By
Patrick Sojka - CEO Rewards Canada | Posted Mar 4, 2010
Finally,
the program that has been delayed numerous times for the past few years is now
here. Live on the Westjet.com site as of March 4th, the program takes a page out
of the Travel Rewards Credit Card industry by allowing members to redeem points
for full or partial travel with no black out dates. Basically you will put your
WestJet dollars towards the purchase of any ticket at the going rate from WestJet.
Many Travel Point and Hybrid Credit card programs do the same, for example redeeming
5000 points for a $50 credit towards any travel that is booked. Of course the
more dollars you have the bigger the discount towards that travel.
Overview
To earn those WestJet dollars mentioned above, you must spend at least $1500 in
a 12 month period with WestJet flights only. The 12 month period begins from the
day you sign up with the WestJet Frequent Guest Program. The $1500 you have to
spend is on base airfare excluding any taxes, fees or surcharges. Once you reach
the $1500 level, you will receive $50 WestJet Dollars and then be able to earn
2.5% in WestJet Dollars on all WestJet flights after the $1500 level as well as
1% in WestJet Dollars for WestJet Vacations purchases. You will receive more WestJet
Dollars and other rewards once you reach higher annual spend levels, as follows:
- Spend $1500 get $50 in WestJet Dollars - Spend $4500 get $165 WestJet
Dollars + Canadian Jet Away reward: 1 Complimentary Companion Ticket within Canada,
4 advance seat selection vouchers and two lounge passes ($500 value) - Spend
$6000 get $230 WestJet Dollars + International Jet Away reward:1 Complimentary
Companion Ticket anywhere WestJet flies, 4 advance seat selection vouchers and
two lounge passes ($800 value) - Spend $7500 get $300 WestJet Dollars
As
an introductory offer, if you sign up before Dec 31, 10 the $4500 award level
is dropped to $3000 for the first year.
Basically once
you reach the $1500 you then start earning 2.5% in WestJet Dollars back on every
dollar you spend with WestJet and 1% back on WestJet Vacations. The key is that
you have to hit that $1500 level.
The annual spending resets every 12
months based upon when you joined and your WestJet dollars earned have a 5 year
life span (they expire at the end of the 5th year after you have earned them)
You can also earn additional
WestJet dollars with the WestJet RBC MasterCard and other bonus offers during
the year. There is no mention yet of any other airline, hotel or car rental partners.
Earning
WestJet Dollars WestJet In general,
you earn 2.5% in WestJet Dollars on WestJet flights (total base fare, excluding
taxes, fees and surcharges) but these don't kick in until you hit the $1500 annual
spend level. The $1500 level gives $50 in WestJet dollars ($1500 x 2.5% = $37.50
+ a $12.50 bonus) and after this point you will earn 2.5% on any WestJet flights.
WestJet flights booked via any method, online, WestJet Super Sales Center, Travel
Agency, online booking sites etc. all count towards your annual spend and the
earning of WestJet Dollars as long as you have your WestJet ID attached to your
booking.
WestJet Vacations Once you
reach your first annual spend level of $1500 with WestJet you can start to earn
WestJet dollars on WestJet Vacations bookings. You will receive 1% in WestJet
Dollars for these WJV bookings (taxes and fees excluded).
RBC
MasterCard
ADVERTISEMENT
You
can earn additional WestJet dollars with the WestJet RBC MasterCards. There are
two offerings from RBC, the first is the WestJet RBC World MasterCard which offers
1.5% in WestJet dollars on everyday spending and 2% on all WestJet and WestJet
Vacations bookings. The card comes with a $100 WestJet Dollar sign up bonus. The
second is the WestJet RBC MasterCard offers 1.0% in WestJet dollars on everyday
spending and 1.5% on all WestJet and WestJet Vacations bookings. The card comes
with a $25 WestJet Dollar sign up bonus. The annual fees are $79 and $39 respectively.
Redeeming
WestJet Dollars At this point you can redeem WestJet dollars for
WestJet flights or WestJet Vacations packages. WestJet Flights: Like
we stated above, WestJet Dollars are like cash, you can use them towards any new
WestJet Flight booking. It does not matter how many you have as the cash works
as a discount towards the base fare of a WestJet flight regardless of the cost.
The more WestJet dollars you have, the bigger the discount. Like most frequent
flyer programs, WestJet Dollars cannot be used towards taxes or fees on the ticket.
WestJet Vacations You can use WestJet Dollars towards any booking with
WestJet Vacations up to a maximum of $500 per booking. Once again taxes and fees
are extra.
Partners At this time the only
partners in WestJet's Frequent Guest program are WestJet Vacations and RBC Royal
Bank. It is expected that some of WestJet's airline partners like Air France KLM,
hotel and car rental partners will offer some form of WestJet Dollars in the near
future.
Key Features The biggest feature
with the WestJet Frequent Guest Program is no black out dates. As long as seats
are available (ie for sale on the website) then you will be able to redeem for
them. There are no black out dates and there is no limit to number of seats per
flight or per route like legacy frequent flyer programs. Although most legacy
programs have introduced access to all seats at all times it requires more miles,
typically double the base requirement or more whereas with WestJet the value of
your rewards remains the same regardless of the ticket value.
Jet-Away
bonus rewards are an interesting way to reward members without giving away tons
of dollars and relatively unique to the Frequent Flyer Program industry but again
they are taking a page from the credit card industry where numerous cards offer
complimentary companion tickets. With these rewards however WestJet is keeping
revenue in mind as you have to buy a ticket to go along with the companion ticket.
The WestJet Frequent Guest Program allows for transfers between members for
a flat $20 fee, compared to most frequent flyer programs that have a base fee
plus a certain amount of cents per miles transferred.
Overall
what is good about programs like the WestJet program is that you don't have to
have a lot of points to redeem and get some sort of reward versus the set point
programs like most frequent flyer programs where you need a minimum amount of
points to redeem for a flight.
Downfalls
The $1500 annual spend level will keep the ultra-leisure traveller away unless
they get the RBC MasterCard. The spending is also per person, so if you think,
by booking your family of four a trip and spending $1600 in base fares reaches
the first level, think again, each person will only have $400 towards the first
level.
Another downfall of this type of program is that value is lost
when you have to redeem for expensive/non-seat sale flights as you have to redeem
more points/dollars versus the set level programs which require a set amount of
points for a flight regardless of what it is selling for (of course this is the
best case scenario not taking into account black out dates, availability etc)
As well the WestJet
credit card is right in the middle of the pack as the 1.5% return on
the RBC World MasterCard version falls below cards like the Capital
One Miles Plus and Diners Club MasterCards, but is equal to cards like
the TD Travel Visas.
The 12 month annual
spend levels will make it tough for the less frequent flyer to accrue WestJet
Dollars. While Aeroplan has a 12 month inactivity rule, all you have to do is
earn 1 or redeem 1 mile to keep your account and balance active and growing. With
WestJet if you don't hit that $1500 in the 12 month period, say you spend $1350,
you won't get anything.
The 5 Year expiry on your earned dollars is about
average for the industry but only for programs that have life span regulations
on earned miles/dollars. Many Asian frequent flyer programs have a 3 year life
span and in Canada Aeroplan has a 7 year life span while others have no life span
as long as you have activity in your account.
No online capabilites for
redemption, yet. That will come soon but it means calling WestJet to take care
of bookings when you want to redeem WestJet dollars.
Conclusion
Overall I feel the program is average, the key features listed above make
the program stand out from others in those areas but it will have some
difficulty attracting the leisure traveller who only travels once or twice
a year.The key target market for this program are the business travellers
who have not become 100% loyal to one airline's frequent flyer program
and would choose WestJet at least 3 or 4 times a year based on price or
schedule. This sector of the market should make the program a success
however it will have a tough time attracting the business travellers looking
for business class upgrades, lounge access on every flight and class of
service bonuses, those travellers will stick to the airline that gives
them these. Will these people join the program anyways? Absolutely, as
there is nothing to lose by joining WestJet's program.
I also think that WestJet and RBC are banking on people getting the credit
card as that will allow Frequent Guest members to bypass the $1500 annual
spending level with WestJet. For those who like to travel with WestJet,
but only do so once or twice a year they will have to go with the credit
card if they want to get the WestJet dollars discount.
This is the first frequent flyer program to come along
and compete in Canada with Aeroplan since Canadian Airlines Plus, but, at this
point I don't forsee many people jumping ship from Aeroplan to focus on WestJet's
program. The people who have been disgruntled with Air Canada or Aeroplan had
already made the move to WestJet prior to the launching of this program. At this
time Aeroplan still offers many more partners and redemption possibilities but
then again the WestJet Frequent Guest program is only in its infancy. It will
take a few years for it to become a major player and at that time I may have to
revisit this review. I am, just as curious as all of you, to see where this program
will go.
We would like to hear your thoughts on WestJet's new program
by commenting on our blog!
With WestJet being a very responsive company to commentary, please ensure you
do comment as WestJet does read our blog!
