"We Don't Overbook" Ad
 

Nice, cheeky ad, that makes full use of New Order. A move which I fully endorse.

Brilliant.

I would prefer if they would overbook. I need flexibility!

Love it - especially the "Canada's most on-time airline" dig at the end.

Virgin Australia could learn from this.

Virgin Australia? The same Virgin Australia that gives you no charge checked baggage, meals, drinks, headsets, etc. on domestic flights?

I don't think they need to learn anything.

Ron.

It's a shame that they are actively relying on the good reputation that they built over many years, even though they are currently doing their best to destroy that same reputation.

The ad really is fantastic. I love it.

And it is factually correct on its three key points (no overbooking, OTP, and TripAdvisor ranking).

But I have to wonder if it'll cause some cognitive dissonance with some customers...

The underlying theme of "We treat people like people" is a great one, but at the same time WS seems to be focusing on "rule enforcement" and policies/procedures far more than they ever have ... which seems to be what they're mocking when they show the somber, head-shaking "Air Canada" employees in the video.

If you have a Basic fare and get stuck in traffic on your way to the airport (thereby missing check-in by a few minutes), face it, you're not going to get treated "like people". Or if you're on an Econo fare with only carry-on, you get to the airport really early, and see an earlier WS plane heading to your hometown with lots of empty seats? That'll now be a (borderline punitive) same-day change fee of $150 for the few keystrokes required to put you on a different flight. Or you bought Basic and skipped seat selection, were auto-assigned a middle seat, but find lots of empty aisle seats available? The official response: if you want to shift your bum to an aisle, you need to pay up! Otherwise, the rules say you have to stay where we put ya. I'm sure we could all think up different scenarios where rules/policies trump friendliness, helpfulness and "people" focus.

Sure, I know there are business justifications for all of these. But that doesn't change the fact that there are likely lots of WS customers who do feel like cattle while having rules or policies recited to them...

Where do you draw the line between delivering exactly what people bought and not treating them like cattle?

Really good question. Especially when so much of the 'product' that people are buying is made up of artificial constructs (i.e. rules, policies and procedures tied to different fare types) rather than tangible differences.

Every consumer understands the "you get what you pay for" when it comes to the hard product -- the difference between J and Y, or even the difference between regular Y seating and extra-legroom Y seating. But when so much of WestJet's customer experience (like many airlines) is now dictated by rules in a tariff that most consumers don't see or understand -- I fear that a lot of WS's traditional customer base is going to start to feel like they're cattle, too.

I think a lot of WestJet's current brand reputation is frankly based on what they used to be: casual, informal, and nice folks who'd try to help out leisure customers -- who largely tended to be infrequent and uninformed travellers. Now, IMO, those same interactions are much more focused on rule enforcement and fee collection, with the level of 'helpfulness' determined largely by the fare paid (even when the actual, underlying "product" that was purchased appears identical). I'm not opposed to what WestJet is becoming -- but I do think some of their customer base will see a disconnect between this ad campaign and the real/current WestJet.

I completely agree. As discussed in this thread. https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/west...every-day.html

Errrr....not they don't.

LMAO. Brilliant. I think I recognize a moo. :D

The "Behind the Scenes" video. Awesome. LOLLL. So cute.

Paging @canadiancow

No Canadian Cow(s) were injured in the making of this advert :p

Whilst the ad is very cheeky my experience with WS has been mixed. On board service has generally been better than the AC but the lack of lounges and route network in the event of IRROPs can be annoying. The other frustration to me is the frequent delays and cancellations. Sure AC has that issue but I've got some protection (ditto about overbooking, AC cannot IDB me due to my *Gold status).

Safe Travels,

James