Question about assigned seats with Basic Ticket..
 

I wasn’t aware that the basic ticket didn’t have seat choice even at the 24hr check in time frame but that’s my fault for not reading carefully during the checkout period. Totally my fault. But alas my question is, when is the best time to actually check in to get better seating ? I read that you want to check in later and not right at the 24hr period. Any insight to this ?

I have two tickets booked on one confirmation number and we would just like to sit together no matter where on the plane.

Lastly, I’ve been checking the app to see what seats are still available to purchase and it looks like there is still a ton left. There is about at least 96 seats left from YYZ to LAS and about 72 from LAS To YYZ.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks FT !

The time of when you check-in won't really matter, basic Fare seat assignments are done prior to the 24-hr check in window. That said, I'd still recommend checking in 24 hours prior, because if you aren't seated together you'll have more selection to switch to (for a fee).

I never leave seat selection to chance as usually airlines seat Basic passengers in worse seats like window seats. Best is to pay for couple of favorite seats you wish be together and eliminate all worries. At check in you can then just pay for your baggage if you have any.

If you care where you sit, or if you want to sit together, you absolutely need to select seats in advance.

And that means you’ll need to pay for seat selection.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond. What’s the likely hood of the flight not being any where near sold out and moving seats after the cabin doors are closed ?

It is going to be totally dependent on the day of travel. Many of the flights I sampled in Nov and Dec are close to sold out. If you are just looking at seat availability before checkin on the website, it will be considerably less than the number of tickets sold. Anything more than 80% load factor and you are unlikely to be able to find anything other than middle seats.

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I am checking the number of available for seats to purchase before the flight and it looks like there’s 128open seats available to purchase from yyz to las and about 78 on the return leg. I know my flight is a little under 72hrs away. When you say the number of available seats will be less than the number of tickets sold. What does that mean for the numbers pertaining to my flight ?

If it is Wed morning, the flight is definitely more than 80% full. Most people don’t buy seats and if not on a Basic fare will pick a seat at checkin, so seat availability now will be high, but not once the aircraft is boarded.

That make sense about the picking at seat at check when not on basic ticket. I never took that into consideration and forgot about it.

thanks again for the feedback!

Be careful.. I'm sure Westjet has the system programmed to automatically seat those on a basic fare travelling together in middle seats far far apart. :)

Omg that’s the worst lol.

They will be the least desirable seats for Basic tickets, typically middle seats in the rear or non-reclining seats. The allocation algorithm will leave the best seats for non-Basic tickets.

Oh my... I guess I shouldn't joke about such things! :)

I guess WestJet wants to make sure that if you don't this time, next time you will pay the seat selection fee (or not book basic)!

Ron

Aerobod is correct. They’ll auto-assign middle seats in the back of the plane, because those are less desirable seats, and that’s what a Basic fare is. And it’s the same as pretty much every airline’s Basic Economy seating.

There’s no trickery or punishment. Basic gets you a less desirable seat on the plane, for people who just want to get from A to B, but who don’t care about where they sit.

This still seems to be a source of angst and anger for a lot of WS customers, based on frequent complaints I see when browsing social media. WS customers seem less likely to understand what Basic gets you compared to other airlines’ customers. I think there’s still some potential for improvement in how they communicate Basic features: both seating and cancelability.

I prefer the way Delta handles seating for Basic: it’s assigned at the gate from what’s truly left over. With WS, there’s much angst created when Basic pax are auto-assigned seats in the middle of empty rows at T-24.

Thanks again for the insight. Final question I had, when I’m assigned a seat at the 24hr check in window, I’m still able to change a seat for a fee correct ? Would that fee be higher than if i did it before the 24check in window ?