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Winnipegger surprised WS bag fees charged in CAD on trip to U.S. but USD on return

Winnipegger surprised WS bag fees charged in CAD on trip to U.S. but USD on return

Old Dec 15, 2018, 1:26 pm
  #31  
5mm
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Originally Posted by Error 601
That dynamic is just magical in California where every county except for Fresno and Butte have a county sales tax and every one is different.
GST/HST is totally different than PST or State tax for companies to track.

Last edited by 5mm; Dec 15, 2018 at 4:15 pm
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Old Dec 15, 2018, 1:47 pm
  #32  
 
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Given the huge currency difference, WJ is pocketing $40 CAD now per bag when charging $30 USD. WJ should and could easily reduce that fee to 22 USD if the goal is to charge the EQUIVALENT of $30 CAD. But they want to game the currency differential to get extra revenue. Alternatively, the ethical way is to give passengers the option to prepay the return flight baggage fee in CAD (30 CAD) at the same time when passengers are paying the departure baggage fee (when checking in from a Canadian departure point).
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Old Dec 15, 2018, 9:13 pm
  #33  
 
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Originally Posted by Sunny Day
Given the huge currency difference, WJ is pocketing $40 CAD now per bag when charging $30 USD. WJ should and could easily reduce that fee to 22 USD if the goal is to charge the EQUIVALENT of $30 CAD. But they want to game the currency differential to get extra revenue. Alternatively, the ethical way is to give passengers the option to prepay the return flight baggage fee in CAD (30 CAD) at the same time when passengers are paying the departure baggage fee (when checking in from a Canadian departure point).
Why would they have a goal of charging less? Clearly they make more money at US$30 and US$50 than CAD amounts so they are charging more and earning more. It is possible they pay more in the USA for local service (or the same but in $US) so they might not be earning as much as you think. Why is everyone so amazed they charge fees for things however they can, and have told passengers by posting the rules way back in August? Ethical schmethical, they are a public company that did terribly at their last quarterly financial review. Prepaying is just saying they should do the same, lesser earning, thing, but in advance, which makes no more sense other than they have the money for a week, whoopee.

WestJet is not your nice uncle who should treat you better than AC, who is your mean uncle. They charge what competitors do and as much as they can. If you owned WSA stock you'd be cheering them on for this.
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Old Dec 15, 2018, 9:15 pm
  #34  
 
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Originally Posted by Error 601
Travel (airline, hotel and rental car) that will be charged to a Canadian dollar cost center is supposed to be booked in Canadian dollars, deviating from that is annoying unless you enjoy redacting your own credit card statements in Acrobat.
Why do you have to mask parts of your credit card statements? Before I retired I submitted expenses based on the CAD amount once a US or EU charge was posted in CAD. Covering them up in Acrobat would look like some attempt at hiding these amounts.
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Old Dec 15, 2018, 9:23 pm
  #35  
 
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Originally Posted by ricktoronto
Why do you have to mask parts of your credit card statements? Before I retired I submitted expenses based on the CAD amount once a US or EU charge was posted in CAD. Covering them up in Acrobat would look like some attempt at hiding these amounts.
I do the same thing, but it’s all the personal expenses on the same statement that need to be covered up. My client doesn’t need to see how much I spent on flights for another client, or at the liquor store.
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Old Dec 15, 2018, 10:39 pm
  #36  
 
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Originally Posted by Sopwith

I do the same thing, but it’s all the personal expenses on the same statement that need to be covered up. My client doesn’t need to see how much I spent on flights for another client, or at the liquor store.
Doesn’t your company accept electronic entries? For personal credit card accounts RBC and TD (I’m assuming all other major banks, too) allow electronic download in a variety of formats with some filter options to select the relevant transactions, a lot quicker than masking printouts. Also, the corporate cards I have used over the past 15 years or so have provided all transactions in an electronic form for matching with a photo or scan of receipts, with the only manual input required being a one-line justification or list of people present in the case of meals or entertainment. For any company that thinks that the printout is harder to “alter” than the electronic records and hence more acceptable, image editing software is only a click away!
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Old Dec 15, 2018, 11:33 pm
  #37  
 
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Originally Posted by aerobod

Doesn’t your company accept electronic entries? For personal credit card accounts RBC and TD (I’m assuming all other major banks, too) allow electronic download in a variety of formats with some filter options to select the relevant transactions, a lot quicker than masking printouts. Also, the corporate cards I have used over the past 15 years or so have provided all transactions in an electronic form for matching with a photo or scan of receipts, with the only manual input required being a one-line justification or list of people present in the case of meals or entertainment. For any company that thinks that the printout is harder to “alter” than the electronic records and hence more acceptable, image editing software is only a click away!
Some companies demand paper receipts for every single item. No receipt = no reimbursement. Some (most) accept scans but some actually want the physical original.
For self-employed people who travel for a number of client companies, conforming to each of their individual idiosyncrasies and how they want the taxes stripped out or not and reported or not is a nightmare.

As for currencies, I once did some work for a company in Little Rock, Arkansas and had to talk them through my expense claim because (and no hyperbole here) the person processing the claim had no idea that there was anything other than a USD and could not get their head around there being "other" currencies. That claim had USD, CAD and MXP so you might imagine how long it took me to get my expenses back.
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Old Dec 15, 2018, 11:47 pm
  #38  
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Originally Posted by Frequentlander
Some companies demand paper receipts for every single item. No receipt = no reimbursement. Some (most) accept scans but some actually want the physical original.
For self-employed people who travel for a number of client companies, conforming to each of their individual idiosyncrasies and how they want the taxes stripped out or not and reported or not is a nightmare.

As for currencies, I once did some work for a company in Little Rock, Arkansas and had to talk them through my expense claim because (and no hyperbole here) the person processing the claim had no idea that there was anything other than a USD and could not get their head around there being "other" currencies. That claim had USD, CAD and MXP so you might imagine how long it took me to get my expenses back.
I can see this happening a lot in the U.S.. last week in Maui, a women from Portland asked me when Canadian Xmas was or if we even had Xmas at all.
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Old Dec 16, 2018, 5:05 pm
  #39  
 
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Originally Posted by Sopwith

I do the same thing, but it’s all the personal expenses on the same statement that need to be covered up. My client doesn’t need to see how much I spent on flights for another client, or at the liquor store.
I had a credit card only for expenses related to travel and it self posted 95% of expenses to expense categories as long as the merchant was coded properly, and my former employer did not allow personal use for any reason other than a medical emergency. They expected employees to be able to pay for their own personal expenses personally. I cannot imagine them receiving a redacted PDF of expenses on that card.

I guess smaller companies don't go for expense cards issued under their account in the employee's name. Still a good way to hoover miles if it's your own card vs. theirs.
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Old Dec 16, 2018, 5:21 pm
  #40  
 
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I fly to the US a lot with WJ. I don’t pay for bags but when I do pay for upgrades to Plus, and I am charged in USD when the flight originates in the US. WestJet charges me the same amount when converted between the two currencies (with a small amount for conversion fees).

It seems odd that WJ didn’t charge her a converted USD amount which is what they do with other fees.
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Old Dec 16, 2018, 5:28 pm
  #41  
 
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If my life ever comes to a point where I'm going to the media over $31 out of my travel budget, someone please put me out of my misery.
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Old Dec 16, 2018, 5:30 pm
  #42  
 
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Lukacs pointed to WestJet's own document, which states "all fares and charges are stated in the currency from which the passenger will initiate travel.
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Puzzle me this Batman. If I board a flight in the United States that is not a connecting flight, from what country am I initiating travel?
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Old Dec 16, 2018, 7:05 pm
  #43  
 
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Originally Posted by ricktoronto
Covering them up in Acrobat would look like some attempt at hiding these amounts.
It isn't that you're hiding them, it is that most of the transactions are irrelevant.

You upload the credit card statement as a PDF and the software will create records for each visible transaction capturing the basic information as well as the exchange rate you were charged. That information then gets attached to the original expense and you're reimbursed based on the submitted transaction total.

Some particularly untech-savvy individuals prefer to cut up their credit card statement and tape the transaction to the appropriate receipt.

Of course if you just keep your transactions in the appropriate currency in the first place you don't have to do either.
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Last edited by Error 601; Dec 16, 2018 at 7:21 pm
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Old Dec 16, 2018, 8:30 pm
  #44  
 
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Originally Posted by mapleg
Lukacs pointed to WestJet's own document, which states "all fares and charges are stated in the currency from which the passenger will initiate travel.
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Puzzle me this Batman. If I board a flight in the United States that is not a connecting flight, from what country am I initiating travel?
If you started your trip from a Canadian airport, the country is Canada. Therefore, the fees should be in CAD. If you started your trip from the US, then fees should be in USD.
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Old Dec 17, 2018, 9:22 am
  #45  
 
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Why should I be forced to pay us$30 to check a bag on my Calgary - Toronto sector of my PHX - YYC - YYZ business trip when every one else is paying c$30?

Does anyone believe AA’s PHX - YEG flight charges c$30 for bags?

The Cdn sense of entitlement, esp when it pertains to airline travel, often defies belief.
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