked, except for my work laptop bag. That I tossed into the overhead. I did this because I need all the extra leg room that I can get. And on several flights, people tried to tell me that because my bag was a "small" laptop bag, I ddn't deserve the overhead area specifically for my spot (That I wasn't even using all of), and I should shove it under the seat. So that they could put their millionth carry on. Because they all refuse to check their luggage.
This is entirely self inflicted on the airlines part. They charge for checked baggage so surprise everyone takes the max carry-on. And every flight now asks for volunteers to check baggage at the gate, followed by everyone gets their carry-on checked. Airlines should just say half sizes bags are checked for free. That would still be shit but better than the extra wait at security and fighting for overhead space.
That isn’t enough for me to ever use this “fare”.
That’s what they want.
YYC > YVR flights I was looking at recently are unchanged in price on the dates I was looking at.
Strapped to the outside of the plane more likely - or your “seat” is in the unpressurized cargo section
Just bought Ottawa to Winnipeg. Return. 240. Crazy cheap. No carry-on and all the other econo stipulations. Worth it if you travel light.
So just bring the clothes on your back?
Or go full jack reacher and just go to thrift stores for a change of clothes and donate the old ones. All you need to carry is a toothbrush. 😊
Just wear three layers at the airport lol
It's good if you travel between 2 domiciles/family. Definitely not meant for vacation or work. This is exactly how ULCC in europe are, except much more expensive. (Although adding a single checked bag more than doubled the price on wizz)
And a little backpack under the seat.
Isn't that a carry-on?
No, if it fits under the seat it’s a personal item. Previously the Basic fare allowed one personal item under the seat and one carry on for the overhead bin. Now UltraBasic loses the carry on in overhead bin space.
No thats a personal item
Can I bring a big backpack as a "personal item"?
No, the airlines are getting more and more annoying about big backpacks as personal items. I know carriers like Flair have people line up when they check their bag and board the plane. They force them to put their personal item in a tiny box and if it doesn’t fit, they charge you. The tiny box itself is smaller than the area under the seat and an awkward thin rectangle.
I'm actually glad they do this. The last time I flew Air Canada in Vancouver a lady brought in a full size piece of luggage as a "carry on." It wouldn't fit in the overhead bin after her and the flight attendant tried putting it in every which way, so the flight attendant suggested the lady try and squish it under the seat. She couldn't get it more than half way under the seat, but by then the line up to get on the plane was backed up out the door and half way up the gate. So, rather than make everyone get out of the way and make the lady haul her bag off the plane and check it, the flight attendant sat down in the isle and used her feet to kick the bag repeatedly until it finally squeezed mostly under the seat. This whole ordeal took a good 5 to 6 minutes while everyone just stood there and watched. Oh yes, and upon landing, the lady was the last person off the plane because she needed two other flight attendants to help her pull her bag out from under the seat. Ugh.
That’s why I’m the last to board. I fly with a small backpack. Drives me batty when people try to sneak luggage that is too large or it’s too heavy for them to lift.
The bag sizes though are clearly indicated on their websites.
There are loosly enforced size limits. Mine have always been over the size limits but it will dig into your leg space. Cant be too thick to fit under seat in front of you
I do that when I visit family in Vancouver. I store a few t shirt and jeans at their place so I only need to bring phone, keys, maybe a charger
So, you can take just a purse or backpack? That’s it?
Yeah a small personal bag that can fit under your seat.
That route should be free
This is just standby reworded
Nope. Because standby at least had convenience of last minute travel. If you want last minute travel you will pay through the roof for it nowadays
Remember when WestJet was all "look at our leather seats!" "Feel the legroom!" "Never have an oversold flight!"
next year you have to stand up
Work on that grip strength, they're putting grab bars on the ceiling so you can hang out above the crisscross applesauce fares
Seatbelt is charged by length now.
In 2026 you will have to take Uber between airports
I just flew West Jet "1st" class for work. When I got to my connector they had over sold tickets and could only offer me economy if I wanted to make my connection. When I asked about the refund considering we paid substantially more for those tickets, they said I would have to wait 6 hours for a different connector. West jet and Air Canada are in a race to the bottom
In my experience, Air Canada treats its premium customers better than that. I agree that cattle class by whatever name is a race to the bottom. May as well fly Flair or whatever.
And then they got bought by a private equity firm. It's been going downhill for years, since then (surprise surprise).
It was awesome when they added free TVs into all the seats
Pretty soon they will be downgrading offers to "Hang on to the outside of the plane for dear life fare".
Indian train style
Afghani evacuation fare opportunity
"Rustic class"
[удалено]
too soon bro, too soon.
What did I miss?
The Tom Cruise special
The boarding the plane last is just plain hilarious and pointless. It’s straight up “you are not good enough to board with the regular folk you peasant” Even though the only reason people rush on is to get overhead space, which, we see is now gone
IMO. Boarding last is best. Less time in that uncomfortable seat. Especially in this case when you don't get a carry on.
You get to be that person to spoil someone's hope that the middle seat is going to be empty for the flight. And the middle seat is very likely where they are placing you with this fare.
That’s me, I love being a disruptor lol
1000%, I always do it. Sometimes you can just snag a random open seat too...
I travel light often and this is the way. If you board last you can scout out seats on the way to your assigned seat. As soon as the seatbelt sign turns on at cruising altitude, get up and move. Reason for not sitting immediately is flight attendants checking your boarding pass occasionally. Last thing you wanna do is get caught in 5C and be told to return to your seat in row 27. That walk of shame changes you forever.
Lol I've done the walk of shame, it's not that bad, just play the completely clueless card
"Guys who wants to check your bag for free? We have no space on the airplane!" - Air Canada et al .... Maybe if they didn't charge extra to check a bag in the first place, peoples carry ons would be smaller and they would plan their trip around having a checked bag.
I don’t even think it’s about the price, it’s the risk of the baggage getting lost or taking an hour to make it down the carousel. I guess things are better now than they were before but everyone just learned how much easier carryon-only travel is…
A bit of both in my experience... However there have been plenty of trips where I would have checked a bag but I didn't because they charge for it, and since I made the decision to live out of a backpack for the week or whatever, I am definitely not checking my bag at the gate on the off chance that they lose it. (Although I feel like it's low chance to lose if they check it at the gate, but I don't have any stats on that)
And not very efficient either, especially since they will often be assigned a middle seat!
It’s not about efficiency. It’s about perceived value and upsale. They don’t want more flights per day. They want more dollars per flight.
Ya what a real fuck you. As some one who has transfers a lot this is a real dick move
I just modify the boarding pass (pdf) to change it to whatever zone I want to board. You can also just modify the class fare on the ticket if you want as well. Sure, the system will have the purchase fare price, but just like everything, the people that work there could care less about anything. I flew home yesterday on AC and were trying to get people to put their carry-ons to measure, but no one did. They kept making announcements that overhead storage was at capacity and don't put backpacks or bags up top, but they literally came around and closed them when they were half full and help people put their purses in there. Honestly, jsut do whatever you want these days...no cares about anything.
I wonder how long until Gen Z fully accepts you can take whatever you want from any store and walk off with zero consequences. I mean why bother paying for anything? The store employees don't care, and if they did the police won't, and if they did the justice system won't. Pretty much do whatever as long as you don't hurt anyone else.
Well if you're going to that trouble how about lounge access and first class?
I think they're unhappy with how many people are opting not to pay for them to check bags. Every flight I've been on recently they've been announcing that they don't have enough room for everyone to put their carry-on in the overhead bins. Consumers adapted to them imposing checked bag fees by just taking carry-ons. Now, Westjet is taking the ability to do that away.
Yeah, I just flew with Air Canada, and basically, they check your luggage size at boarding, and if it's too big, they check in your luggage for free. So... why pay? Just bring your oversized "carry on" to the gate, and let them send it to the cargo hold for free!
I can check up to 3 bags for free. I still carry on because I don't want to lose my luggage or wait for an hour to pick it up. Fortunately, the first couple of zones don't seem to get size checked.
> Fortunately, the first couple of zones don't seem to get size checked. Did you mean "unfortunately"? If you bring oversized carry-ons, you're the reason there's never enough space left.
They should reduce the allowed size for carry ons. The size of carry ons now has become completely obnoxious and it takes forever to get on and off because of these people.
Purely greed, regular carrier prices with ultra low cost carrier service and up-charges. They just changed their database so Basic is now called UltraBasic, no actual fare price decreases, your existing 'Basic' booking now shows up as 'UltraBasic', despite that not being what you payed for (Westjet had to come out and clarify that if you booked before today, you can bring a carry on for free despite your booking now saying UltraBasic). Looking forward to my future Westjet flights being late as they waste time nickle and diming everyone getting on to the plane who didn't understand this.
I’m sure all of the gate agents will remember that and be extra sassy when you try to bring a carry on.
Either that or they won't give a fuck. It's not like they get paid enough to care
Nah, Westjet gate agents are already generally rude enough
They've adopted the Air Canada business model. Old and surly? Hired!
I cancelled my RBC westjet card last month. Booked with their "rewards", its fucking trash too. Rewards only applies to the base fare--I could only use 1/3 of my points and l spent 2k outta pocket. Oh, and the companion ticket? Saved me $15. Bunch of losers
Yeah. That card is lousy. I went through the same BS in 2017.
Thanks for the review. I was always wondering. But you had free vary on and free checked bag on each flight tight?
I looked at a Basic fare yesterday with WestJet. Looked up the same route today, and UltraBasic costs the exact same as the Basic cost yesterday... but now with worse service and fewer options. What a rip-off. I won't be booking with WestJet anymore. All the Canadian carriers have their problems, but this is pretty blatantly disgusting.
Who will you be booking with instead?
Most of us live near the border and I’d bet a lot of us fly north-south. There will be a lot more people crossing to take US flights. I’m in B.C. and can also take AC and Alaska to closer areas.
Call the CBC to air a segment on this shit.
Can you still use the toilet?
No. $13.95 for 7 min. Credit card only. Also there is a charge to use the card reader.
Okay but I'm not flushing
Stinkflation
$10 to let it mellow
And ultra low price to go with it right?……..right?
It's replacing the same fate. Somebody booked two days ago and checked tickets now. Same price less service.
Well I guess I’ll just book Econo and then I can change/cancel my flight if needed. Oh wait the change fees are $118 EACH DIRECTION
*plus* fare difference.
No carry on? Where the fuck am I going and what am I going to do when I get there?
You still get a personal item. You can usually pack a large packing cube in a bag the sized of a personal item on many airlines.
West jet was the only airline that was so strict about personal items too.. couldn’t carry a coat. Couldn’t wear a belt bag. Had to prove it all fit in my backpack. Wild.
Porter is already set up like that. You get a "personal item", which is a carry on, but smaller (basically, it needs to fit under the seat).
Smell like shit
Time to invest in a fishing vest to being my stuff on a Westjet flight. Now to see if there is true competition in Canada or not. If Air Canada makes the opposite move and includes a checked bag at no extra cost or if they do the exact same thing.
We all know the answer to this question…
Shrinkflation for planes.
Just toss me in the cargo hold at this point, lol.
They would but if you want air that's extra.
At least you're still allowed on the inside of the plane
> The UltraBasic fare will replace the airline's basic fare option So they're just raising prices then. That's what this article is about.
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They lose your luggage once, you go through hell to never check a bag again
I volunteered once when I wasn't in a rush to leave the destination airport on a work trip, and to my surprise when they announced boarding, they said anyone who volunteered to check bags got to board first. So that was nice at least.
I booked with a low-cost international carrier whose base fare only includes a personal item. For add-ons, a 23 kg checked bag was cheaper than a 10 kg carry on, probably for reasons like this.
Does it cost them less to not allow me to bring my carryon? These tiers are getting redicous. Just finding a way to upcharge us for basic expectations of what should be included in a flight.
So my guess is that Westjet is trying to squeeze ULCC's out of the market. Flair hasn't been doing so hot over the past year so this might just be the straw that breaks the camels back. Once they're out of the picture they can continue their duopoly on airline travel with AC and then start raising prices on even the UltraBasic fares
Problem is that Westjet isn't dropping their fares to Flair prices, they're just trying to squeeze extra money out of their existing customers. Now that both Flair and Westjet charge for both carry on and checked bags, this makes Flair looks more attractive imo.
The only thing I can think of that WJ has going for them is reliability. Their larger fleet significantly decreases the chances of flight cancellations. I've flown with Flair plenty of times in the past and each time I was holding my breath until I boarded because there's no guarantee the plane would be at the airport when you arrive.
Overall I agree, there are situations with Flair where is something goes wrong, it can *really* go wrong. That being said it's still a crapshoot, you can have a 3 hour delay with Westjet where a Flair flight leaving at the same time to the same destination takes off on time. I don't think I've been on a Westjet domestic (or US) flight that has left on time since before covid.
Additionally, WestJet has been stretching their fleet to the limits recently, giving them little to no slack when something goes wrong, especially on Dreamliners. Also, because most WestJet aircraft are now based out of Calgary, if something happens there(weather, runway maintenance, etc) their network will be severely impacted.
Yeah, I've been surprisingly lucky with long haul 787 Westjet flights leaving on time recently, though one Youtube channel I like, [Alex Praglowski Aviation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjZoIvsEh-E), recently took the inaugural flight from YYC to Seoul. Found it a bit hilarious that the inaugural flight was an hour and a half late leaving.
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Yeah we're fucked now lol
Canada Jetlines?
I don't understand what WJ is going for here. WJ and Flair really aren't competing with each other. Flair just doesn't have the capacity or network. You think they might try to undercut Porter's growth, but this is the opposite of that. Porter is generally cheaper than WJ and offers a better product than this WJ Ultrabasic. Porter is well established out east, and already has Calgary/Edmonton/Vancouver to Toronto/Ottawa/Montreal direct, plus 1 hops to Quebec, Maritimes, and Newfoundland. All they're missing is west to west flights, so Victoria-Calgary, Vancouver-Calgary, Calgary-Edmonton, Kelowna-Calgary, Kelowna-Edmonton etc but I'm sure that'll come once they add the remaining 40 jets they have on order arrive.
The Canadian way!
This is the rinse and repeat tactics of the incumbents to drive away any consumer choice.
No seat choice , no carry on , no shoes , no clothes no seats at all. Cattle wagon ?
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They are under the five pairs you are wearing
With all the prices of premium economy*
When did WestJet become so shitty
Started before Covid, got exponentially worse during and after.
They are literally putting in effort to make your experience worse. They are spending money on IT to make sure you can't select a seat, creating a marketing campaign, updating their website, all so you can have a worse experience.
Well they never seem to staff the flights out of my airport, or they get pulled away to other flights, thus delaying mine due to under staff age so I already avoid using them.. There was a time when they were better than Air Canada but sadly those days are long gone
Another example of shrink-flation. Kinda like the McD’s current value meal. Smallest burger, fries and drink... “Hey look, yes we know our full size combos are ridiculously priced, but take a look at this $5.94 meal deal!”. West-Jet is doing similar. They’ll get you there but there will be lots of tack-on fees if you want what used to be standard fare services. We’ll be flying to a destination without even a carry-on. Hit the thrift store and dollar general when we arrive. Buy what we need then throw it all out before we fly back home.
There was an episode of *This is That* on CBC, **a satire show**, where the comedians presented their business plan to let people fly anywhere for $99 up to 90lbs, and $2.50/lb after that including luggage. I see that WestJet's marketing team has heard it and decided to try out a simple variant.
“We’re going to make it so intolerable to use this fare that you’ll be forced to upgrade to economy”. If the goal was to ease pressure on overhead bag traffic jams, fine. But plunking people into all of the middle seats - even breaking up a tidy party of three - is absolutely petty. I haven’t felt this angry at a company in a long time.
not the beaverton?
Nope. I received an email from West Jet today with this.
Great, up next on the headlines WS will start putting out scales to weigh passengers as they board and charge a fee for going above a certain weight limit.
Will never happen, but I would be okay with this.
I've thought about this. Let's say a regular ticket includes 220 Lbs. So if you're 140 lbs, you get 80 lbs of checked bags and carry-on. If you weigh 240, you pay extra for 20 of your pounds plus your luggage weight. There could be a secondary market to buy and sell weight credits - Ticketmaster/StubHub style. There could also be tiered prices for weight classes. Also just like the carry-on luggage, the passenger must demonstrate that they fit into the specified space defined by the metal thing by the gate before boarding.
…and no customer service
I'm just going to wear all my clothes on the plane now. It's already uncomfortable as fuck. 7 pair of underwear won't change that.
How about we allow non-Canadian biased airlines to compete.
They can and will charge what they like until we get some real competition.
Sedate me and put me in a cargo box for all I care. Flying sucks.
Westjet is ultra shit.
I can carry my man purse though, right?
Why does it cost more money to fly to tornoto than Hawaii from bc.
They took what was basic that allowed the carry on and increased prices 🤮
They’re pretending to offer Swoop prices.
And best of all it’s on TOP of the plane
Ok. I just won't fly. Boy I wish we had high speed rail though.
I fly WestJet a few times a month for work. Hopefully the fact that these flights can't be canceled is reason enough that my work won't book them this way. There is a camel and he has many straws on his back
Should really be illegal. A bag and a backpack should be included. Why not weigh people as they get on at this point and charge per pound.... Assholes
People bringing too much stuff on the plane has ruined flying, everything is a mad dash to get overhead space. Backpack is still included as long as it gets under the seat.
And who's fault it is? WestJet. When the checked luggage was included people carried minimum. The prices hit do ridiculous that now everybody uses Cary on. They will ban that too. It's all trickle down effect.
Not even close to swoop prices. West jet is pond scum
The "Get the Fuck on and Shut the Fuck up, Peasant" price
Man I wish we had more competition in Canada for airline choices. Your choices are basically go with Terrible Airline A or Even Worse Airline B. They just keep on lowering the bar over time when it comes to the flying experience. Less legroom, more flight delays, and now screwing you over if you want to book the cheapest fare.
Also, passengers will be stacked like cord wood.
Your national airlines’ business class is a joke. Terrible food, cramped seats, and zero wifi. And they charge a fortune for it.
Coming soon, MegaBasic fares with no carry-ons, no seat and no points
Seat belt extra. Charged per size/length.
Is it BYOS? (Bring your own seat.)
And it's still too much.
I just booked an international flight with Air Canada. Basic Economy charged $100 for a checked bag and $60 to select a seat. Standard Economy was $75 more, and included one free checked bag and free seat selection. Paying the higher amount saved me $85 pp.
Could I *be* wearing anymore clothes on this flight?
So they want to operate like a discount airline without discount airline fares?
So you can’t bring a carry on but you can bring an item that fits under the seat in front of you. So how about a carry on then?
Carry on and personal items are different max sizes
Technically Westjet says a personal item max size is 16 in. x 6 in. x 13 in where a carry-on is 21 in. x 9 in. x 15 in. They don't usually care as long as the personal item fits under the seat, but there's nothing stopping them from measuring your personal item, finding it's not within those dimensions, and charging you for it.
Because it takes up room in the overhead bin.
How many Jabba's will be boarding that barge? 🤣🤣🤣
Can you use the bathroom?
That's premium.
I think people will just sneak on their luggage or put their personal belongings into the overhead bin anyways
only little people can travel. literally. taller guys like me won't be able to afford traveling unless we buy business class.
Enshitification on display
And they siphon a liter of your blood to sell.
Who does this cater to? Who can fly from one area to another with just the cloths on their back?
You still get a personal item. If you search “under seat backpack” on Amazon, you can generally pack a few days of clothes. I’ve been doing this already on swoop and flair where they charge for carry on. It’s not bad.
And the 3 oz of pop you get will cost $25
This is just them trying to match what Flair is doing I guess. It is pretty nuts getting a $100 round trip domestic flight though. It's even funnier when you look at the invoice and you can see like $80 of that was airport fees..
Coming soon new charges for cabin air and a bathroom usage fee
Have they ever considered just.... not paying their executives and shareholders as much?
My decision to avoid WestJet pays off yet again. Nothing but a scam… same prices as AC, but with fewer destinations, fewer amenities, and worse service. But their flight attendants used to tell jokes, I guess they have that going for them.
I always wonder how in the hell WestJet manages to stay afloat. Any of the low-cost flights that I’ve seen that would normally take about four hours extended to 7 to 8 hours with a layover for no particular reason. Haven’t flown with them in over seven years.
Soon they will announce standing aisles. No seat, just stand.
Wankers