Sunny Day

Very disappointing indeed with the new fee. For a family of 5, that is another $250 in baggage fee in addition to the cost of the plane ticket. That could very well tip the balance between going on a trip or not. If the decision is not to go, wouldn't Westjet end up being the loser in the end? For the extra $250 they want to squeeze out of us, they lost out on 5 passengers worth $3000 in ticket sales?

I noticed certain countries regulate these fees, flights to Brazil for example, still get 2 free bags and higher weight limit. Kong Kong regulates fuel surcharges. If our new Gov't steps in to regulate these fees, I really think they will have the whole country behind them.

I really think one of the best thing a Gov't can do to impact our daily lives is to enact very strong consumer laws.

Heffeh41

Picking up one of these cards could help you a bit. Not a complete fix though.

http://www.rbcroyalbank.com/credit-c...astercard.html

radnub

It covers baggage for up to 8 additional people on the same reservation so it would work. I'm sure most people will be more interested in finding a better deal on fares than signing up for a card though.

WestJet

The baggage fees that we agreed to, together, at the time you booked, will apply to your flight. The baggage fee is stamped into your booking at the time of purchase, and our self-serve check-in program pulls that info when you're checking in.

Let us know if you've got any further questions.
Darren

sokolov

Actually, I have not.

Fiordland

I thought WestJet has the older bin designs on the 767. For a full flight, and one where passengers are charged for checked baggage it will be interesting.

On the domestic runs the aircraft is going to have a good percentage of people flying light that on a one or two day trip. Going to Europe there is more baggage that guests (that is the correct WJ term) are going to be stuffing into the bins. I predict lots of free gate checked baggage due to space limits.

Canuckmma

Between Flex and Plus fare booking free bags, Silver and Gold status free bags and the RBC MasterCard free bags I wonder how many people truly end up paying for checked bags?

tracon

A year ago, according to WestJet, 20%.

That seems low me. I know very few people who meet any of those requirements.
I'm guessing closer to 50% are paying baggage fees.

Fiordland

I would not be surprised if it is still 20% are actually paying baggage fees. A good percentage of passengers are just doing carry on. I am a good example, if it is a business trip for a few days I will do a roll-on-board that fits the carry on criteria and not check anything. There are a lot of passengers in that boat. I would not be surprised if that is over 50%.

Have some exempt due to credit cards or status. I could very easily see less 20% being a reasonable number.

As soon as you go overseas it changes. Going to Europe is more likely to be at least a week. You start to see more larger bags.

The Lev

Can't use that figure, which is based on North American travel (many people on brief trips) to transatlantic where the bulk of WS travellers will be going on vacation for a week or more.

WestJet

We do expect to have to check a few bags on the B767 when the flight is getting pretty full. We actually have some good data from our B737 operation and are using that to make some projections for the B767. Of course, we're learning more about the B767 operation every day and hope we can ratchet down our conservative expectations in the coming months.

We've got promises and systems in place to help on affected flights.

20% was pretty accurate. This number was of all WestJet guests - including guests bound for international which is a lot of people. Naturally, the fee now applies to Econo fares on international trips so that system-wide number will increase.

Now's a good time to remind everyone we're also now waiving the fee for non-U.S. international WestJet Vacations bookings. Meaning the full list of waivers is now:
- All Flex fares
- All Plus fares
- WestJet Rewards Silver tier members and up to eight guests on the same itinerary.
- WestJet Rewards Gold tier members and up to eight guests on the same itinerary.
- WestJet RBC World Elite MasterCard holders and up to eight guests on the same itinerary.
- All WestJet Vacations bookings for travel outside of Canada/ U.S.

sokolov

Don't forget that these fees drive some potential passengers away to other airlines.