PaulN

Hi all,

I have to go to Edmonton in February. I can fly Air Canada via Vancouver or BA via Vancouver with a through ticket onto Westjet for the short leg onto Edmonton.

I have status on BA so lounge access is available but I was wondering if the leg on Westjet, which books into Economy, comes with any BA benefits such as priority boarding and seat selection?

My last flight to Edmonton was with Air Canada and was very pleasant. I don't have any Star Alliance status but lounge access is available to PE passengers at Ł15 per direction, priority boarding is provided and the short economy leg books into the extra legroom economy seats. I also got an OpUp to Business on the homeward trip. It is very tempting to forego the Avios and Tier Points from BA in favour of another trip on AC (though I have no expectation that I will be favoured with another OpUp).

Any experiences on a similar BA to Westjet connection appreciated.

Thanks

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

I am not sure on lounge access as the BA lounge is in the International area completely separate from the Westjet domestic area.

Regards

TBS

Tiger_lily

PaulN

Thanks for your feedback. The lure of TPs and avios has proved too great so I will take a chance on the BA option. Only an hour or so each way on Westjet so I'm sure it will be manageable.

Diver Boy

When I used Westjet as a code share there was no lounge at YYZ. It was fine for a 1 hr economy flight. I preferred it to the AC flight I had on the return, better seat and a smoother flow to cabin crew service.

PaulN

I thought I'd drop back into this thread and just update my experience with the Westjet connection.

I was able to check in online for both flights but I couldn't get a boarding pass for the Westjet flight. Easily sorted at Heathrow though. It didn't seem to be possible to pay for seat selection but I had row 6 on the short Westjet flight which seemed to have slightly more legroom. Because I had an overnight in Vancouver I was able to get my checked bag back at Vancouver (but it could have been checked through). The following morning at Vancouver airport I was quickly through to the gate. No lounge access but Tim Horton's supplied me with breakfast for just a few dollars. Boarding was strictly by rows from the back of the plane and there was room to put my hand luggage up overhead. On board in Economy there's just a soft drink on offer which is fine for a flight of around an hour.

On the way back from Edmonton I got the boarding pass for the Westjet flight at checkin. I decided to check my bag in even though it could have gone hand baggage (guess whose bag was out nearly last at Heathrow?). The flight was nowhere near full so there was a spare middle seat in most rows. It was a brand new plane (737-8 ?) with seat back TV screens even in Economy playing a range of TV channels. Changed terminals in Vancouver and headed to the 1st lounge which, quite honestly, was a bit of a let down food wise. Would much rather have tried the Cathay noodle bar but the lounge doesn't open until 2000.

Overall, perfectly acceptable trip on Westjet. No TPs or Avios and the flights don't even show on the BAEC activity page.

The only negative part of the whole trip was the terrible IFE on board the BA 747 going out. Very few new movies so I thought I'd try the "movie library" - which contained a total of 4 films. Not a very big library then. On the way back the 747 had some new LCD screens with a much better selection. I must admit I'd missed the fact that there was a variety of IFE options on 747s. Will have to check more closely next time.

orbitmic

Ah! In years I have flown BA, they have never been able to sort this out. Films seem randomly assigned to the two categories with many old films listed as "new" and many films listed under both. I wonder why they bother and why there isn't even a competent person in that particular department which has bothered to sort this out in, say, the past 10 years or so...

PaulN

In this case I would say there were 20 or so films in the "new" category excluding subtitled and other language versions and the 4 in "library" and that was it for the film choice.

orbitmic

Yes, that's about the number with the old IFE, but what I means is that in all likelihood, many of the 20 in the "new" category were not new at all...

PaulN

Yep, that was also true.

madmax_uk