WestJet Rewards - Seat Selection on 3rd Party Bookings

Trying to book a one-way ex-US (looks like i'm going to be flying AC or UA on the way down), WestJet.com is quoting me in USD, and just to top it off, it's about $20 more/pp than the CDN price on Travelocity.ca

I've never booked a WestJet flight from any site other than their website, but on a 4 hour flight I prefer to pay extra for a exit row seat - is this possible to do if you book anywhere other than the WestJet site?

Otherwise i'll just have to eat the $20 + Currency Conversion and book on WestJet's site.

I don't know the answer to your question about whether or not you can buy the exit row seat if you purchase through a third party--it might be worth calling the reservation number to see what they say.

I strongly recommend that you complain about the website charging in USD for one-ways ex-US when you buy from Canada. I wrote a complaint about that recently and got a very nice reply stating that they would pass along my concerns to the marketing people. The people that do that the more likely that they are to make the change. It isn't hard at all to have a website charge in various currencies, based on purchasing country.

I will be sure to send them an email.

As for calling, I wonder if they can book it in CAD for me over the phone? I'll give them a call in a bit once my plans are concrete.

As for calling, I wonder if they can book it in CAD for me over the phone?

Logic would suggest yes, but logic doesn't always apply in airline world. :rolleyes:

I will be sure to send them an email.

As for calling, I wonder if they can book it in CAD for me over the phone? I'll give them a call in a bit once my plans are concrete.

ex-US pricing in USD explained in this thread (currently about 1/2 way down the 1st page on this forum).

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/westjet-frequent-guest/1168546-us-departures-booked-usd.html

WestJet's website really is a joke... the only reason i'm even in this mess in the first place is because they don't have a Multi-City/Open Jaw option like practically every other airline in the world does... Trying to go YYZ-FLL and then FLL-YOW.

Oh well. If this wasn't a flight during the holiday season i'd be willing to play the WestJet Seat Lotto, but i'm pretty sure it'll be sold out and don't want a middle seat. Going to have to pay in USD I guess...

Don't know why the OP is complaining. If u buy it in US dollars you don't pay
hst, and skip a bunch of the silly canadian taxes. The ticket is priced as a one way from the US. I often buy 2 one ways to save the taxes and some of the fees.

Don't know why the OP is complaining. If u buy it in US dollars you don't pay
hst, and skip a bunch of the silly canadian taxes. The ticket is priced as a one way from the US. I often buy 2 one ways to save the taxes and some of the fees.

This is incorrect. Non-stops from the US when booked one-way have exactly the same taxes [correction: in some cases, as below, the taxes and fees are higher for such flights] as when booked as a segment on a round trip ex-Canada. No GST/HST is charged on that segment either way. The price for the segment is identical except that it is charged in USD if you book it as a one-way, which for most people means that they have to pay their credit card's currency conversion charge.

Here is an example: on a YVR-LAX-YVR roundtrip, the LAX-YVR segment (WS 1697) is $258.99 CAD, US taxes and fees are $23.08, total is $182.07 CAD; on a one-way booking, LAX-YVR (WS 1697), the cost is $259 USD, US taxes and fees are $30.13, total is $289.13 USD.

Why the US taxes and fees are higher on a one-way is mysterious. In any case, GST/HST is not charged on that segment however it is booked, and the charge is in USD on on the one way.

I've also noticed in many cases (though I can't speak for Westjet in particular, since I rarely check them for non-domestic itineraries), airlines are actually charging a higher base fare in USD (AC, UA, US, CO all come to mind) on many of the transborder routes i've looked at over the last 3 or 4 months.

In this particular case, booking on Travelocity or TravelCUTS website in CAD is $10 less per person than the USD price on WestJet's site (and that's before taking seat selection in to account).

I know that WestJet claims that some travel agents are able to sell you a seat assignment at time of booking, maybe I'll check a few of them near me. TravelCUTS doesn't seem to charge a booking fee, though i've only ever booked with them on Student-Only fares which nobody else seems to sell, so it's possible they have the fare built in.

WestJet's website really is a joke... the only reason i'm even in this mess in the first place is because they don't have a Multi-City/Open Jaw option like practically every other airline in the world does... Trying to go YYZ-FLL and then FLL-YOW.

Oh well. If this wasn't a flight during the holiday season i'd be willing to play the WestJet Seat Lotto, but i'm pretty sure it'll be sold out and don't want a middle seat. Going to have to pay in USD I guess...

WJ used to have the multi-city option before they "upgraded" to Sabre. I am sure it is something they are not happy about either!

:(

WJ used to have the multi-city option before they "upgraded" to Sabre. I am sure it is something they are not happy about either!

:(

I've complained repeatedly to the local airline/tour co. rep. about the lack of an OJ/Multicity option and they couldn't seem to care. Multiple booking numbers for multiple segments is a multiple pain in the butt.

Wow, it looks like this thread went way off topic. Since I'm flying on WestJet for the first time in a couple of weeks, I searched FT to find out about seat selection for a WestJet flight I booked on Orbitz. This thread had the most likely subject line, but didn't provide as much information as other threads. So I thought I'd chime in with a direct answer to the question, for the benefit of the next person like me who has a similar question.

I've never booked a WestJet flight from any site other than their website, but on a 4 hour flight I prefer to pay extra for a exit row seat - is this possible to do if you book anywhere other than the WestJet site?

Yes, after you've booked the flight elsewhere, just call the reservation line and choose the "existing reservation" option.

It took me only a few minutes to call WestJet's reservation line to pay for a seat in advance. I chose an exit row seat (not one of the best exit row seats available - it was the last one left, but at least the seat in front of me can't recline). I paid $15.75 including taxes - I could have booked a normal coach seat for $10.50. I assume this is in CAD - I guess I'll find out when I get my CC bill. I just wish I would have called earlier, perhaps I could have gotten a better exit row seat (and it's a long flight -- YVR-HNL).

FWIW having flown WS a fair amount this year there's hardly a "bad" seat in the fleet, at least IMHO. I've lucked into exit rows doing online check in 24 hrs prior and while some offer more leg room it's not as crucial as on some airlines.

And yes, WS reservations I find very accomodating regardless of where you've booked which includes through sunspot tour companies such as Sunquest. I called to inquire whether I could prebook my seat or do OLCI and after a bit of searching for my file they found it but I opted to wait until 24 hours prior to asign seats rather than pay up front. BTW the YEG-CUN is only 30 min. shorter than the YVR-HNL flight.