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WestJet from Canada Price Question...

Discussion in 'Getting There & Getting Around' started by BarelyHangingOn, Jul 30, 2016.

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  1. BarelyHangingOn

    BarelyHangingOn VIP Whale

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    I am not going to Vegas until December.

    They just gave me a $50 WestJet $ bonus that expires in three days.

    I haven't seen a seat sale in awhile.

    Do you think it would be better waiting for a possible seat sale? I just signed up with WJ so I am not sure if they have seat sales often and if they do if they are over $50 in savings.

    Do prices drop in the fall for early December (8th - 12th) that would be better than a $50 credit?

    Thanks!
     
  2. breanna61

    breanna61 Super Moderator

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    Do you have the Westjet Mastercard? I highly recommend it....use it for everything, pay your balance in full each month and enjoy free flights and companion flights. I had a notice of a seat sale just a week or so ago and they are frequent. Often the sale is just for a day or two so you really have to keep an eye out for and jump on them. Typically early December the flight prices are much cheaper so you don't need to feel pressured to book until there is a sale. We use Westjet exclusively now for our Vegas and Aruba flights direct from Toronto.
     
  3. phantomfj

    phantomfj High-Roller

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    There should be numerous seat sales between now and then.........we have rooms booked in Nov and are going to wait for some sales to come up, since we have the mastercard we will use the companion flight if needed.....as Breanna said, the RBC westjet mastercard elite more than pays for itself, if you travel with a companion at least once it pays for itself..........something that adds up that Breanna didn't mention was one free checked bag per person with the card, the free bag even applies if you use air miles to book travel on a Westjet flight
    gl and have fun!
     
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  4. BarelyHangingOn

    BarelyHangingOn VIP Whale

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    Thanks, I do have the Elite Credit Card with the $99 companion flight. I have been hammering a Marriott Rewards card to get a free night on New Years in Niagara Falls. I am close to that goal and will start banging the WJ card for reward points.

    I did not realize that you get a free checked bag when using the card that is a bonus. My wife brings one checked bag and a personal bag on our trips. I bring a carry on and a personal so I might was well check that one free.

    I will hold off then an wait to see what happens closer to the date. Thanks!

    The Marriott Card isn't a bad one either. It's free for the first year and they give you a free stay at a Category 4 and 30,000 points. We are going to use that the night before at one of the Marriott's near the airport. After the first year it's $99 annual and you get a Category 5 stay.
     
  5. Patman

    Patman VIP Whale

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    It's still a little far out. I think the general concensus is that 6-8 weeks out tends to be the best time to book or book quite early. How many tickets do you need to get? If it's 2 tickets then you definitely should be able find $25 off. If one ticket maybe won't be much difference. Also unless you have a preference, check out the Air Canada prices. For my trip in October from BC, AC is cheaper by about $25-30 but I caught a price drop about 4 weeks ago and got it for another $50 off on top of that on flights at pretty good times (no red eye or early mornings). Last time I flew down AC and back Westjet and would definitely say that the Westjet planes were better.

    Where are you flying from? Maybe someone here might have a better idea as to what is a good deal on a flight from there. I've been to Vegas 4 times in the last 2 years and tracked the price before and after I bought so I could gauge for the future what might be the low point in the price. If you are in BC I could give you a pretty good range for what your low price point should be.

    If you are considering a travel credit card, I would suggest you also look at the BMO World Elite. I went with that one as it didn't tie me into Westjet and I could just go and search out the best price and flight time. (As I mentioned above, my trip in May I flew down AC and back Westjet). You can even use your points to pay the taxes. There is a $300 bonus for signing up now (always seems to be there). The fee is $150 per year but if you have a premium chequing plan with them the fee is waived. The fee for the premium chequing is $30/month but if you maintain a minimum balance of $5000 then that is also waived. Last 2 comments are obviously optional.
     
  6. gambler

    gambler VIP Whale

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    I'd be interested in what your low point for prices is Patman. We fly out of YLW too and I've always considered a good price to be $350. Right now looking at end of Oct. for $450 or early Nov. for $425. That's direct with Westjet though. I didn't check prices going through Vancouver or Calgary.

    We also flew AC to Vegas and WJ return and the difference was night and day. AC ran out of food after serving 4 rows out of about 30. Since our flight was supposed to leave at 12:15, I would have thought AC would be aware that people might want food. Guess they don't think that way though. We also left about an hour late.

    Won't choose AC again unless the difference in $$'s is substantial.
     
  7. BarelyHangingOn

    BarelyHangingOn VIP Whale

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    Right now looking at flying from Toronto to Vegas on a Thursday and returning on the Monday red eye it's about $600 taxes and fees all in then my wife will be using the $99 flight companion.
     
  8. Patman

    Patman VIP Whale

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    $350 is a good price especially for direct. I'm not sure I've seen that price for direct as it is generally Th and Su. My last few trips have been outside the time for direct flights so I have been going Wed or Thur and back Mon or Tues. I generally try to get an early flight down and an afternoon flight back to maximize my time down there and maximize when I am checked into a hotel room.

    My last direct flight was last April/May but the price was high due to the Pacquaio/Mayweather fight. I ended up flying back through Seattle on Alaska/Horizon and saving about $65/tickets on 7 tickets. Seattle hasn't been an option any time I've looked this year as it has been much higher due to the exchange rate.

    Trip Th May 5 - Mon May 9, I booked AC when they had a seat sale for flight down for $183 arriving in LV at 11am through Vancouver. That was on Apr 2. Flight back was still about $220. On April 5, price dropped on flight back on both AC and Westjet (almost the same price) and got it for $175. I didn't see it any cheaper than that.

    Trip Th July 21 - Tu Jul 26, I didn't track as closely but lowest was about $360. Coming back Su usually more. I was going with a friend in Vancouver so I drove down and we flew down from Bellingham on Allegiant for $133 US return. Total no frills: no checked in bag, no carry on bag (only personal item), no food, no drinks. He also parked away from the airport to avoid the parking fee.

    Upcoming Trip We Oct 12 - Tu Oct 18. AC had a seat sale before the July long. About 2 days later Westjet came close (still about $25-30 more). I had already gotten the flight return through Vancouver for $282 with AC as it was the lowest I had ever seen. 6am flight out of YLW and 12:40 pm out of Vegas. The 12:40pm flight back was gone pretty quick but could have still gotten the 7 am flight for a few more days at that price. Down Th and back Su or Mo were and still are more so we picked those dates. AC currently about $381 for that flight and Westjet about $400. It's been at this price for about the last 3 weeks.

    End of October seems like it is a little higher (even the hotel rooms seem higher)
     
  9. phantomfj

    phantomfj High-Roller

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    I am not sure if you are counting it in, you have to pay the taxes and fees on top of the $99 companion flight fare........from my airport (comox Valley, Vancouver Island) the taxes and fees would be around $160, so the total bill for the companion flight would be about $260
     
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  10. Patman

    Patman VIP Whale

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    My brother is joining me on the October trip from Victoria on Westjet and is using the companion flight. Phantomfj is correct about the taxes and fees. He isn't saving that much but he has lots of points from work and this one was going to expire soon anyways. The free checked bag is a nice benefit if you are going to check a bag. The flight from Toronto would be more though and work out to a better benefit.
     
  11. BarelyHangingOn

    BarelyHangingOn VIP Whale

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    I wasn't counting that at first but realized a few weeks ago when I started looking at flights more closely. Still a decent deal and if I can snag a better return than $600 all the better and I have $250 WJ dollars to throw at it.

    They offered me 40% Plus fare this week which we kind of got excited about but you can't combine the $99 companion with it so we passed on the offer.
     
  12. Patman

    Patman VIP Whale

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    If I was trying to book something now, I would probably wait to see if they have an end of summer seat sale right before and during Labour Day. Know your pricing and flight times and be ready to jump on a deal quickly when you see it. Being a little flexible on dates can usually save you some $$$ if you are able. Good luck.
     
  13. phantomfj

    phantomfj High-Roller

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    My time is very flexible, so typically I find a cheap flight, then book rooms......I like using googleflights, you can enter your parameters in and at a glance see which flight works for you, on any airline, I typically bring up the graph and whittle down my choices that way...........this time I managed to snag comp rooms at Wynn and Cosmopolitan, so I will find the flight which matches my room bookings. I am trying a googleflight option where you put in your travel parameters and it will email you if there is a price drop, hopefully it will spit out a nice number for us! Tis too bad Westjet dropped their price drop guarantee, that was handy....
     
  14. gambler

    gambler VIP Whale

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    Thanks for the info Patman. You've been tracking fares better than I have so it was good to see your numbers. I'm okay paying up to $450 for a direct flight as it's only about 3 hours compared to 7 hours and a lot of sitting around airports if we need a connecting flight. The only thing I hate about the direct flight is going through customs in Las Vegas. If there is an overseas flight ahead of you, customs takes forever. It's taken as long as 2 hours one time.

    We did get a direct WJ flight in January for $265 return booking only 2 weeks ahead. That was a screaming deal that I don't really expect to see again.

    Fun story - I've never seen passengers get off the plane in Vegas so fast as that trip. When we landed and were taxiing to the gate, the pilot told us to look out the window at a very large plane arriving from the UK taxiing near us. He mentioned that if we got off really fast, we could probably beat them to customs otherwise they would all have to be processed before we could even start (another 2 hour wait). Everyone was out of their seats, ready with their stuff and off that plane in minutes. We all practically ran down the halls to get to customs. I think we were there about 10 minutes before the first UK passenger even showed up. Nice of the Westjet pilot to give us warning. Most airlines wouldn't even bother.

    BTW, the YLW website still lists the WJ direct flights as Sunday and Thursday but I phoned WJ this morning and they said it's Sunday and Wednesday this year, starting Oct. 26th (late this year) till the end of April.
     
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  15. breanna61

    breanna61 Super Moderator

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    When flying out of Toronto, we clear Customs in Toronto so don't have to deal with that on arrival.
     
  16. gambler

    gambler VIP Whale

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    I know Breanna and there's something to be said for going through US customs at your home airport. It's so much easier.

    Kelowna is a small airport so we don't have US customs officers stationed here. It's only when we have direct flights to LV for 6 months of the year that we run in to having to use Las Vegas customs.

    The LV customs and immigration is a mad house. Usually airports take in passengers as they arrive in line. Not Las Vegas. They now process plane by plane - at least that's been our last 2 experiences when flying direct.

    We just booked a trip to Vegas but this time, we decided to go through Vancouver and deal with US customs there rather than in Vegas. After thinking about it we decided 2 hours sitting in an airport trumps the possibility of having to spend an hour or two standing in line in LV customs. We did take advantage of the direct flight home though.
     
    Last edited: Jul 31, 2016
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  17. BarelyHangingOn

    BarelyHangingOn VIP Whale

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    Going through customs in TO is no walk in the park either. Last trip the area was under renovation and they only have two people working. When an elderly person or person that needed assistance came through they would close one line and deal with them. Which would have been fine if they had more than one other person working. People with connecting flights were close to missing their flights. It was really awful.

    On another note my right ankle has set off the scanner machine twice now. The first time they surrounded me and asked me what was in my socks. I replied my feet. They frisked me and off I went. They second time they just frisked me and let me go. Never had surgery so I don't know what's in there.
     
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