WestJet

We are already checked in and wanted to get our printout. We’ve been waiting for almost two hours. The counters are closed and there are no agents. It’s Christmas Eve and we risk being late because of this. Horrible

Most Canadians love WJ and I was one of their biggest fans… until recently. Be extremely careful if you are booking from the US. Beware if you are paying in US dollars. They are not what is quoted. I wouldn’t have believed this myself if I hadn’t booked so many flights out of the US, and I read another review on here stating the same thing. They will charge you even higher than the Canadian exchange and what is quoted in US dollars does not convert, especially when using your hard-​earned Westjet dollars. It’s their way of lining their pockets based on unsuspecting Americans, and it cost me hundreds of extra dollars until I started to realize what was happening.
Also, the tvs’ sound and screen never work properly. Good luck disputing that.
Finally, I changed a flight within 24 hours and they charged my credit card three cents – another glitch. Fine, I would rather pay it than talk to a rep. And guess what? The change went through on my cc but not on my reservation. Again, try proving the three cent glitch. Last I checked, nothing on Westjet is three cents!
I used to prefer this airline as the flight attendants and agents are generally wonderful. The prices are higher than Air Canada and there are certainly no guarantees here. At least you know what you are getting with Air Canada.
I plan on cancelling my Westjet elite card and returning to Aeroplan. A sad state of affairs but due to the faulty electronic system and most phone reps – good riddance!

I recently flew to Vancouver from Los Angeles in August 2015 and based on the previous reviews I had low expectations.
However, my first round trip with west jet was excellent. Both flights were on time and I have no issues to write about.
If you’re planning a trip to Canada, I highly recommend using west Jet.
fyi– My tickets were competitively priced better than air canada.

Horrible customer service I’ve been dealing with them for a week now just to get them to charge me the right price they sent and confirmed me for!!! They’ve over charged me and are blaming it on the currency exchange rate. Don’t send a confirmation in USD if you don’t intend to up hold that price. Never again westjet!
Warning the email confirmation they send out is not a confirmation as the letter states. *** They send out a second one with receipts attached and that is the true price you’ll be paying which may vary from the «confirmation itinerary» pricing. You think your price is confirmed because the email is titled confirmation but it’s not… Check your statements after you book with them for over charges or save yourself the trouble and skip booking with them at all!

Recently flew to Vancouver BC, and went with this airline based on the recs of my Canadian friend, but fell short of my expectations. One staffer from the LA check in counter was condescending, and just gave a vibe that she didn’t want to be bothered or she was preoccupied, or just wasn’t interested or didn’t want to be there that day, which was a far cry from what my friend described to me abt friendly airline people. It was my first time to fly Westjet. The other 3 stars though are for the friendly staff while in the flight and the personnel at YVR. I guess there’s always one who ruins it for everyone. Will I take another Westjet flight? Maybe. But for the immediate future, I’ll try Air Canada and see how that goes. Travel can be stressful at times, and I’d really rather not be around negative people.

West jet seems fine, until there’s a problem. On Saturday, my 86 year old mom was supposed to fly from LAX to Vancouver. Although we live in San Diego, we prefer to put my mom on a non-​stop, which are not available from San Diego. When we arrived at the check-​in counter, we were informed that her flight was going to be 4 hours late due to a mechanical problem. We returned to the airport with plenty of time for the departure and she was taken to the gate by wheelchair. I left the airport to go home to San Diego. I kept checking flight status and up to the 3:35 pm departure, status indicated the flight would depart.
At 4 pm, I checked again and discovered the flight was canceled. I got no alerts or any notification. I tried calling Westjet to see about my mother. I asked if I could get alerts sent to me. I was told that it was possible only if I had booked the flight directly with Westjet. Since I used Orbitz, I was out of luck. Turns out that this is wrong, because I was later told that Wesjet doesn’t even offer text alerts.
I finally discovered after many frustrating phone transfers that my mom was rebooked on the 7:35 pm flight. I kept getting runarounds and conflicting information from the Westjet people I spoke to, all in Calgary. Oh, and except that they also transferred me to a baggage clerk somewhere unknown for reasons unknown.
I was informed by Westjet people in Calgary that there is no Westjet staff at LAX. They use staff from other airlines. This is why they are apparently not always properly informed of procedure.
I was told there is no way for gate staff to call my mother up to the gate to pass on any message. My mother was told because of «security» reasons she was not able to use the phone. She doesn’t have a cell phone and doesn’t know how to use one. However, they’d surely not have a problem calling a passenger to the gate desk if they needed to see a passport, etc.
She was never offered a food voucher or any other assistance even though she waited at the gate for nearly 10 hours.
My mom finally got a hold of my brother only because a Delta Airlines employee took pity on her and let her use a phone. The Delta employee also helped my mom get a food voucher from Westjet. It was never offered. In fact, when I asked, I was told that «if we give one to your mother, we’d have to give everyone a food voucher.»
I got so many cock-​eyed responses from Westjet, I finally told them I preferred it if they just said they didn’t know instead of making up stuff.
My mom was so dead tired at this point, she asked to be removed from the flight. That took another hour while they managed to help her back to the baggage area. I found her bags at the carousel about 45 minutes before she showed up. Then the bags disappeared. I had to go back up to the ticket counter to find out where in the heck my mom was going to taken. Turns out that the first Westjet person was wrong. There is a Westjet baggage office.
But the crowning glory was being told by Westjet personnel in Calgary that by 6 pm or so the check-​in counter would no longer be manned. What? They had a flight leaving at 7:30! I made it back to LAX by 6:15 (traffic on LA freeways) and thankfully the counter was still manned. Turned out to be another BS line from Westjet.
Shoutout to the Delta employee that helped my mom. We booked her on an Alaska air flight the next morning.
Westjet: Never again.

WestJet is a Canadian airline. I’ve used them quite a few times, when I flew from Toronto to Montréal, and more recently from LAX to Vancouver. We had the 9:00 am flight on a Sunday, and the plane was 90% full, so there was a lot of elbow room for passengers.
The satellite tv wasnt working but they allowed us free «pay per view» movies on the flight. There’s only 4 channels to pick from but its better than nothing. Later, while talking to a WestJet employee, I found out that since they’re a Canadian company, they can’t get satellite coverage in the USA. That explains why it wasn’t until after we passed Seattle that we got TV reception.
I’ll take WestJet over most US Carrier, especially American Airlines!
The staff was friendly, they even offer you a chocolate biscuit or sesame crackers as part of your snack with the compliimentary soft drink.
They also offer your first check in bag for FREE!
I would fly WestJet again in a heartbeat.

Once you’re on the plane, Westjet is a 4 star experience but until you get there it’s a 2 star experience based on 2 flights I have had on Westjet in the past year. Both times, my flight was booked through Delta so that impacts some of the problems I have experienced.
Problem 1 — you can’t check in online if you book through another airline. And don’t waste your time and minutes calling Westjet about the online error message because once they call you back 30 – 40 minutes later they’ll tell you that you can only check in at the airport. Also note that if you book through another airline and you would normally have to pay for a checked bag on that airline, you’ll have to pay for the bag on Westjet even though if you book through Westjet the first bag is free.
Problem 2 — If you have the first flight out in the morning and it’s to Canada from LAX — don’t get to the airport before 6AM because the ticket counter agents will only be there at 6AM to check you in. Other airlines are there 3 hours early but Westjet was only there 2 hours early — didn’t know that till I got to the airport at 5AM.
Problem 3 — The gate agents are not the friendliest. The 2^nd time I flew Westjet, they announced as I was waiting in the security line that the plane was boarding early and leaving early. Security did not believe me so I had to wait my turn with that and rush to the gate but it was true. There were several of us who just got there and the gate agents had a bad attitude and did not show any emotion except not giving a flying flip. They acted like there was no time for us to do anything — go to the bathroom, pick up a snack, or water before the flight. The reality is the plane didn’t leave the gate till 10 minutes before take off time so we did have time to do those things but the gate agents acted like we didn’t.
As I mentioned at the beginning, my experience on board has been good. I am not sure if they have them anymore but the blueberry cookies they served in the morning are the best complimentary snack. Flight attendants and pilots have been friendly and informative and the flights have been comfortable.

WestJet SUCKS!!! They DO NOT do competitive pricing for similar times as other Airlines. Other airlines are 100 $ cheaper for trips that are only 300 $ roundtrip. I would certainly book with another before booking with WestJet.

Honestly, I wouldn’t give them any star, to me even one is one too many.
I had the worst customer service experience with representative named Alim. He is working for WestJet Groups Department. I had misfortune to speak to him twice and both times I felt like he is making me a big favor by answering my calls. He was very condescending and disrespectful to me. Every time he would make sarcastic remarks implying that I don’t understand what he’s saying. I felt like I’m hitting the wall, instead of talking to a person who’s main objective is to help.

On my request to speak to a manager or supervisor, he refused and gave me totally bizarre reason. He told me that he doesn’t have any person in charge above him. In corporate environment, where I work too, there is always a manager who is in charge of you. He clearly lied to me. And on top of it he even didn’t have decency to give me his full name and employee number. He just hang up on me. It’s unacceptable treatment of customer, who is in fact purchased tickets and paid money that will pay his salary.

This is my first time with this airline and probably the last time. The encounter I had with their customer service make me wonder about the whole company. I know that everyone have good and bad days and I wouldn’t pay much attention if it would be just once. Now, having spoken to Alim twice, I know it’s not «one of those days», it’s his unprofessional and mean spirit that made me so upset. Reading other people comments, make me understand what is going on. It’s a whole corporate culture of this company, that tolerates service like that.

Another issue is a seat selection, they don’t tell you in advance that you have to pay an extra for it, on top of the price you paid for the ticket. After you purchase the ticket, they will ask you if you would like to choose a seat, if yes then for a fee you can select it, otherwise you can do it for free at the airport or during check-​in process a day prior your departure– online. Who would want to gamble and wait until the last minute whether you get a normal seat or not? It’s all part of the selling tactics, that they deploy by offering low prices. If you want something you have to pay an extra; $ 10 for the earphones, really? Even on Virgin America, with their great service, they charge only $ 2. That is how it’ll all add up at the end.

I wouldn’t recommend anyone to use their service. People are right; «You get what you pay for.» Pay more but you can get better experience and save yourself from frustration and disappointment.

A nice budget airline from Canada. We used them to fly from Los Angeles to Vancouver last October.
The prices were less than everyone else so I was not sure how the airline would be because you get what you pay for. Well, we were very happy with what we received. The customer service at LAX was terrific. They were friendly, quick, and efficient. There was no charge for are check-​in baggage because first baggage is free. We got one of the seats where there was no extra fee for, and the seats we got were acceptable. They were leather seats, and each had a tv monitor. We brought our own earphones. Otherwise, you would have to pay for their headphones, if you wanted to hear anything.
I would recommend this airline for your travel needs. They were very good. Plus they were even on time! No delays!

Awful experience!!! After our shuttle was delayed getting us to the airport, we arrived still 1hr and 45 minutes before the flight was to leave. We were denied even going through security because «they already told me not let anyone else back there». Sadly, there was a couple right next to us having the same problem. They explained, just as i had, if we hadn’t been waiting in line for 30 minutes to be checked in, maybe we would have enough time to go through to security, his response was «well there’s always lines at the airport» (I’ve never waited that long to check in). After much begging, explaining that a flight the next day wouldn’t work for us because my husband had work the same day, nothing got resolved. We were booked on the next flight 16 hours later, at no charge because the attendant said «this is a courtesy to you, because we’re not charging you» (with a very snippy attitude).
After the couple next to us left, the women «helping» them, turned to the man helping us and said «do you think they were waiting for 30 minutes?» he scoffed and said «ha, no!» and she said «yeah, i thought so» with they ugliest attitude I’ve ever seen. So unprofessional, will NEVER use them again. It’s not wonder their flights are usually only half full.

We booked our flights to and from Vancouver to Hawaii for June 2012. We booked well over 3.5 months in advance to make sure we got good flights and pricing on Westjet. Well, it’s too good to be true. After a month of our initial booking, we got an email from them that our flight home is CANCELLED.
That’s right. Cancelled 2.5 months BEFORE the flight. When asked why, they said there wasn’t enough passengers to make the flight worthwhile. WOW. It’s still 2.5 months away so how do you know more people won’t book we said. «No. It’s cancelled sir, but we booked you home on the previous day». Well that won’t work I said, as our cruise doesn’t get to dock until the next day… This went back and forth for a few minutes and they they said we’ll «fully refund» your travel. They won’t even compensate you for a hotel to fly out the next day and it’s their fault they’re cancelling the flight.
OK. So now we have to rebook with another carrier for more money. Well, we went with a REAL airline this time and we’ll NEVER EVER book with Westjet again. Bait and switch techniques should not be used on an airline. They really mess up people’s lives.
If you book with them, just beware of their tactics and book a flight that is FULL so you know you have a ride. What a scam.

WestJet is the budget airline based out of Canada. Honestly, I’ve never heard of them prior to booking my flight from Los Angeles to Vancouver, so it was a bit of a gamble!
Pros
— more convenient flight times than Air Canada
— less expensive fares & taxes than Air Canada
— larger planes for routine flights from LAX to YVR
— their complimentary inflight snacks have funny names like Bits & Bites (Canadian equivalent to Chex Mix)
— friendly staff from baggage check-​in to flight crew
— on time departures!!!
Cons
— tv monitors at every seat, but headphones are for purchase ($ 10; you can use your own)
— seats are spacious enough, but suck in the back support and tush support department
— inefficient cue for letting passengers board the plane; they should have called us by groups or seat numbers rather then free for all because it took more time to let passengers in
You get what you pay for and I would totally recommend WestJet!