WESTJET from the U.S.to Vancouver

[yolotraveler]

Looking to book flights for our Sept. cruise out of Vancouver. Many options are given for flights on WESTJET. We have no knowledge of or experience with this airline. Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated. 

 

[CruiserBruce]

You will probably get more expertise if you ask on the Cruise Air board. WestJet Flys all over Canada and to many airports in the US. It's not limited to Seattle. 

[martincath]

I'll goe ven further than Bruce - if you really want a wide sample of opinions on westjet, you're not going to get it anywhere on CC, 'flyer talk' forum (not sure about linking to a travel competitor, but a quick search should find it!) would deliver.

 

My two cents - most folks I know with a preference between WJ and Air Canada like WJ a little more. In theory all staff should be 'more invested' in success because they are all owners (of teeny tiny proportions, but still if the company does well, they win).

 

Planes run a bit older, their idea of 'first class' is basically 'do not sell a middle row' on most aircraft, but if you're buying economy tickets seat comfort is better than AC Rouge but a touch worse than regular AC, so it's overall about a wash.

 

Honestly I generally do find service aboard aircraft better on WJ, the general vibe reminds me of Alaska with just a little more happiness from the crew, but because they codeshare with Delta for US flights and we have never had anything but absolute crap treatment on Delta we no longer book them in case we end up on Delta metal!

 

If AC were the same price I'd prefer them to WJ regardless; but I'll take WJ over any AC Rouge plane.

Edited April 30 by martincath
spelling

[yolotraveler]

Thank you so much for the informative responses.

[rrrrtt]

4 hours ago, martincath said:

Planes run a bit older, their idea of 'first class' is basically 'do not sell a middle row' on most aircraft, but if you're buying economy tickets seat comfort is better than AC Rouge but a touch worse than regular AC, so it's overall about a wash.

 

If AC were the same price I'd prefer them to WJ regardless; but I'll take WJ over any AC Rouge plane.

 

Bit outdated.  First paragraph, Westjet (WS) has introduced for more than a few years now a Premium Economy product which is more like domestic First on U.S. airlines.  Note that it's not on all a/c and you may be subbed a ex-Sunwing a/c which has no PE cabin at all with no compensation.

 

2nd paragraph. WestJet is in the process of making the cheap seats more insufferable.  There'll be PE (not a bad deal if you book early enough _and_ they don't sub out your booked a/c with one that has none), some E+ product for the first 3-5 rows behind PE with some enhanced catering service and extra pitch, and then reduced pitch (28.5") for everyone else.  This is substantially less than AC Rouge. 

 

If you book WS, try to book through DL (codeshares offered).  You may be able to cancel/reschedule if your PE flight is subbed out.   Also, DL mileage flights can be very cheap (booked LAX-YVR-YYJ for ~12,000 DL miles + $5.6 in taxes).

[martincath]

14 minutes ago, rrrrtt said:

Bit outdated.

 

Appreciate the corrections! @yolotraveler , sounds like this person's been on more WJ flights more recently than I have so I'd give their commentary more weight than mine!

 

My beef with Rouge wasn't pitch, but lack of cushioning - I've never had a sorer butt after a flight than my flight to Vegas on Rouge, which AC swapped on us from a regular service with no compensation. If WJ have just reduced pitch in the back rather than changing to thinner seats I'd still prefer their Economy product to Rouge...

 

Our only WJ flight since they started offering the PE cabin had exactly the situation you describe - swapped metal, no PE, no compensation 'because you still have a premium seat' - hence my comment about 'most' of their planes lacking such... to be fair, I could have checked the current fleet numbers to see if the Covid cull means that now most of the planes do actually have PE seating, but even if 'some' or 'a few' were more accurate descriptors, it's still craptacular to even pretend that the old style 'no middle' is as good as a wider seat - the battle for the armrest also simply shifts to 'who gets to leave their stuff on the unused middle seat' if you aren't traveling as a couple!

 

 

[rrrrtt]

WS appears to have converted the normal fleet to PE (product was announced about 5 years ago) and even an old (close to 20 y.o. from the reg) 737-700 last month had it (flown slightly-newer 737-800s (no Maxs) for the most part otherwise.  PE is very nice if you get it but I'd be seriously annoyed if substituted.  It's just the SunWing fleet that creeps in.  One could always fly UA, AS or DL too though change of planes may be involved.

 

Have avoided AC (especially Rouge) for years since no *A loyalty but I get to experience the joys of an AC CR9 in a couple of weeks (one on a UA/SkyWest CR7 years ago was pretty much what you described with AC Rouge).

[yolotraveler]

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

[Zach1213]

21 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

You will probably get more expertise if you ask on the Cruise Air board. WestJet Flys all over Canada and to many airports in the US. It's not limited to Seattle. 

Hell they event fly to Asia and Europe in addition to the Caribbean and Central America. Definitely becoming an increasingly global airline. I only flew them once between Montreal and Calgary but that was a few years ago and I am not sure my experience is accurate anymore, but back then they were decent even for a four hour flight. 

[kayehall]

What is Rouge?  My question is are they reliable, on time, no lost luggage and fair with compensation on flights that have issues.  Not just monetary but protection on other flights, etc

[rrrrtt]

LCC for Air  Canada.  Think MetroJet for USAir, Ted for United, Delta Song, etc.

[Fairgarth]

On 4/30/2024 at 8:04 PM, martincath said:

My two cents - most folks I know with a preference between WJ and Air Canada like WJ a little more. In theory all staff should be 'more invested' in success because they are all owners (of teeny tiny proportions, but still if the company does well, they win).

 

 

I stand to be corrected but I'm not sure if this is still true.  WestJet started as a clone of Southwest 28 years ago but they have long since abandoned that idea and they look more like Air Canada every day.  In the early days, they were non-union and employees owned shares.  They ran ads showing happy Westjetters, who 'owned' the company, looking after their 'guests'.  They don't run these ads any more.  Most of the employees are now unionized.  WestJet was bought out by Onex so I'm assuming that nobody owns shares in the company.  WestJet are fine, go ahead.

[martincath]

5 hours ago, Fairgarth said:

... 

Seems like I'm even more out of the loop than I thought on WJ, thanks for further correction!

[Zach1213]

21 hours ago, rrrrtt said:

LCC for Air  Canada.  Think MetroJet for USAir, Ted for United, Delta Song, etc.

 

Damn I haven't heard those names in a long time. 

[DogLover]

On 4/30/2024 at 8:03 AM, yolotraveler said:

Looking to book flights for our Sept. cruise out of Vancouver. Many options are given for flights on WESTJET. We have no knowledge of or experience with this airline. Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated. 

 

We're flying Westjet for the first time Phoenix to Vancouver on Friday 5/3. As @rrrrtt mentioned, we booked several months ago using Delta SkyPesos for 12,500 miles pp plus minimal taxes (one way.) Other than Air Canada & Westjet, there are no carriers that operate nonstops from PHX. We were able to purchase extra comfort seats (although not Premium due to being a codeshare booking.) Our snowbird friends that live in Calgary rave about Westjet. I'll come back and let ya know how it goes 🙂

[Fairgarth]

13 hours ago, DogLover said:

Other than Air Canada & Westjet, there are no carriers that operate nonstops from PHX. 🙂

 

Pre-Covid American flew PHX - YVR.  I have taken it.  Obviously they dropped it.

[DogLover]

@yolotraveler We were pleasantly surprised by our Westjet experience and would fly them again if necessary. Staffing at the Phoenix check-in was "sparse" but we did OLCI so at the airport, kiosks were available to check bags, verify documents and print bag tags. A quick wait to bag drop and we were on our way. Thankfully our information (including KTN for TSA pre-check) was in the record since we booked Delta codeshare.

 

The extra comfort seats were great ... plenty of legroom and Zone 2 boarding. We were in the Escape Lounge sipping Mimosa's within 15 minutes after our car service drop-off.

[DogLover]

On 5/3/2024 at 4:22 AM, Fairgarth said:

 

Pre-Covid American flew PHX - YVR.  I have taken it.  Obviously they dropped it.

Yes, indeed. We've also taken that route on AA pre-Covid. YVR is one of our favorite long weekend destinations! Slim pickings these days from US carriers for certain Canadian routes 😞

[em-sk]

On 4/30/2024 at 8:03 AM, yolotraveler said:

Looking to book flights for our Sept. cruise out of Vancouver. Many options are given for flights on WESTJET. We have no knowledge of or experience with this airline. Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated. 

 

 

The two major airlines in Canada are Air Canada and WestJet.   Air Canada partners with United in the US.  WestJet partners with Delta in the US.  Air Canada is quite a bit bigger and has a vast international network with major hubs in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.   

 

WestJet is a bit smaller, focused more in Western Canada with its main hub in Calgary.  Domestically and to the US they fly mostly Boeing 737 aircraft or Q400.  For flights to Europe, Japan and South Korea they fly mostly Boeing 787.  

 

Economy is about the same as what you would be use to on United, Delta, American.  Thy have a small premium cabin on the 737 that is similar to what the US airlines would call first.  The 787 that mostly goes overseas has economy a premium economy and international business.   

 

Domestic/US economy there will be a drink service and bag of pretzels or cookies.  Some buy on board options.   If you want entertainment download their app ahead of time and there is streaming movies.      

 

I think you will find them comparable to mainstream airlines in the US.

Edited Saturday at 11:31 PM by em-sk

[yolotraveler]

Thank you for the informative response.