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Canadian airline, WestJet, announced today that it’s making the most significant changes to its loyalty program since it began 15 years ago. WestJet will replace WestJet dollars with WestJet points while still maintaining a revenue-based model. It will also allow members to earn status (all the way through top-tier Platinum status) via credit card spend with no flying needed.
Shifting from WestJet Dollars to WestJet Points
WestJet will convert each WestJet dollar to 100 WestJet points. The airline says that points do not expire and members’ accounts will be updated on April 30th. Qualifying spend will no longer be just on the base fare. Carrier surcharges and extras such as seat selection, checked bags, and upgrades will also count. Only government taxes and fees will be excluded. WestJet points can also be earned when shopping and completing other everyday activities.
The old program offered members the ability to redeem one WestJet dollar for $1 CAD off of a flight. The new system will see 100 WestJet points equal $1 CAD off of a flight. There are also several transfer and bonus opportunities coming from WestJet partners.
Reach Top-Tier Platinum Status Without Flying
For the first time, members can achieve any level of tier status, including Platinum, by spending on the WestJet RBC® World Elite Mastercard or with any combination of flight and credit card spend through the updated Status Lift feature. Members used to earn $500 CAD in tier-qualifying spend per $15,000 CAD put on the card. Now they will earn $200 CAD per $5,000 CAD spent. Status Lifts (these increments of spend) used to be capped at three per year (so, you could add $1,500 CAD total). This has been bumped up to 50 Status Lifts per year, which makes it possible to earn the $10,000 CAD and Platinum status.
Cardholders earn 2 WestJet points per $1 CAD spent on WestJet flights and WestJet Vacations packages as well as 1.5 points per $1 CAD spent on other qualifying purchases.
Steve McClelland, Vice-President of Loyalty at WestJet, said:
We are improving WestJet Rewards to bring more value to all Canadians, whether that’s our frequent flyers, credit card holders or the casual traveler. That’s why we’ve introduced changes to our program across both flights and everyday partnerships, that give members so many great ways to earn points and save for flights, vacations or enhanced travel experiences.”
Anthony’s Take: The good news for WestJet loyalists is that they can now earn top-tier status with credit card spend. The change from WestJet dollars to WestJet points seems minimal (just a different scale) aside from the ability to earn on more parts of a ticket and the extras that come with it.
(Featured Image Credit: Justin Hu via UnSplash.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
