WestJet to start charging fee for first checked bag
Posted Sep 15, 2014 11:50 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Canada’s second largest airline will start charging guests flying its econo-fare for their first checked bag.
The $25 fee will only apply to new bookings made today and onward, for travel on or after October 29th 2014.
Anyone flying to any of WestJet’s international destinations including Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America ,and Europe will still get to check a bag at no charge.
It’s expected the change will impact only 1 in 5 of their guests.
Spokesperson Robert Palmer tells 660News the announcement will help them to keep their econo-fares competitive.
“The airline world started moving in this direction many years ago, this is about the unbundling of services and moving towards an ‘a la carte system’ where you only pay for those services that you use,” he said.
“By offering a low-fare for those guests that don’t want or don’t need to check that bag, we’re making that option available to them with our lower econo-fare bucket,” said Palmer. “What it means is the fee is going to raise revenue which allows us to keep fares as low as possible. Going forward it’s going to allow us to offer lower fares for the econo-bucket.”
When asked if they were worried about losing business to their competitors, he said their competitors are flying with very high-load factors and first bag fees so there was no pressing concerns.
“The lowest available fare removes that bag fee, if you’re looking for the lowest available price without a checked bag, the econo-fare is what you’re looking for,” said Palmer.
The airline also took the opportunity to launch it’s price-drop guarantee on WestJet flights and vacations packages. Those who see that the price of their flight or package has dropped since their original purchase can receive the difference in WestJet dollars.
President of the Consumers’ Association Bruce Cran sees things differently when it comes to what’s happening.
“I can’t say I’m surprised, I think this has been coming,” he said. “There has been a continual search for revenues on the part of all airlines these days, Air Canada moved to this field some time ago and I’m really not surprised to see WestJet doing it now.”
“According to the airlines the costs are going up but at the same time they’re making record profits,” said Cran. “There are substantial differences in charges and airline services. I think what we need is a good dose of competition and in the future that might happen but we’re looking for improvements all the time.”
He believes the Canadian people are looking for bargains and won’t be happy about the additional charges but admits there isn’t much they will be able to do about it.
When asked about what kind of recourse do consumers have, the only thing he could suggest was that you call your Member of Parliament.
“Governments like to see a big swell of sentiment expressed before they’ll move on anything.”
