WestJet is undergoing quite a transformation at the moment. Historically they’ve been a low cost carrier, though going forward they seem to be going in two different directions:
Continue reading: WestJet Premium: Coming Fall 2018
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'A Divider' oh thank goodness! God forbid if I was made to visually share cabin space with the normal folk at the back of the aircraft
Looks like Westjet is following the Virgin Australia model as opposed to the Southwest model of its origin. I wonder if they'll launch their own lounges to go with their new premium in-flight product or if they'll stick to the contract lounges that most major Canadian airports have.
WestJet has committed to building lounges in Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver in domestic, transborder (US bound) and international departure areas. Most Canadians have argued WestJet lost the "LCC" moniker years ago. They cost pretty much the same as Air Canada and are morphing into a full service carrier more and more.
Westjet currently focuses its US transborder flights on vacation destinations. I wonder if with the Delta JV they'll start flying more routes to Delta hubs like Detroit, Minneapolis, Seattle, Atlanta and JFK... Also, does this presage an eventual application to Skyteam?
Minor point: Air Canada does have a more extensive route network relative to Westjet in almost every regard except in Western Canada. In the four western provinces, Westjet has a more thorough route network.
This is because Delta and WestJet have a pending joint-venture. WestJet needed to align its offering with Delta.
It's been funny watching Low-cost Carriers and Full-service carriers essentially trade places with each other over the last few years. LCC's starting with JetBlue have been introducing premium cabins and some are even building lounges and I think WestJet is the most prominent example of this. Meanwhile, mainline carriers are shrinking or outright eliminating premium cabins while introducing basic economy tickets.
With a house in Nova Scotia and a house in the South of France I'm delighted WestJet is now flying between Halifax and Paris. (Two weeks ago I flew Montpellier - Paris - Toronto - Halifax and my door-to-door travel time was almost exactly 24 hours...)
I'm a life-long fan of Air France (I still miss the Caravelles!) but I'll be saying au revoir to the French carrier and crossing the pond on WestJet - no matter what kind of service they offer. It will cut my travel time n half.
WestJet left the ranks of 'low-cost-carriers' long ago. During the last year alone I have compared their domestic and Canada-US flights against Air Canada and have yet to find one instance where WestJet was less. In two instances, WJ was almost double the fares on comparable AC flights! This was especially so when comparing WestJet 'Plus' versus true, full service, comfortable seat Business Class on Air Canada.
Westjet has always focused on the Toronto market with its pricing. In the west Air Canada has won the price battle - or Alaska on southern flights. The other problem was its lack of premium seating and lack of any frequent flyer program of any value.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if Westjet and Aeroplan were to form an alliance in 2020. With the new premium cabins I will consider Westjet if they have a reasonable FF program, but not until.
I have also considered flying with airlines that are using Westjet as a feeder. But I am not willing to pay a J price for a long flight that includes 5 hours in a WJ Y cabin. No bloody way. But with the new cabins I can see flying Condor or Cathay etc with WJ as a feeder.
Oops, someone in marketing jumped the gun when they moved their 2nd Quarter call ahead one week 😉
Hello Can you do an updated story about this? The have re-named it to premium from plus, but nothing has changed on the planes. The cost has gone up, but still same old crappy seats with the middle one blocked and crappy food and again they have raised the price of the so called premium seats. Here it is nearly the end of 2019 and no changes have been made, maybe asking west jet to explain themselves would be a good story.