Westjet issues status match [till December 15, 2022]
 

Received an email from Westjet inviting me to what appears to be a new status match initiative. Not sure if this is a targeted email or not, but they're clearly interested in people who have status with AC, Porter and/or BA.https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/reward...s/status-match

Nice idea, but I have no intention of spending $1000 before mid December.

Link to the WS page, since it wasn't included above.

I'm currently $2,500 short of re-qualifying for Gold.

But it looks like I can use my AC SE status and $1,600 to qualify for Platinum all the way through the end of 2023, which would be nice.

T&C aren't 100% explicit on this, but the exclusions imply it:

• To qualify for this offer, you must be a member of WestJet Rewards and must not already hold the same or higher tier status in the WestJet Rewards program as the one you are requesting.
• WestJet Rewards members who hold current Platinum, Gold or Silver status at the time of this Offer are not eligible to extend the same tier through this Offer.

I submitted my request and got an auto-generated confirmation of my submission, which was good.

There's an article on PoT about this (posted in the AC forum by @kalderlake).

Interesting that this promotion is targeting not just Air Canada flyers, but also VIPorter members and British Airways members.
Presumably this speaks to Porter's imminent expansion across the continent, and WestJet's new LHR focus.

I hit SE in 2 weeks ugh want to apply when I can get matched to platinum !

Generous offer by Westjet but not sure where I’ll have room in my schedule to fly WS somewhere. $1600 I guess a round trip premium trip would do it

Applied. Curious what the turnaround time is.. have a WS flight in just under 2 weeks and would be nice to have Gold status for it.

Well, got my answer pretty quickly. Status match request submitted yesterday (Sept 14) and just got the email today (Sept 15) that I was matched over to Gold status.

Did you blur out your QR code and Aeroplan Number?

No I didn't. Guess I'm too trusting

Interesting. I suspect I applied a few hours before you, haven't heard anything back yet. Trying to match my AC SE status to bump up my existing WS Gold to Plat.

I’ve submitted the form to try and match my E50. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do the required trips before Dec. 15th for the extension, but I’ll have a look.

Am I correct in assuming that “Westjet Qualifying Spend” for this example (YYZ-LGW) Econo fare would be $431.00?

Price summary Fee:

Air Transportation Charges (ATC) $930.50

Adult - Base fare × 1 $431.00

Other ATC $499.50

Taxes, fees and charges $216.07
Air Travellers Security Charge (ATSC) $25.91
Air Passenger Duty (APD) United Kingdom $127.46
Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) $3.90
Airport Improvement Fee (AIF) $30.00
Passenger Service Charge United Kingdom $28.80

Thanks for any input.

Cheers

NV

I read T&C and noticed the match ends sept 30. I’m not sure my account will update to SE in time as I cross the threshold for miles on the 24th of sept so I just submitted the match and got WS gold updated in 2 days.

Probably won’t fly WS over AC in canada after SE but this gives me a bit more flexibility if I want to fly delta with WS status in US now. More benefits than AC*G on UA lol 😂 can pick good Y seats plus free sky clubs through amex plat anyways. Gives me a lot of flexibility now with US legacy without being stuck in E- or having to book J.

Glad WS made the threshold to requal just lower $ amount. Very easy to hit even if low on time with an expensive full fare J ticket lol just got to see if having it next year is worth the cost/money. Probably would be for plat but not sure about gold. The unlimited upgrades at gate / check in on econo fares is actually an insane deal. I remember when gold was their top tier

Here’s the mail :

Hello SKYEG



We are excited to inform you that your WestJet Rewards status match request has been accepted. You can now experience travel with WestJet as a Gold member until December 15, 2022.*

Learn more about the benefits of Gold and how you can extend your status for 2023.

To receive exclusive email offers, you must be subscribed to WestJet Rewards communications. You can sign into your account at any time to update your communication preferences.

We'd like to thank you for your interest in WestJet Rewards, and look forward to welcoming you on board soon.

Thank you,



Marivel
Rewards Support


yes

One interesting data point: While WS regularly offers to match status of other airlines, the reverse is almost never true. I can't recall ever seeing a status match offer from any of the big, global carriers where they're willing to match a WS status. With Alexis VonH now putting WestJet on his new course as a smaller, regional vacation carrier -- I'm really concerned about my ability to use them going forward for my business travel (which is almost all cross-border). UA has a status match offer out there right now. It works for the U.S. majors. It works for the big global carriers (other than Star Alliance, of course). It works for Aeroflot, Aer Lingus, Air Europa, Siberia Airlines. But they won't recognize WestJet status. Hmmm. Same for Delta. They'll match status from AC, ANA, Copa, Virgin Australia, among others. But won't for WestJet. (In the case of Delta, that might be because they have a codeshare relationship and honour status of each others' programs. But a business travel-focused relationship with DL wouldn't seem to fit into AVH's plans for WestJet, so that may change.)

Yeah you're right... Unless WS joins an alliance, probably no status match will be offered to WS elites.

Any recent data points on how long it's taking to get a response? I've got a family member that applied to match their SE status on Sept 16 and hasn't heard back yet and another that applied Sept 19 and also hasn't heard back.

If WS is offering a short time window of up to 8 weeks, the flights don't count towards the challenge until they've approved it, and they're taking up to 2 weeks to respond to status matches, that definitely puts a big dent into the promo period.