WestJet, Canada’s second-largest airline, has been a Qantas Frequent Flyer partner since 2016. As part of this tie-up, Qantas Frequent Flyer members can earn points for WestJet flights in Economy or Premium Economy – but, bizarrely, can’t earn any points for flights taken in Business Class!
Since 2017, it has also been possible to redeem Qantas points for WestJet flights in Economy Class. But there is currently no possibility to redeem Qantas points for Premium Economy or Business Class seats on WestJet.
So, why is this… and is this likely to change any time soon?
WestJet introduced Business Class in 2019
When WestJet began its partnership with Qantas Frequent Flyer, the Canadian airline did not actually have a Business Class cabin on any of its aircraft.
WestJet primarily uses Boeing 737s and Dash 8s (operated by WestJet Encore) on its domestic and short-haul international flights. These aircraft offer Economy and “Premium” seats, the latter of which come with more legroom, space and included food & drinks.
Before 2019, all WestJet long-haul flights were operated by Boeing 767s which also just had Economy and Premium Economy seating. But when WestJet introduced new Boeing 787s to its fleet in 2019, it also introduced lie-flat Business Class on those aircraft.
WestJet now offers Economy, Premium Economy and Business Class seating on all its trans-Atlantic flights operated by Boeing 787s, such as Calgary-Rome or Toronto-London. WestJet’s Boeing 787s are also used on selected flights to Mexico and on the Calgary-Toronto route.
Frequent Flyer earn categories not updated
Ahead of the launch of Business Class, WestJet began selling Business fares in September 2018. But it looks like Qantas simply hasn’t yet updated its Frequent Flyer earn categories for WestJet flights to reflect this.
WestJet passengers can earn Qantas points when booking all Economy fare classes except the two cheapest ones (E and L). It’s also possible to earn Qantas points with any WestJet Premium ticket. But Qantas has so far not got around to adding the fare classes J, C or D – used by WestJet for Business Class – to its systems.
This is something that Qantas could do, and Australian Frequent Flyer understands that Qantas is now working with WestJet to implement this change. Watch this space…
WestJet does not offer Premium or Business awards to partners
The lack of Business Class or Premium award seats on WestJet is a bit more complicated, and is not really Qantas’ fault.
WestJet’s own frequent flyer program, WestJet Rewards, does not work in the same way as traditional loyalty programs. The program’s currency, WestJet dollars, can be used to book any available seat on any WestJet flight like cash. (This is similar to Air New Zealand’s Airpoints program.) These rewards are priced dynamically, so there is no real need for WestJet to create a dedicated Reservation Booking Designator (RBD, or fare class) for award inventory in order for WestJet Rewards members to have access to those seats.
WestJet does use “V” class to allocate Economy Class award inventory to partner airlines. It would therefore be possible to redeem Qantas points for any WestJet flight in Economy if there was V class availability on the flight. But WestJet does not have dedicated fare classes for Premium or Business Class award seats. Therefore, there is no mechanism to offer these awards to members of partner airline loyalty programs.
WestJet could create Premium and Business award buckets for partner airlines to access if it wanted to, but there is probably little incentive for it to do so. For now, Qantas Frequent Flyer members are limited to using points for WestJet Economy award seats only.
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