WestJet Rewards Extends Status + Promotion

To the point

WestJet has announced various changes to its WestJet Rewards program, including status extension.

Table of contents

WestJet Rewards Extends Status + Promotion

WestJet has made several announcements regarding its WestJet Rewards program:

Status Extension
Qualifying Period Extension
Qualifying period changes
Promotion: Double Qualifying Spend

Status Extension

As of September 4, 2020, WestJet is extending Platinum, Gold and Silver status and tier benefits to December 31, 2021:

includes lounge and seat selection vouchers issued with the tier
changes will be reflected in your account by September 30, 2020

So if you have a WestJet status right now, you will keep it until December 31, 2021.

Unfortunately, many members have already lost their status over the year, given how the program was made.

Qualifying Period Extension

Also, WestJet is extending current qualifying periods for all members, including those in the Teal tier, to December 31, 2021 to align to the calendar year and provide more time to achieve or retain status

All accounts to be updated by October 31, 2020.

As a reminder, here are the Qualifying spend criteria:

WestJet status	Qualifying Spend
Silver	$3,000
Gold	$5,000
Platinum	$8,000

Extending the qualifying period for a status until the end of 2021 and taking into account current expenses, is a nice gesture by WestJet towards its customers. Other airlines have only extended status at this time.

Qualifying period changes

WestJet is making a significant change to its WestJet Rewards program. The status will now be aligned with the calendar year and no longer with the member’s registering date.

This was a quirk of the program that is now being fixed. The problem is that many members have lost their status (which expired in May, June, July, August) because they could not travel this year.

Promotion: Double Qualifying Spend

WestJet has just launched a new promotion to make it easier to reach a status by providing all members double elite qualifying spend.

Depenses Level Recognized Promo Westjet Fr

Several information to participate in this promotion:

Register and book between: September 4 – 30, 2020 (11:59 p.m. MT)
Travel period: September 4 – December 15, 2020
Eligible flights: Anywhere WestJet flies
Qualifying spend bonus: 100% of eligible base fares
Fares: Econo, EconoFlex, Premium, PremiumFlex, Business, BusinessFlex (excludes Basic fares and Business fares on transatlantic flights)

For example, for all trips booked before September 30, 2020 and completed before December 15, 2020, you will get 200% of the basic fare.

Conclusion

WestJet is lining up its pawns in anticipation of the arrival of Air Canada’s new Aeroplan program.

Air Canada has made no secret of its intention to compete WestJet by targeting casual travellers. But as Ricky from Prince Of Travel notes, there’s still a long way to go. Indeed, to achieve Aeroplan’s lowest status level – 25K status – it is necessary to spend $4,000 (in addition to the other qualification criteria).

While WestJet Rewards, with the double qualifying spend promotion currently available, that same $4,000 would achieve the highest status of the program: Platinum.