The Lev

Judging by the vocal response to Air Canada's changes to their frequent flyer program (~1,000 posts in just a day and a half), there are a lot of very unhappy campers in Air Canada land right now who are ripe for the right nudge from WestJet if they can partner up with other carriers who belong to global alliances.

The current frequent flyer program probably isn't enough to cause a stampede over to WestJet, but AC has created an opening that WestJet management might want to exploit - if they can react quickly enough with the right offer. Here is what I'd be doing if I was part of the WestJet brain trust...

• Offer a status match program to AC status flyers
• Negotiate with Delta and/or American to have WestJet miles flown count as status miles in their programs
• Tweak the WestJet program to offer free upgrades to the "premium" section to top tier members - on a space available basis and one confirmed for every $x of spend

Thoughts?

NeoRichards

I second this motion.. actually with all the WJ chatter and a few links posted, I went and checked them out. I certainly want to give my money to a Canadian Provider and without a reward program, WJ was never a thought.. but, if they "status Match"... certainly made me stop and window shop a little!

MrMacko

Also very interested to see if Westjet can capitalize. I know I and my 2-4 weekly flights are open for the first time ever to suggestion...

This is literally the first time I have ever opened the Westjet forum to my recollection!

nave888

AC seems to be punishing people who fly short, expensive segments (ie. YEG-YYC, YEG-YMM, YYC-YXE), while Westjet rewards these passengers with the spend criteria. I'm one of these passengers, and am already moving towards westjet, but what would be great is:

-A status match with AC. Silver for Elite and Gold for Super Elite? It would be tricky to turn 5 status levels into 2 equivalent levels...

-A few upgrade certificates at Gold level, or the option to switch the 4 advance seat selection vouchers for 2 plus seat upgrades?

-Priority phone contacts.

I think there are a lot of angry AC pax in Westjet's western network- YEG, YYC, YVR, etc. Westjet already has a good market share at a lot of these airports, so hopefully they can take advantage of AC's massive mistake!

superangrypenguin

Has anyone status matched?

If WJ did the following, i'd switch. I'm still 50/50 on if I move.

1) A few complimentary upgrades to the Plus cabin
2) Status match

Prewrappedbacon

I think I'm considering a switch as well. Started looking at the schedules of the flights I want and it's not as bad as I thought.

superangrypenguin

May I ask your logic as a SE100K? I'm still teetering Bacon. What makes you think about WJ? It's like joining the dark side, and yes I am thinking about it.

sokolov

WestJet has recently announced changes in their program. I doubt they'll change it again right away, but who knows.

Some thoughts: Some AC-aficionados will be less so under the new Aeroplan-rules. They may book WestJet anyway. If measures like those discussed in this thread were adopted, and the suggested move of a significant number of AC-passengers to WestJet did materialize, WestJet may run into a capacity crunch.

Just to give an idea of scale: WestJet's excess ASM in 2014 will represent roughly seven-eight percent of AC's overall RPM. (Seats dispatched may be a better KPI, but I do not know that number for WestJet.)

[Of course, WestJet would not run into a large scale capacity crunch in real life. They would simply raise prices until demand sinks to capacity.]

The Lev

At which point AC Revenue Management could pat themselves on the back and say "mission accomplished."

LockheedElectra

Great idea, do it WJ. Join Skyteam, and I'm in.

traacs

+1

Prewrappedbacon

My logic = a good chunk of travel is down to Bogota. I can get there on DL or AA for cheaper than AC and for pretty reasonable business fares. Thinking about doing a status match over there. Other travel to Europe could easily be switched to Delta/KLM.

Domestic travel is only ever to YYC or YXE - I can easily make WJ work for that. Its a shame that I'll now have to deal with 2 loyalty programs.

But I feel like I got the message pretty clear from AC that loyalty doesn't matter. So, I'll fly AC now when it makes sense, but why would I continue to bend over backwards to book AC for like 3 upgrades a year.

capebretonboy

Good thread, The Lev - I agree that the FF market is ripe for WS to pick. They do, however, seem to be slowly enhancing the program and making it more robust. I think it is just a matter of time. And, who knows, maybe they will strike with something this year as you suggest. I know I am all ears.

capebretonboy

I would tweak that just a bit:

1) A few complimentary upgrades to the Plus cabin
2) Status match *A Gold -->WestJet Gold so that it includes folks like me who fly about 45-50 domestic segments per year for E50K on AC, not just SE
3) Complimentary lounge access for gold member and one guest.

superangrypenguin

Agreed. However with point 3, one could easily get PP lounge access Maybe it's because i've been spoiled with the Amex plat...