scrubbedexpat091

Doesn't mean the meals will be free. Westjet offers meals on their longer flights already, however they come with a price.

Considering they already fly international over 5 hours and still charge for meals, I see the same on flight to Europe.

Their Vancouver to Hawaii flights clock in at nearly 6.5 hours.

Vancouver to Cancun is 5hr 45min.


I would not expect free meals, but who knows. They currently don't offer free meals on their Dublin flights, but those are shy of 5 hours.

Their current Halifax to Glasgow flights are 5hr 15 min and to my knowledge no free meals* just buy on board.

* They offer free meals if you buy their fancier coach seats in the first couple of rows.


They don't accept cash though, just credit cards including Discover Card.

scrubbedexpat133

I have flown West Jet a few times and I was not really impressed. I prefer to fly into Heathrow so unless it was significantly cheaper or the alternative was very inconvenient I would not use them again.

I dont understand the lack of complimentary meals either. Penny pinching muppets.

scrubbedexpat091

They like to keep their cost's down so they can pass the savings onto the consumer so they say, but every time I have needed to fly anywhere, Westjet and Air Canada are always the 2 most expensive of the options when flying to the US, so I use a US airline as they always come in cheaper. Still no free meals, but eh when the fare is lower, I don't expect as much amenity wise, but if an airline wants 800 round trip for a 2 hour flight, they better offer something above the airline asking 350 for the same flight, and Westjet doesn't, so no idea why people choose them.


I flew them once only because it was an emergency and they were the only ones at the time flying from Abbotsford, BC, and wasn't impressed at all, certainly wouldn't pay a premium they seem to want to fly them.

Domestic in Canada they and Air Canada always seem to have the same price to the cent, so I'd just fly AC since they partner with a US Airline offering more options.

bgpz

To be fair, WestJet have honoured their "price drop guarantee" the last two times I've flown with them - but the onus is on you to keep track of if the price drops, take screen shots and contact them. Also, it's returned back to you in "WestJet Dollars", but I've now racked up $130 for little more than keeping an occasional eye on if there were any seat sales, and spending five minutes following their (very clear, it must be said) instructions on their website.

At the time I had to book, AC and WS were identically priced - and the differential between Toronto and Hamilton was minimal, so I happily took the option closer to home. First trip was carry-on only, and thanks to online check-in I went from front door to gate in 25 minutes. I've spent that long in the CATSA line alone at YYZ!

AC domestic in a narrow-body aircraft is just as appealing (i.e. not particularly) as WS, IMO - and since Tango fares now earn a fraction of miles flown, I'm happier to credit my WS flights to American (and can then top up with RBC Avion points as needed to actually make some use of them far more quickly than I could with the equivalent AC flights).

Buy-on-board for long-haul isn't new: Icelandair have been doing it for a few years. I usually prefer to take my own food on board, and don't care about in-flight booze much (if you pick the right one, eating and drinking in a decent lounge can be far better value).

I've also noticed that WestJet have eased up on the overly happy-clappy too-selfconsciously-cute tone in the majority of their passenger announcements, since aggressively going after Air Canada frequent flyers (they were status matching a year or so back, I believe).

It'll be interesting to see how they position their 767 offerings to the UK. We're considering the DUB-YYT-YYZ route for something next summer, and making the most of the longer layover option for a rare opportunity to check out St Johns.

(Whilst many people I know want to just get the travel over and be done with it, we've enjoyed engineering a little side trip on indirect routings in recent years... horses for courses, but if you're in to that sort of thing, there can be some pretty good possibilities to make the most of!)

bc2015

Details announced, should shake things up a bit


WestJet to fly Vancouver to London for only $299

Snowy560

Thanks for sharing. I see the report says they've bought 4 new Boeing 767s. Aren't these quite old planes? (nervous flyer!).

I also see that BA (too expensive but we have used them once or twice) are going to start using Airbus 380s on the Vancouver/London route.

S

bc2015

The BA 747s are likely older than the 767s that Westjet will be using.

Snowy560

Yes, you have a point. We flew on BA in 2011 and I noticed that the 747s both ways were obviously quite old.

S

SchnookoLoly

The prices are ridiculous. If you're debating a trip, now is a good time to buy! Just looked up fights for my in-laws for June next year, 7-22 June for £330ea from Gatwick to Pearson.

Snowy560

That's a good idea. I really want my friend to come out to visit and have been debating this, checking out Air Transat prices etc.


S

PS: don't forget they might need an eTA (after next March)!

PPS: the site won't actually let me check out LGW to YVR return but will let me check out the reverse (if I start the journey in Canada). Is this because of being located in Canada?

Howefamily

of course they have nothing flying to LGW from Halifax

scrubbedexpat091

BA has old planes too, the 767 model is still in production at Boeing.

No reason to be concerned about age of a plane when flying major western based airlines.


While the frames Westjet has are indeed older and built in the 90's, they are still well within their useful and safe lifetime, and prior were operated by Qantas which is a well respected and safe airline as well.


There is no reason to be concerned about the age of the planes, if they were past their safe life, Westjet would not be flying them.

scrubbedexpat091

If we had the money, I'd be booking right away...lol...Those are crazy low fares.

Atlantic Xpat

Frustratingly WJ only load fares 331 days in advance. We are planning to go back to UK for a family vacation next summer but can't go til August. The introductory fares are loaded til Aug 11th or were earlier today as they are selling fast. If we could have booked for July I would have got 2 adults and 2 kids to London for $2100. That's less than half the price of AC.

Oh well even if we can't get the intro prices hopefully the competition will drive fares a bit lower.

Snowy560

Am I right in thinking the offer is only on until tomorrow?

Can't seem to check prices LGW/YVR (for my mate) only the other way around.

S