Westjet seat selection

[grantclaire]

Hi everyone, I logged on to Westjets online checkin this AM at 1030 to checkin and select seats for my 1030 flight on Sat to Orlando. I could checkin but I could not change my seats, I wanted to get two window seats for the kids. The site was showing no other seats available. I called Westjet to see if there was a problem with the site. They told me you can request your seats BEFORE the 24hr checkin period which apparently eveyone else did on this flight! This was news to me. Its no big deal the kids will have to share the window seat. Has anyone else booked the seats ahead of time?
Thanks

 

[so_are_you]

do you have to call to do it because I can't seem to do it online
thanks for the heads up
Rae

 

[Echie]

I'm interested in this too. How would I go about doing this online? I don't even know where on the website it gives me the option of seat selection.

 

[grantclaire]

The Westjet rep said you can call a request a certain seat, I thought it could be done online only 24hrs before the flight not sooner?

 

[so_are_you]

I just called and asked if I could request a seat and they said no not till 24 hours before
hmmmmm
I even asked if they had the opion of paying for a seat selection like other airlines and was told no

 

[Blanche_Neige]

I just went o WDW with West Jet January 2009, at the time of the booking (july 2007) they told me seats where only selected at the airport

They did put in a request to keep all our party of toghether and because we are travelling with kids with special needs, we asked t be seated the 1st seat on the plane.

Just before my trip I notice the tickets price went down, I called them and they credited me the difference , at that time they told me I could reserve seats 24hrs in advance online only, event under our circumstances (the kids...)

 

[grantclaire]

Somethings up then! We are getting 2 stories from Westjet! When I get back I will try contacting WJ and see if I can get a definite answer. I could not pick my seats today at the 24hr mark.

 

[abirdd]

As explained to me last year by WJ...

The WJ computer does seat assignments in advance. Several reasons include:

Lap Infants - Parent(s) traveling with lap infants MUST be seated in rows that accommodate the extra air mask requirements. Not all rows on an airplane (this goes for every airline) have the extra face masks, therefore these guests are always pre-assigned seating. If you look at the WestJet check-in, you'll notice people with infants are NOT permitted to web check-in.

Special Assistance Guests - WestJet's computer is setup to take into consideration the number of guests needing special assistance and the best location for them to be seated on an aircraft. Again, this will impact the availability of seating released at the 24 hour window.

Families Traveling on 1 Reservation - If you log into the system, and notice large blocks of 3 or 4 seats gone, this is due to the system auto-assignments of families. The system is setup to keep a family reservation together.

Weight/Balance - WestJet is not alone when doing rear to front of aircraft seat assignments. This is to ensure the proper weight/balance requirements for the flight.

So, while technically you can do a web check-in 24 hours in advance... there is a VERY good possibilty WestJet has already had to assign certain seating to meet Transport regulations.