Today marks the kick off of the expansion of the WestJet Rewards program as their new Elite Tiers come into effect. We covered the details of the new Elite Status portion of WestJet Rewards back in September.
To encourage participation and grow the new Elite program WestJet is running two Elite promotions. The first is a status match and the second is a fast track to status offer.
Status Match Offer
WestJet will give you Gold Elite status if you hold Top Tier status (2014 or 2015) in another Canadian frequent flyer program. That really only gives you two options, Air Canada Altitude and Canadian North Aurora Rewards. Even though they state Top Tier, the terms and conditions state:
"is defined as having achieved status through the equivalent of a minimum 25,000 qualifying miles or a minimum of 25 qualifying flight segments in that program during a calendar year. "Which means that anyone holding Air Canada Altitude status should receive Gold Status with WestJet Rewards. Also if you hold Canadian North Aurora Rewards Diamond Status you should be matched to Gold as well. To get the status match you have to email your credentials to WestJet by January 31, 2015. You can find all the details here.
Fast Track Offer
If you don't hold status with Air Canada or Canadian North you can Fast Track to Gold status by simply achieving $1,500 in qualifying spend on WestJet flights by January 31, 2015. To participate in the Fast Track offer you have to register your WestJet Rewards number which you can do so here.
Part of WestJet's Gold status is a free companion flight to anywhere WestJet flies. Do you know if these promotions will award you this? I am thinking a making a higher priced purchase to get to $1500 spend by Jan 31. Getting the companion flight would be worth it in that case.
ReplyDeleteI would think this would be the case, there is nothing stating that the benefits are diluted. Most Fast Track Offers give you the full elite status benefits once you reach the fast track milestone
ReplyDeleteIf you read the terms and conditions, it's pretty specific about that. You get the status only. Coupons, companion fares, etc, must be earned with the standard spend. (I thought the same thing and was disappointed to realize they've already plugged that loophole).
ReplyDeleteYou are correct that as the companion fare is not included as it is a Milestone award which is too bad. I guess the reason is this benefit came along before the elite tiers and really is somewhat deceiving listing it as a gold benefit, it would be there whether or not they had elite tiers.
ReplyDeleteThe rest of the benefits are included however:
Status Match
Once a request to participate has been received, the information will be
verified by WestJet within 30 days and, if deemed to be complete,
accurate and eligible, Gold flight benefits (comprised of ten airport
lounge vouchers, four advance seat selection vouchers, first and second
checked bags free, no fee to change to an earlier/later flight on same
day of travel, priority security screening at select airports and
advance boarding) will be awarded to the member through issuance of an
email to the address on record in the member's WestJet account.
Fast Track to Status
Flight benefits associated with the Gold tier (comprised of ten airport
lounge vouchers, four advance seat selection vouchers, first and second
checked bags free, no fee to change to an earlier/later flight on same
day of travel, priority security screening at select airports and
advance boarding) will be awarded to registered members based on
achieving a minimum of $1,500 in qualifying flight spend for WestJet
flights flown during the Promotion Period.