Media Advisory - WestJet to make important announc

[internet]

You've got 2.5 hours to guess away...!!

My guess: "fuel interest" - WestJet will now include the fuel surcharge in the fare... big deal.

"Airline announcement will fuel interest from travelling public

CALGARY, Sept. 18 /CNW/ - WestJet Executive Vice-President of Guest Experience and Marketing Bob Cummings will make an important announcement for Canadian travellers.

Date: Thursday, September 18, 2008

Time: 1 p.m. Mountain Time

Location: WestJet check-in counter

Calgary International Airport"

[Canus Chinookus]

how about a reduction or all out dropping of the fuel surcharge?

[dagger]

You've got 2.5 hours to guess away...!!

My guess: "fuel interest" - WestJet will now include the fuel surcharge in the fare... big deal.

"Airline announcement will fuel interest from travelling public

CALGARY, Sept. 18 /CNW/ - WestJet Executive Vice-President of Guest Experience and Marketing Bob Cummings will make an important announcement for Canadian travellers.

Date: Thursday, September 18, 2008

Time: 1 p.m. Mountain Time

Location: WestJet check-in counter

Calgary International Airport"

Or some kind of wireless internet product. I think that would be the level. Anything more important like an alliance, major expansion, etc, would be announced by Sean Durfy.

I think that the short notice to the media as well as the location suggests you are probably closer to the mark and use of the word fuel has to be the giveaway. Anything more pre-planned would probably be announced at HQ or a downtown venue.

[Fido]

Or some kind of wireless internet product. I think that would be the level. Anything more important like an alliance, major expansion, etc, would be announced by Sean Durfy.

I think that the short notice to the media as well as the location suggests you are probably closer to the mark and use of the word fuel has to be the giveaway. Anything more pre-planned would probably be announced at HQ or a downtown venue.

They need to hurry because the Air Canada announcement is all over the TV news. In todays paper there was a small item with a quote from AC that they had 'no intentions of changing the fuel surcharge, at this time'.

Meanwhile CTV NewsNet has a banner going across about 'AC has dropped fuel surcharge'.

[dagger]

They need to hurry because the Air Canada announcement is all over the TV news. In todays paper there was a small item with a quote from AC that they had 'no intentions of changing the fuel surcharge, at this time'.

Meanwhile CTV NewsNet has a banner going across about 'AC has dropped fuel surcharge'.

There are also AC ads on the Internet saying the surcharge has been folded into the fare .

[CANCELIFR]

Interesting. Westjet's YYC-YXX fares, for example, on/before the 25th of September is $105. After it is $125. Looks like they are blending the fuel surcharge in with the price. Looks like the travelling public gets what they wanted - less extra fees and a more of what you see is what you get seat price.

[Canus Chinookus]

WESTJET ELIMINATES FUEL SURCHARGE - BECAUSE WE SAID WE WOULD

CALGARY, Sep. 18, 2008 (Canada NewsWire via COMTEX News Network) --

Airline's emphasis on being the best value reflected in new ad campaign

WestJet today honoured its commitment to monitor the fuel environment and remove the fuel surcharge if and when the price of fuel subsided. The airline announced the removal of the fuel surcharge, effective 1 p.m. MT today, in acknowledgement of the recent decline in fuel prices.

"The decision to eliminate the fuel surcharge is in line with who we are," commented WestJet Executive Vice-President of Guest Experience and Marketing Bob Cummings. "The WestJet brand is all about caring, straight talk, trust and best value - our advertising is effective because we walk the talk."

The elimination of the fuel surcharge supports WestJet's commitment to providing the best value to its guests, which is the premise for the airline's new advertising campaign. This latest addition to the successful and award-winning owners campaign extends WestJet's caring reputation, demonstrating the airline's commitment to offering guests the best value in air travel.

"We are proud of the transparent approach we have to our pricing and the superior value we provide to the travelling public," continued Bob Cummings. "Our latest owners campaign highlights those key differences between us and the competition. The campaign is done in a light-hearted, fun way.

"We encourage the travelling public to add up all charges when comparing fares. Other airlines seem to be focused on squeezing every last nickel out of their passengers with things like call centre reservation fees, higher change and cancel fees as well as higher overweight baggage fees. We firmly believe that they will see we are now, more than ever, the value leader in Canada. In today's more difficult economic times, it's all about providing the maximum value for people."

Three new TV commercials shot in Toronto during the month of August and airing now represent the fourth iteration in the successful owners campaign, which highlights how the more than 7,300 WestJetters care about WestJet guests. The campaign also includes the first television execution for WestJet Vacations, which WestJet introduced in 2006 and has already become the largest Canadian travel provider of Las Vegas hotel rooms.

[Thebean]

Interesting.  Westjet's YYC-YXX fares, for example, on/before the 25th of September is $105.  After it is $125.  Looks like they are blending the fuel surcharge in with the price.  Looks like the travelling public gets what they wanted - less extra fees and a more of what you see is what you get seat price.

AC was very clever in getting this out ahead of everyone else.

It's a little disappointing to see WJ being a follower, not a leader in this area. There was a time and era when WJ took great pride in "running between the legs of the competition".

By adding the surcharge to the base fare, commission is paid on a higher fare. Perhaps someone can enlighten us as to whether or not the surcharge was commissionable.

On another note, it has been very interesting booking the infamous "cheap" fares widely available in Europe, that people in Canada seem to think are the cats arse.

Take, for example, the .79 GBP Euro fare from Stansted to Dublin.

With taxes, it's 25.81. You want to check a couple of bags, (no more than 15kg's, thank you very much), like you can for free in North America and have a shot at a decent seat? Add 32 quid to the tab. Overweight bags? Add 12 quid per kilo.

So, the real cost to fly on Ryanair with the .79gbp "low fare" with 46kgs in two checked bags, (free on WJ), is

.79 (fare) + 25.02 (taxes) + 32 (2 checked bags totalling 30kgs) + 192 (16 kgs at 12 gbp per kilo)= 249.81 gbp or about $485 for a 293 mile sector.

Now take, for example, Edmonton to Kelowna, about 340 miles. WJ, and presumably, AC's fare, all in, is $154, including 2 bags totalling 46kgs, airport seat assignment, the works.

The next trick is to get to Stansted on the Express, because no one in their right mind would drive to Stansted from London. That's another 17 pounds....

I'm sure both WJ and AC would LOVE to match the total cost of flying to what the euro airlines are nickel and diming their passengers for.

The whiners who think fares in Canada are too high and point to cheap fares in Europe had better be careful what they wish for......

[AIP]

AC was very clever in getting this out ahead of everyone else.

It's a little disappointing to see WJ being a follower, not a leader in this area. There was a time and era when WJ took great pride in "running between the legs of the competition".

By adding the surcharge to the base fare, commission is paid on a higher fare. Perhaps someone can enlighten us as to whether or not the surcharge was commissionable.

On another note, it has been very interesting booking the infamous "cheap" fares widely available in Europe, that people in Canada seem to think are the cats arse.

Take, for example, the .79 GBP Euro fare from Stansted to Dublin.

With taxes, it's 25.81. You want to check a couple of bags, (no more than 15kg's, thank you very much), like you can for free in North America and have a shot at a decent seat? Add 32 quid to the tab. Overweight bags? Add 12 quid per kilo.

So, the real cost to fly on Ryanair with the .79gbp "low fare" with 46kgs in two checked bags, (free on WJ), is

.79 (fare) + 25.02 (taxes) + 32 (2 checked bags totalling 30kgs) + 192 (16 kgs at 12 gbp per kilo)= 249.81 gbp or about $485 for a 293 mile sector.

Now take, for example, Edmonton to Kelowna, about 340 miles. WJ, and presumably, AC's fare, all in, is $154, including 2 bags totalling 46kgs, airport seat assignment, the works.

The next trick is to get to Stansted on the Express, because no one in their right mind would drive to Stansted from London. That's another 17 pounds....

I'm sure both WJ and AC would LOVE to match the total cost of flying to what the euro airlines are nickel and diming their passengers for.

The whiners who think fares in Canada are too high and point to cheap fares in Europe had better be careful what they wish for......

That's alot of speedo's in your suitcase there Bean for 46kgs.

[Thebean]

To get to 15kgs, my wardrobe will have to be modified to incorporate green garbage bags and duct tape.....

[Seeker]

Interesting. Westjet's YYC-YXX fares, for example, on/before the 25th of September is $105. After it is $125. Looks like they are blending the fuel surcharge in with the price. Looks like the travelling public gets what they wanted - less extra fees and a more of what you see is what you get seat price.

So it seems like Westjet is being dishonest here; AC says that they will no longer separate out the fuel surcharge and their ticket price obviously goes up but Westjet says they will no longer charge the fuel surcharge and yet the ticket price still goes up! Better give that VP of marketing a raise for coming up with that.

[dagger]

So it seems like Westjet is being dishonest here; AC says that they will no longer separate out the fuel surcharge and their ticket price obviously goes up but Westjet says they will no longer charge the fuel surcharge and yet the ticket price still goes up! Better give that VP of marketing a raise for coming up with that.

At the end of the day it's going to come to this: Total cost of travel is going up. Today's move by both carriers apparently gave them the chance to fiddle with both fares and more significantly, inventories. By tonight, AC will be matching WS fares and WS will be matching AC fares, but significantly according to a travel agent contact, it appears as if WS has taken the occasion to reduce low-fare inventory in some markets - the surcharges no longer being the revenue lever they were for the cheapest buckets. Therefore, there is less incentive to offer capacity from the cheapest buckets.

All gther US carriers have followed suit on the transborder with respect to the fuel surcharge - not sure about the baggage fees.

Consumers who celebrated this great victory for transparency have something new to complain about.

At least Mitch will be happy, so I'm content.

[Jumpy]

Just like the fuel companies have been able to change perceptions over the last year, airlines will have done the same with this temporary fuel surcharge. I would have never thought that $1.00 per litre would be a bargain for fuel, but the gas companies have convinced me that $1.00 is an absolute steal. With airline fares there is little transparancy and historical resistance to pay higher fares so this has been a boon to both WJ and Air Canada in changing perceptions and being able to increase fares by telling the consumer that it's a fare reduction.

[Guest]

So it seems like Westjet is being dishonest here; AC says that they will no longer separate out the fuel surcharge and their ticket price obviously goes up but Westjet says they will no longer charge the fuel surcharge and yet the ticket price still goes up! Better give that VP of marketing a raise for coming up with that.

The actual regular fare rates (P/M/L/Q/B/V) have not changed, now that the fuel surcharge has been removed.

It appears that WJ reduced the discount on the seat sale fares (X) from $105 to $125.

[Moon The Loon]

At the end of the day it's going to come to this: Total cost of travel is going up.

I hate the prospect of that but it absolutely has to.

What a stupid business.

How many times do I tell this story: In 1963, my Dad took us all to England on a TCA DC8 from Halifax. $600 each, one way.

Earlier this year, I booked a ticket, Ottawa to LHR, one way: $489.

In 1963 dollars, this $489 would be about $5000. Or more.

The worst enemy all modern airlines have is themselves.

[Hadji Ramjet]

WJ drops the surcharge, presumably the fuel cost has dropped enough to make their prospects brighter, but the stock drops 1.68% on a day when the TSE goes up?

[Guest rattler]

Talk about cheap. Both AC and WJ, sans fuel surcharges will get you from YYC-YYZ return Nov 12 out Nov 19 back for the identical price of 381.50.(all up including all fees). Now that is good for the consumer but can not be good for their bottom lines.

I thought AC was merely rolling their fuel surcharge into the price of the ticket and Westjet was dropping it entirely, so how come the fares are still identical???

[Thebean]

Talk about cheap. Both AC and WJ, sans fuel surcharges will get you from YYC-YYZ return Nov 12 out Nov 19 back for the identical price of 381.50.(all up including all fees). Now that is good for the consumer but can not be good for their bottom lines.

I thought AC was merely rolling their fuel surcharge into the price of the ticket and Westjet was dropping it entirely, so how come the fares are still identical???

I'd rather have WJ's casm at those fares than anyone else in Canada....

[inchman]

I thought AC was merely rolling their fuel surcharge into the price of the ticket and Westjet was dropping it entirely, so how come the fares are still identical??? 

"The decision to eliminate the fuel surcharge is in line with who we are," commented WestJet Executive Vice-President of Guest Experience and Marketing Bob Cummings. "The WestJet brand is all about caring, straight talk, trust and best value - our advertising is effective because we walk the talk."

I think the telling thing here is "in line with who we are". Air Canada was at least straight with consumers and said that they were rolling the fare into the ticket price. While Westjet's statement is technically correct... they are eliminating an add on fuel surcharge... it is clearly intentionally misleading. One must wonder what other costs and processes are hidden behind being "technically correct".

Unfortunately, AC once again screwed up their press release and many news orgs didn't pick up the fact that they had removed the fuel surcharge, instead focusing on the the bag charge, while reporting that WS had removed the surcharge. WS would have issued 2 or 3 press releases to make sure they had covered everything.... oh yeah... they did issue 2 press releases.... one to tell us that they were going to issue a press release.

[dagger]

Unfortunately, AC once again screwed up their press release and many news orgs didn't pick up the fact that they had removed the fuel surcharge, instead focusing on the the bag charge, while reporting that WS had removed the surcharge.

What's the diff? Today's headlines are all on the fuel surcharges. WS catches a bit of flack in the Globe article, not that it matters. The media has completely missed the point - air fares aren't going down, they are going up, because of what happened yesterday. Fares have been adjusted upward to reflect fuel costs. Sure, Brent Jang and others can claim to see some discounts out there, but inventories were tightened yesterday, which means deep discounts will be fewer and short-lived.

[dagger]

I'd rather have WJ's casm at those fares than anyone else in Canada

And I'd rather have AC's fuel hedge and fuel supply arrangements frankly. Going forward fuel will spike again, and WS will probably be gun shy about hedging now.

Also, Bean, if the market was so good, I would have expected WS to keep its discount inventories high to skim off more market share, but the activity yesterday suggests that the loss of discounting effectiveness with the abolition of fixed fuel cost recovery resulted in a big cramdown of deep discount inventory at WS. I think the market's soft and WS is pretty exposed to it.

[Guest rattler]

A question for those most familiar with AC, I was looking at the International Fares yesterday and see that the descriptions include Tourist and then Leisure. Has this always been the case? I had thought Ac had said at one point that their Tango etc. fare titles were applied across the board.

One other point, on the international fares I see if you select OW, then your selection of fares is very limited but if you select RT then you do much better.

eg on oct 15 to LHR if you select RT YYC-LHR you are offered Tourist, Leisure and then Lattitude plus, if you select OW your fare selection starts at Lattitude Plus. Somewhat different than the previous fare offerings. Does make sense though to draw in the return traveller but a wise shopper would book the lower return fares and then not use their return portion.

EG on Oct 15 to EDI the return price (all up including addons) is 1316.55, the OW passenger on the other hand would pay (Cheapest fare) at 1686.23 (all up including addons).

[moeman]

What's the diff? Today's headlines are all on the fuel surcharges. WS catches a bit of flack in the Globe article, not that it matters. The media has completely missed the point - air fares aren't going down, they are going up, because of what happened yesterday. Fares have been adjusted upward to reflect fuel costs. Sure, Brent Jang and others can claim to see some discounts out there, but inventories were tightened yesterday, which means deep discounts will be fewer and short-lived.

The diff is that all over the radio today they are applauding WS for removing the surcharge. AC might get the odd mention about the baggage charge, but it's almost an afterthought.

Of course, this is Calgary so there's very little AC can do right anyway. WS cleverly disguised what they did and look like heroes while making AC look bad again. It's all about perception, but I think that AC can capitalize on this by drawing attention to the half truths in WS's announcement.

[Guest]

I think the telling thing here is "in line with who we are". Air Canada was at least straight with consumers and said that they were rolling the fare into the ticket price. While Westjet's statement is technically correct... they are eliminating an add on fuel surcharge... it is clearly intentionally misleading. One must wonder what other costs and processes are hidden behind being "technically correct".

Unfortunately, AC once again screwed up their press release and many news orgs didn't pick up the fact that they had removed the fuel surcharge, instead focusing on the the bag charge, while reporting that WS had removed the surcharge. WS would have issued 2 or 3 press releases to make sure they had covered everything.... oh yeah... they did issue 2 press releases.... one to tell us that they were going to issue a press release.

WJ did eliminate the fuel surcharge all together. That's pretty straight. The fares have stayed the same as they were, and when someone books a flight, they don't add a fuel surcharge. I don't see how that is mis leading.

In AC's case, they had planned to keep it, but build it into the fare. It appears that that opportunity for extra revenue on competitive routes has been dimnished.

AC original plan

$200 fare plus bult in fuel surcharge (eg. $20) = new $220 fare

New World

WJ = $200 fare = $200 fare

AC = $180 + built in fuel surcharge ($20) = $200 fare

Basically, to stay price competitive, AC will have to reduce fares to be able to match price. It doesn't matter as much since AC would be pocketing the fuel surcharge money anyway.

As I see it, the impact to AC is that they only collect $200 vs. the $220 they planned.

[Thebean]

And I'd rather have AC's fuel hedge and fuel supply arrangements frankly. Going forward fuel will spike again, and WS will probably be gun shy about hedging now.

Also, Bean, if the market was so good, I would have expected WS to keep its discount inventories high to skim off more market share, but the activity yesterday suggests that the loss of discounting effectiveness with the abolition of fixed fuel cost recovery resulted in a big cramdown of deep discount inventory at WS. I think the market's soft and WS is pretty exposed to it.

If the market is soft, then everyone is exposed to it.

Scuttlebutt from people I know suggests that the slowdown in demand where WJ operates has been exaggerated. Will there be a slowdown from August to September? Sure. There always is. But going forward, I hear it's pretty much business as usual.

As for discounting, there is no question there is more of it this year than last year. Hardly a day goes by when I don't get an email from a Canadian airline advising me of the latest and greatest deal out there.

Again, in these circumstances, I'd rather have WJ's costs of doing business rather than anyone elses out there.