Originally Posted by
asovse1
also just got the email. i'm trying to figure out why they even sent the email.
for the language they used, were they trying to highlight the positives for budget travellers? or issue a major warning/threat to anyone who dares book?
I'm not sure honestly (though I'll make a guess below), but I guess it's very Alexis to make this change, then think that sending this email is a great idea, and proceed to do all of that.
Originally Posted by
WestonC
Will be interesting to see the difference in paying UB and then EC. The last 4 of 6 flights I flew this past week, I was seated in EC but the person beside me was on a Basic fare and just didn't select a seat and they were seated in EC. All so interesting.
I think they have never been good at monetizing seats in the front of Economy (both Basic and Econo seats assigned at check-in are often not bad, perhaps because advance seat selection fees are quite high?) and I don't think this will help them much tbh if people continue to not widely pay to select seats in advance.
Originally Posted by
trtcttcgo
All for unbundling fares. Why pay for something you aren't going to use. However, I feel like they'll just changed Basic to UltraBasic without a corresponding decrease in price. Ultrabasic fares should be priced similar to Flair. Instead, it seems like it's making Basic worse to try and upsell customers to the higher tickets.
Originally Posted by
Da_Master
So flights to Europe and Asia are not affected as you're still allowed to bring a carry on. But what if you connect via Calgary from someplace else on UB ticket where carry-on is no longer allowed? Do you get it free because your final destination is Europe/Asia or lose this 'perk' because you're not flying direct out of Calgary? One would think you'd just pay for the first segment, but that's not an option and if you're checking your bag in and paying for it, might as well have it checked through to your final destination in Europe/Asia.
I was also under impression this new fare class would cost a tiny bit less when compared to Basic, instead they replaced existing basic and kept pricing the same, which is not exactly what I had in mind when reading CEO's interview about making travel more affordable to Canadians. Seating people on the same reservation separately on purpose if they don't pay for seat selection seems to be a new low for WJ and something that really leaves a bad taste in my mouth...
Logically (and in line with what other airlines like UA for example do), UltraBasic (honest name I guess, but...) the entire ticket should follow the intercontinental segment's baggage rules, so free carry-on, but I wouldn't be surprised if WS's systems can't deal with this properly at first/some point. Also, there is no reason for them to make UB cheaper than Basic if they still think they're competing against AC (and price match AC), because the whole point of these basic economy fares is to get people to pay more to avoid how punitive they are. That being said, I'm slightly surprised at how punitive this is - this is the most punitive fare option in Western Canada (since Flair allows changes and cancellations for a fee) except for Porter's cheapest fare (Transat and Canada Jetlines (lol) as well for Canada), so I wouldn't be surprised if WS is planning on way fewer people booking UB than Basic (which I've always done on shorter routes since Econo had few advantages over Basic if not going for status, and I don't value WS status). Personally, I'm more concerned for whether AC will see this as a green light to match, but that's beyond the scope of this forum.