flyingstudent

I just found out today that Westjet is now charging $10 for standby for earlier flight. When did they start charging $10?

Altaflyer

How stupid is that? The cost and hassle of collecting $10 is surely NOT worth it. I think maybe WS is starting to lose it!

Q Shoe Guy

So does that mean you are not a "Happy Westjet Guest" anymore LOL !

Altaflyer

No, not really. I have yet to use WS standby so it isn't a live issue for me and $10 is not an issue either its just that collecting $10 seems like more aggrevation for all involved than would be worth it. The only place standby could be useful is YEG-YVR and maybe YEG-YYC but there are not enough flights for it to be much of a tool in the first place.

parnel

Well well the heros from the west are human after all Pretty chintzy IMO..pretty soon they will be up to AC standards and charging $30 since you feel it isn't enough to warrant doing it at $10.

ALW

Exactly, $10 to recover the cost of doing a standby, and $20 to recover the cost of recovering the cost.

=aw

airbus320

Some times I wonder if these fees are not only administrative fees but disincentive fees enacted to discourage people from changing their plans,

Ace Cdn

exactly....people were probably booking later to get the lower fare and then could standby ealier for free to get the flights they wanted.

Hypnotize

As mentioned, people were buying a cheaper ticket on a later flight and flying standby on the earlier flight to save money. Smart idea and a good trick. $10 is quite a reasonable price if you ask me.

NoahVail

Actually, it's quite effective for YVR-YYZ (as mentioned generally). Most seat sales for YYZ-YVR include the red-eye return. With a confirmed ticket on the red-eye, I've been able to same-day standby on the 4:00 flight, maintaining the seat sale price and avoiding the red-eye.

So, this strategy just went up $10.

NV

WR Cage

RE: $10 standby fee on WS, Does this mean that the people paying the $10 have a higher standby priority than the employees? About 1 year ago there was an incident whereby employees loaded ahead of paying pax/guests.

Hypnotize

Employee's can check-in no earlier than three hours prior to a flight. At the time of check-in, they are timestamped and priority is determined by the timestamp. If a full-revenue customer is to early-show on an earlier flight standby, he/she would have the same priority as the employee and timestamp would determine who gets on first. I think that's how it works.

WR Cage

So same procedure as before, only now it will cost the REVENUE passenger $10 to be "potentially" placed behind the employees.

Routes where same day standby could work include:
YVR-YYC,
YVR-YYZ,
YVR-YEG,
YYC-YYZ,
I think most other routes have a greater than 3-4 hour gap between flights. Revenue pax on standby are either playing a game (an allowable game per Westjet fare rules) or have some unusual circumstances.

For the $10, Westjet could atleast have put the REVENUE pax ahead of the employees.

RE: Timestamp. Is the timestamp determined by first checkin point with consideration for webcheckin? Example-> if I webcheckin 11hr 45min before my flight will this time carryforward to the standby list. With Westjet web checkin I cannot select to stand by for earlier flights, I have to speak to a person at the airport. Which time is used, the webcheckin or presenting myself at the airport.

RE: Priority Lists. Can employees and/or their "buddies" use a webcheckin system? If so the $10 will likely be a waste as employees will webcheckin at the three hour mark before most people are at the airport. Did Westjet solve the problem of onshift employees checking in their traveling employee friends to get a higher priority?

RE: $10. If I am unsucessful at standing by, will the $10 be refunded? Do I need to pay in cash or will credit cards be accepted at all the gates/checkin positions. If Westjet is going to be surcharging for a bunch of this extra stuff (they now charge for headsets aswell), will their be a Triangle type of area to handle these unique and longer processing pax?

ProudEdmontonian

How about AC? I speak from the voice of experience when AC puts employees ahead of full fare passengers.

$10 is still far cheaper than AC's $30 plus fare differential if booked more than 2 hours prior to departure or $150 same day airport isn't it?

Sounds like false outrage to me....