I’ve always seen these fees with all the airlines, especially when buying seat sale priced tickets. I normally fly Air Canada and have never paid the fee as I always wait to change seats in the check-in period 24 hours before flight time. Yes, the seats may be limited to choose from, however, I take the the risk and have never ended up with a truly unacceble seat. Westjet, I have learned this morning, has no such thing. If you purchase a seat sale ticket, or win comp tickets, then one probably has basic fare tickets. With these tickets you receive a seat selected by Westjet. You can change seats for a fee. There is no free seat selection. My seats this morning for both flights were in the last row middle next to the toilet (23B & 19B, 737, Q400). There were 10 rows of empty seats in front of me and then a smattering of seats available to row 5. A change fee was $28.00/seat. That meant an additional $112.00 for my fare assuming I select my seats for all the flights in my trip.
This is such a travesty. Essentially extorting passengers of more money at any cost. I don’t usually travel WJ as I truly find them the school bus of airlines. The seats are not comfortable, slippery leather that lets you slide into the seat in front of you, sometimes not as the guy in front of you is essentially in your lap anyway. I took this flight as it’s the only way to fly into Brandon MB from the west coast efficiently. I just didn’t think it would cost me almost $300 more since checking bags are another expense to deal with. Sadly, there are no seat sales, Only the illusion! Maybe I’ll get left in Brandon as WJ has not been that good at looking after their passengers either! Brandon ain’t no Cancun!