FlyerJ

Will *all* seats in the Y cabin that are not "Extended Comfort" become 28.5"?

(I seem to recall discussion before that there would still be some 'regular' pitch seating in addition to the back-of-cabin 'knee-crushing sardine can'?)

YXUFlyboy

I think it's either Extended Comfort or knee crush. I don't think there's a middle option because there's no pricing tier for the middle option that I can see yet. Otherwise you'd have:

Premium
Extended Comfort (pay for seat selection)
Somewhat Knee Crushing (pay for with seat selection? Is this confusing to the consumer?)
Knee Crushing (Basic fares and people who won't pay?)

How many seats would be in Y+, Y and Y-? Seems complicated to me. AC and United only have Y+ and Y-, there's no middle ground.

FlyerJ

That (sadly) makes sense ... but AVH did seem to be signalling that his strategy was to be all things to all people within a single aircraft. I took that to mean he wanted to offer everything from "preferred" Y to "standard" Y to "Swoop/Lynx/Flair/Spirit" Y.

As for Extended Comfort, it makes sense as a product. It's on par with Delta's ComfortPlus, United's E+, Air Canada's "Preferred".

What's frustrating, IMO, is that they're really just taking their existing seating and hiking up the price -- with a new brand name.

The price hikes that have been reported are far higher than the cost of a beer or a glass of wine, which is really the only difference in this "new" product. (Sure, zone 2 boarding is a new feature -- but that doesn't impact anyone who already has status with WestJet.) Comparing the before and after pricing for those exact-same front-of-cabin seats ... you're really only getting a really, really expensive beverage.

Questions:

• Do we know for sure if this will in any way impact Platinum and Gold tier seat selection benefits (i.e. complimentary seat selection for any seat in Y)?
• Will pax who purchase the cheapest possible, Basic ticket and don't pay for advance seat selection ever be seated in Extended? If someone forks out their $100 (or whatever) extra for the Extended seating, are they likely to be seated next to someone who gets 'Extended' assigned as their seat - for free - at the gate? (Delta and United both seem to preserve the integrity of their front-of-Y products. Low- and mid-level status customers will get moved forward as "upgrades", but neither will assign Basic customers to seats in the front of the cabin. Middle seats in both DL C+ and UA E+ are very often left empty.)
• What will happen to Delta's status customers flying on WestJet? My WS Platinum status gets me "Preferred" seating on DL, but not "Comfort+". And, when I fly on a WS ticket on DL metal, there is no possible way for me to even pay for Comfort+ ... I can't get it no matter what. Will this change mean that DL customers flying on WS are going to be stuck in the Knee-Crusher seats -- with no access to "Extended"? (If so, prepare for some very unhappy Delta Medallion customers.)

aerobod

Conceivably the overwing emergency exit rows could be excluded from “Extended Comfort”, as they won’t be part of the contiguous block behind Premium. Those seats have to be a specific pitch around 35” due to the door access requirements. They may just continue charging a higher seat cost for those seats and not provide the drink, but boarding would be early due to the briefing requirement for those seats.

The new seat plans didn’t show any other seats with a pitch beyond the new 28.5” or so, but a small variation +/- half an inch in any specific row is possible due to the seat anchor rails having fixed hole positions to anchor the seats to.

FlyerJ

With seat pitch equaling Spirit and worse than Ryanair, will they also match those carriers by not having those back-of-Y-cabin seats recline? (I honestly don't see how you can possibly offer recline with a seat pitch of only 28.5. It's inhumane even when seats are upright. If the person in front of you can recline onto you, yikes.)

aerobod

I would hope so, it is a basic mechanical change on the seat to lock out recline, but who knows until the first aircraft is actually available for review. It would also likely prevent recline in the last row of “extended comfort” and the emergency exit rows, if that was the case.

YYCguy

I would imagine no free drink to those seated in the OWE rows as I’m sure they don’t want to be seen as encouraging inebriation for people who will potentially be called upon to assist in an evacuation.

Fisch

This is correct. Exit rows are NOT part of this product. This was explicit in the inflight training materials.

V1213

Extended Comfort is now live and, as far as I can see as a Platinum, yes, status members can select these seats for free.

A quick comparison of YXE-YYZ for a random day in June (18th):

WS Econo $197.53 + Extended Comfort $73/$77 = $270.53/$274.53
(WS exit row $62/$65)
WS Premium = $408.58

PD PorterClassic $127.18 + PorterClassic Stretch $47.25 = $174.43
PD PorterReserve $314.08

AC Rouge Standard $159.73 + Preferred Seat $79.85 + $9.95 craft beer = $249.53
AC Rouge Premium $455.83

F8 Base fare $94 + Carry-on bag $40.95 + Extra legroom seat $31.50 + Priority boarding $10 + $8.99 can of wine = $185.44

Andrewpcw

Interesting. I have a trip next month where I previously paid to select my seats. On a couple of the legs I had chosen seats that are now considered comfort.

I did a quick “edit seats” to see if there was a difference. My seats show as economy. If I switch to a seat behind me it’s an additional $11.

if I keep my seats do I automatically get the benefits of comfort without paying more? Do I get to keep the seats but no additional benefits?

V1213

As per WestJet's Extended Comfort page:

pilotboy1985YYC

I paid $220 for a one way flight from Halifax to London, Gatwick.
I just went to see how much it would cost for Extended Comfort and they want $221 😂 $1 more than I paid for the ticket. Crazyness.
Also, it looks like they jacked up the price of the emergency exit seats. I'm pretty positive they were $149 a couple weeks ago and now they want $211!

aerobod

Any total ticket price below about $300 YHZ to LGW and $400 LGW to YHZ (due to UK departure tax) is being sold at a loss, be thankful you originally managed to obtain one that is deeply discounted.

pilotboy1985YYC

I don't doubt that.
Still 22 dates in September and October where YHZ-LGW can be done for $220. It's an amazing deal.

aerobod

That is for Basic fares with the inherent limitations of that fare, though. The Extended Comfort seat selection cost is fare bundle dependent, so is going to be a lot more for Basic than for the Econo or EconoFlex fare. Probably cheaper to buy an Econo fare then upgrade to Extended Comfort than to buy Basic then upgrade.

I can’t see that they would provide any incentive price wise to purchase Basic then upgrade to Extended Comfort than upgrading from other fare classes, otherwise no one would tend to buy the other fare classes initially, if they did.