Originally Posted by
gcashin
Yup. Splitting up pax on the same PNR and charging a fee to sit together seems like calculated misery and a way to try to extract more $$ from each pax. Shady.
Beyond shady. It’s actually disgusting.
It doesn’t bother me that it happens on a Basic fare. Buy Basic, and it comes with the territory.
But on a regular Econo fare? Just … wow.
As I said above, it signals contempt for your customers.
I spent last week in Toronto with my company’s Ontario and Quebec teams. Since many had flown in, the topic of airlines came up in conversation. I was surprised… Porter truly seems to be winning the hearts and minds of people in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. They all love Porter. They’re excited about Porter. For half of the group, WestJet is simply out of sight, out of mind. Not even a consideration. The other half: WestJet is viewed with contempt — essentially as a low-end ULCC with a bad product and lots of fees and surcharges.
WS just seems to be digging themselves into a hole. Lots of initiatives to squeeze more money or more margin out of customers. Few, if any, initiatives to be anyone’s desired airline.