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Wifi pricing increase?
I noticed on a flight today from YYC-YYZ that the cost of the wifi had increased dramatically to $21.99 for the 3.5 hour flight. I mentioned it in passing to the FA that it seemed really high compared to previous flightrs and was told that the airline is looking for additional revenue streams and wifi pricing was being hiked across the board by a significant amount. Does anyone have any intel on this?
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Originally Posted by luckylager
(Post 30231191)
I noticed on a flight today from YYC-YYZ that the cost of the wifi had increased dramatically to $21.99 for the 3.5 hour flight. I mentioned it in passing to the FA that it seemed really high compared to previous flightrs and was told that the airline is looking for additional revenue streams and wifi pricing was being hiked across the board by a significant amount. Does anyone have any intel on this?
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My YVR-YYZ this week was $10.99 for 90 minutes. IIRC that's how much it used to be for 3 hrs. I looked at the next two options on offer but they seemed ridiculous for a 4 hr flight. Quite the jump. Of course, on the return flight there was no working internet.
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The price increases are huge. And the wifi service? Still pretty spotty. At the old prices, it was worth the gamble that I’d have to suffer through some really slow periods during the flight — along with occasional times when it wouldn’t work at all. At these new prices? Not a chance. Unless the quality is greatly improved, I’m not touching it. Disappointing. |
People work from 8:30 to lunch in environments where they are not allowed to use the interweb and live to see another day but for 3 1/2 hours the same people will go through the roof without it, so they charge $22 knowing that.
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They changed to an asinine dynamic pricing model for wifi. The pricing will now vary based on city pairs, time of day and even the number of people signed up for internet. There was no min-max price range provided though.
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Hey, they are trying to claw their way back to profitability. They probably think that demand for wifi is inelastic. Counting on the people that use are charging it back to a corporate expense report.
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WestJet is still listing their old pricing model on their fee guide (Link). Maybe it's time for them to update that.
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IT is time to short WS stock. It is clear their new CEO has no plan. In fact, he doesn't have much solid executive experience if you really dig into his resume. They are really digging deep for fees right now.
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Originally Posted by CanuckFlyHigh
(Post 30261570)
IT is time to short WS stock. It is clear their new CEO has no plan. In fact, he doesn't have much solid executive experience if you really dig into his resume. They are really digging deep for fees right now.
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Originally Posted by calgaryhhr
(Post 30261951)
The new guy is hell bent on cost cutting. It seems like that is his only focus at Westjet.
He has as much of a focus on innovation as cost efficiency, with Gandeephan as the VP of Global Projects and LEAN and Alfredo as the Chief Digital and Innovation Officer as the two key steering people to execute innovative projects on time and on budget. Many people won’t like how he can home in to problem areas, but he is very up-front guy. He also does have good executive experience - almost 20 years in VP and above positions in the aviation industry, with about 12 of those years at EVP and CEO level (Managing Director in NZ and UK is the most senior position in the org, unlike the use of that title in North America). |
I fly the YYC-LAS and back route almost weekly and they have jacked what used to be $8.99 for the full flight to $21.99 and as others have stated, the quality hasn't improved at all. On today's flight, I did a speed test and got a whooping 0.23 mb/s for DL and 0.12 mb/s for upload. Totally ridiculous. Time to go back tot he dark ages until WJ get their act together and hopefully drop prices to something more realistic for the service they are providing.
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The new pricing is beyond ridiculous — especially since WestJet’s wifi is such poor quality. It seems like they’re playing around with elasticity of demand, but doing a pricing game “live” with real customers has huge risks — pushing the price too high will not only kill off demand, but it will also hurt customer satisfaction and make future use far less likely (ie when they either reduce prices or improve quality). At the old prices, I’d quite literally always buy (aircraft permitting) ... even though the lousy quality of their wifi often made it a bit of a struggle. I’d get a bit of work done, and surfing was my inflight entertainment. At these new prices, though, no chance in heck. Zero. I’ll pass until they either make it a whole, whole, whole lot faster and more reliable — and/or bring the pricing in line with their competitors. FWIW, I’ve had a few Delta flights in recent weeks. Their wifi is cheaper (even accounting for the exchange rate) and blazing fast. The quality comparison between DL and WS was night and day. (Plus, since Delta uses Gogo as their provider, my Visa card gave me a bunch of free passes. ‘Free’ mad e it even better.) Sorry WestJet. Really dumb move on this one, with a product that’s really substandard. |
Originally Posted by AltaBound
(Post 30234741)
Hey, they are trying to claw their way back to profitability. They probably think that demand for wifi is inelastic. Counting on the people that use are charging it back to a corporate expense report.
I think that was WJ's 4th or 5th quarterly loss in its 22 year history. Tough crowd! |
I’ve decided to try and book AC over WestJet when Flair or Swoop don’t work. Their in flight service is superior and neither give any miles for lowest fares. |
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