Westjet: UltraBasic

[nwtl]

Did you get the exciting news from Westjet? In a nutshell, they're claiming to offer guests new fare options with affordability choice, they want guests to now be able to choose the products and services they value as part of their flight booking. Sounds great in theory. Personally I'd love to have a transparent breakdown of pricing and perks: I'd get to choose if I want to pick my seat, take a carry on, check a bag in, board first or last, earn points, etc.

In practice however, it seems Westjet has just renamed their basic tier of tickets to UltraBasic, keeping virtually the same Basic prices, but removing ALL the perks! You don't even get to always sit together as a couple.

Westjet did not reduce prices or increase affordability and choice, it effectively increased the prices but claimed it to a a good thing.
You can't take your guests for idiots. Ok, many are idiots. But are we all stupid enough to not see this is akin to shrinkflation in retail?
And of course I think the name is an oxymoron. This is not UltraBasic, it's InfraBasic. Because it's INFERIOR to Basic.

Naturally Air Canada will follow soon enough. Great move for all Canadians.. not.

In principle, I'm sick of people bringing 2-3 jumbo bags of all shapes and dimensions onto the plane under guise of carry-on. It's getting beyond ridiculous. Every flight is overbooked, every carry-on compartment is full, people are literally fighting each other and the crew. Flights are offering free check-in at the gates on regular basis because of too many carry-ons. I think it's time to charge a fee for every carry-on other than a personal bag: tighten the restrictions on the size and weight; and instead make the check-in cheaper with the first one included, or make everything an extra fee, and actually drop the base fare price.

Remember the old days of flying, the comfort at the gate, stress free boarding, when it did not feel like trying to squeeze into an over crowded bus in Banaglore.

 

[LLLurkJ2]

Did you get the exciting news from Westjet? In a nutshell, they're claiming to offer guests new fare options with affordability choice, they want guests to now be able to choose the products and services they value as part of their flight booking. Sounds great in theory. Personally I'd love to have a transparent breakdown of pricing and perks: I'd get to choose if I want to pick my seat, take a carry on, check a bag in, board first or last, earn points, etc.

In practice however, it seems Westjet has just renamed their basic tier of tickets to UltraBasic, keeping virtually the same Basic prices, but removing ALL the perks! You don't even get to always sit together as a couple.

Westjet did not reduce prices or increase affordability and choice, it effectively increased the prices but claimed it to a a good thing.
You can't take your guests for idiots. Ok, many are idiots. But are we all stupid enough to not see this is akin to shrinkflation in retail?
And of course I think the name is an oxymoron. This is not UltraBasic, it's InfraBasic. Because it's INFERIOR to Basic.

Naturally Air Canada will follow soon enough. Great move for all Canadians.. not.

In principle, I'm sick of people bringing 2-3 jumbo bags of all shapes and dimensions onto the plane under guise of carry-on. It's getting beyond ridiculous. Every flight is overbooked, every carry-on compartment is full, people are literally fighting each other and the crew. Flights are offering free check-in at the gates on regular basis because of too many carry-ons. I think it's time to charge a fee for every carry-on other than a personal bag: tighten the restrictions on the size and weight; and instead make the check-in cheaper with the first one included, or make everything an extra fee, and actually drop the base fare price.

Remember the old days of flying, the comfort at the gate, stress free boarding, when it did not feel like trying to squeeze into an over crowded bus in Banaglore.

Yeah, what other industry allows you to sell the same thing to two or more people? At least go back to offering standby its more honest.

And board the plane from back to front so were all not waiting for someone to squeeze a giant bag into thw overheads

 

[204fun]

I enjoy travel, but the incredible decline in the quality of air travel and the complete lack of customer service has really led me to re-evaluate whether or not that is where I want to be spending my money. In the past I might have booked 4-5 trips a year for pleasure that would require air travel, but nowadays I'm probably down to 1-2 and even those can be a frustrating pain in the ass.

More money to spend on experiences with SP's I guess...

 

[VinVan]

I flew Porter last year from Toronto to Vancouver and was pleasantly surprised. They’re a newish airline out of Toronto and they just recently started flights to Vancouver. Admittedly their front end (booking and ticketing) could use a little polishing, but their planes and service blew any WJ or AC service I’ve had in the last few years out of the water.

All of their jets are 4 seat across the cabin; two on either side of the aisle, so every seat is aisle or window (no sandwiching in between). The WiFi was free (unlike a $30 upcharge on AC) and worked well; actual food and free wine or beer. Great service too. With marginally more leg room than any AC or WJ flight I’ve been on recently. When I first saw the 4-across seating, I thought, “great, a jet from the 80s.” But nope, it’s a completely modern fleet from a builder out of South America that has the highest safety rating of any jet builder in the world.

I’m loathe to use the numbering system, but I’ll make an exception in this case.

Booking 7
Looks 10
Service 10

Would I repeat? Yup.

 

[masonjar]

I remember a time when chances of your luggage not getting lost at your flight's destination were better than 50/50.

 

[oldshark]

Personally my worst experiences have been with Westjet. But I am not keen on Air Canada either. Frankly, I am tired of air travel but work is making me travel more.

I always take a carry-on with my prescription drugs, computer and Bipap. Everything else goes to checked luggage.

 

[masterpoonhunter]

Pretty soon the airlines will be offering us really basic basic service such as you pay them and then you just stay home.
The shell game we have all been in all these years is really taking root in everything ...

 

[Deguire]

I don't see the problem. If you don't want UltraBasic then don't buy it. But if somebody else does, be glad and be grateful since they are doing you a favour. I'm sure the number available on any flight is limited, let's say 20. So that's 20 carryons less, indeed maybe 30 carryons less. That's great for everybody else. A couple of months ago I was on an American Airlines A321, close to the rear. Upon arrival I had to sit there for another half hour until I could get off. Just from observation, carryons were the great delayer. People got up from their seat and then had to get down their carryon. It took time. And then it's two rows behind my seat...excuse me....sorry...just a moment...I can't quite reach....thank you....that green one too.... I think this is terrible from the airline's point of view. They don't make money sitting on the ground so they need to get folks off and the next lot on. It's taking far too long. I seem to remember reading about some airline that took checked bags for free but charged for carryons. Don't remember which one but you can see why.

 

[overdone]

according to a guy on the news, who's a go to guy for airline related issues

this has been going on in Europe for 20 years already

 

[angry anderson]

Seat belts. Optional extra.

 

[ModSquad]

according to a guy on the news, who's a go to guy for airline related issues

this has been going on in Europe for 20 years already

Ryanair started in 1996 and are a very low cost airline. Tickets were cheap unless you require extras like checked bags or bringing your bag in the cabin. There was some discussion about paying to use the toilet too. Can’t recall if that charge became a reality or not.

They made money by flying out of secondary airports like Gatwick and others in the UK midlands staying away from LHR.

I think that model could work if airports like Abbotsford and Bellingham were used to stay away from higher cost landing fee airports like YVR.

 

[angry anderson]

Ryanair started in 1996 and are a very low cost airline. Tickets were cheap unless you require extras like checked bags or bringing your bag in the cabin. There was some discussion about paying to use the toilet too. Can’t recall if that charge became a reality or not.

They made money by flying out of secondary airports like Gatwick and others in the UK midlands staying away from LHR.

I think that model could work if airports like Abbotsford and Bellingham were used to stay away from higher cost landing fee airports like YVR.

Flights (allegiantair.com)

 

[masterpoonhunter]

And wasn't there some model somewhere of standing seats? If you can call them that, where you got to be stacked into your row kinda leaning against some abortion of a vertical pad? Some bright MBA working from only a spread sheet figured HELL we can add another 50% more paying customers on each flight!!

 

[SolidSnake]

Yeah. You have to pay to use many public toilets too. Why not on a plane? Just wear adult diapers if you don't want to pay, and be thankful you don't need to wait in a lineup.

 

[SolidSnake]

And soon they'll start charging for things like oxygen masks and life jackets.

 

[angry anderson]

Old joke. But bears repeating.
Lufthansa flight does pancake splashdown landing in ocean. Passengers manage to make it on to the wings and stand waiting for instructions.
Pilot says. "those of you who can swim, stand on the left wing of the plane. Those of you who can't. Stand on the right wing.
To those on the left. Land is about 3 miles away. The water temperature isn't so bad. You could possibly make it to land before hypothermia sets in. If you are strong swimmers.
To those of you on the right wing.
Thank you for flying Lufthansa.

 

[oldshark]

 

[vanblue]

My objection is to what constitutes personal carry on.....some people will have a carryon bag and then be wearing a backpack the size a sherpa would wear on a K2 expedition. I know that checked bags are costly but it seems unfair that someone can use a huge backpack and just carry everything with them onto the plane and as another poster mentioned, the overheads are always jammed.

 

[gr8_punk]

This is their second attempt to take out Flair. Lets see how they do

 

[kelcaine]

The best airline I have flown on in Canada is Porter. They don’t have middle seats, serve free alcohol on the flight, good snacks, good pricing, and overall the best experience with airlines here. I dont know if they have international flights, but if you’re flying in Canada look them up.