Any Benefit To WestJet Linking With Southwest Now?

[AndyMcV]

I was just curious if this helps us at all going from YYZ to MCO.

Andy

 

[drag n' fly]

I sure hope so since they are headquartered here in Calgary. I just hope it was not some sort of lame marketing ploy to hedge fuel costs with SW

 

[bbangel]

It means that you can buy a flight from WestJet that is actually on a Southwest plane. So the first leg of your flight (Canada to US) would be on West Jet and then when you change planes you might be on a Southwest flight but your luggage will carry through.

 

[dis_guy]

What's up with WJ lately, anyway?

We're looking for airfare to WDW for next Christmas and their online booking page has dates up to Oct 31 and no farther. NW has dates into Jan 2010 already!

Merging their schedule with SW?

 

[tiggerrr]

It means that you can buy a flight from WestJet that is actually on a Southwest plane. So the first leg of your flight (Canada to US) would be on West Jet and then when you change planes you might be on a Southwest flight but your luggage will carry through.

It will be interesting to see how this really goes for Westjet. Southwest does not use the "hub" system of flying people to a hub and making them connect from there. They still fly point-to-point. Their largest presence is in Las Vegas, from which you can fly to just about any other Southwest destination. This is pretty good for Westjet who has direct flights to Vegas from Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg and Toronto (along with seasonal service from other cities).

So, you should be able to fly anywhere Southwest flies by flying Westjet to Las Vegas and then Southwest from there. If they do a true codesharing arrangement. We'll just have to see how much it costs.

Beyond Las Vegas, Southwest has a big presence in Phoenix, with access to most of their cities (although I can't imagine wanting to fly to say, Boston, from Edmonton through Phoenix). After that, Westjet does not fly to most of Southwest's big airports (Chicago, Washington, Dallas, Houston).

 

[Polynesianfan]

I got a coupon code from Southwest (through e-mail) for a discount on WestJet.
"WestJet Airlines
Save 10% on any WestJet fare for flights from the U.S. to Canada with promo code: GOCANADA "
...don't know if it has expired yet.

 

[calgarygary]

I was just curious if this helps us at all going from YYZ to MCO.

Andy

Actually, there would have been greater benefits to the consumer had the 2 companies not linked up - think of it as a non-aggression pact. Had SW entered the Cdn. market in a competitive mode, we would have seen some great pricing in response from WJ and then AC.

 

[AndyMcV]

Actually, there would have been greater benefits to the consumer had the 2 companies not linked up - think of it as a non-aggression pact. Had SW entered the Cdn. market in a competitive mode, we would have seen some great pricing in response from WJ and then AC.

Interesting point. I think you're right and that would have been nice for us consumers.

I still can't get over the price difference that we saw between AC and SW last June. AC was $2600 out of Toronto for the four of us versus with SW and under $800 for the 4 of us out of Buffalo. That is absolutely rediculous.

 

[laura001]

I haven't seen any great pricing at all....has anyone?

 

[MkyMws]

Well I just double checked our dates through Westjet

Toronto to Orlando return March 11th-21st

$4,700.00 CDN.

We booked Southwest & are flying for $1,600 US round trip (about $2,100.00 CDN).

Unfortunately the dollar was at about $.80 when we booked.

Man I am kicking myself for not buying some US funds when it was at par.

Well

tim

 

[photomama]

I didn't see any benefits when I booked my westjet flight from Calgary to Orlando

 

[I Am Canadian Eh]

Probably won't see a big advantage for Orlando, as Westjet already flies there - unless you fly from Canada to somewhere in the US, then transfer to a SW flight, but I'm sure it won't be substantial savings.

Main benefit for us would be flights to somewhere they WJ doesn't fly to, like Houston, Washington, etc...