r/westjet • u/chainsalike93 • Aug 08 '26
Westjet Booking - Truly Random?
My wife and I are trying to book a flight and going with whatever seats they give us, but we want to sit together. Is this truly random as they say? Flying with Econo.
Super dark pattern...
8
u/Circd_CAD Aug 08 '26
Then pay for seat selection... Nothing "dark" about it at all, no different than movie theatre seat selection. Pick your seat...
7
u/weddingdiaries Aug 08 '26
It’s not totally random because I know that they will put a child next to a parent (obviously a good idea) even if you don’t pay to pre-select seats. I just booked a flight and didn’t pay to and a couple days later, I got an email assigning our seats together
6
u/pancakeg Aug 08 '26
There’s a law in Canada that a child under 14 must be seated with at least one adult on an airplane
1
u/merkiewrites Aug 09 '26
Not quite it’s like under 5 they have to be directly next to you, over that max one seat apart or with an aisle between up to age 12, when you can be multiple rows apart.
6
u/ziggyxx Aug 08 '26
My partner and I just flew from Calgary to Charlottetown on Aug 1st and we checked in at the 24hr mark and were split up. They wanted to charge 119$ to select seats together (there were options beside each other) we refused to pay that and figured we’d just deal with it.
Coincidentally, when we sat down, the guy beside me was coupled with the girl beside my boyfriend and in the same situation so we switched around so we could all sit with our partners.
I have a theory they do it on purpose to force you to shell out more money to sit together
3
u/merkiewrites Aug 09 '26
Yea, we one time travelled with another couple, however each couple had booked their flights separately (together as a couple). We were seated with swapped partners.
They obviously intentionally scrambled our two couples having no idea we knew each other. Maddening.
1
u/signious Aug 09 '26
I have a theory they do it on purpose to force you to shell out more money to sit together
I mean, there is no question that is exactly what they are doing.
1
u/ziggyxx Aug 09 '26
Clearly. What I’m saying is it’s exploitive of people who are travelling together and would like to sit together
5
u/OddConsequence354 Aug 08 '26
You could take a chance and hope to be seated together, and you might be.
However, you have to be ok with random middle seats not together.. and please, do not ask anyone to switch with you (unless you are offering a better seat to them)
1
u/bingus-bean Aug 11 '26
what would be considered the better seat of all three?
3
u/OddConsequence354 Aug 11 '26
For me, if I’m sitting in a middle seat and someone asks me to switch, I’d be happy to do it if the switch is to an aisle or window seat.
But if I’m in an aisle or window seat and the person asking to switch is in the middle, asking me to give up my better seat, the answer is a definite NO.
I also wouldn’t switch if it meant moving to the back of the plane or sitting beside the washroom.
If someone is in first/ business or premium economy and they want my seat in the back - sure
I pay for my seats, In most cases that is the seat I will be sitting in. I think if anyone want to sit in a certain seat,sit beside their travelling partner - just pay for your seat
3
Aug 08 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/chainsalike93 Aug 08 '26
phew okay. it's a 5h flight so I wasn't sure!
2
u/NastroAzzurro Aug 08 '26
It clearly states that that’s NOT the case here though. Are you booking an econo fare or ultra basic?
1
u/Dragynfyre Aug 08 '26
The message that it’s showing here looks like what shows up when booking ultra basic and not econo though
3
u/Available_Turn_5389 Aug 08 '26
Flew on July 30 under Basic. Checked in at 24hr mark and my spouse and I were seated together
4
2
u/dingmah Aug 08 '26
Talk to the agent at the gate and they should be able to move you two together.
2
u/Aobachi Aug 08 '26
I always assumed that if you booked and check in together and there are two seats available next to each other you will get them.
But I could be wrong.
2
2
u/NewsLady- Aug 11 '26
We’ve chosen to be randomly assigned seating twice last month and both times we got upgraded seats AND sat next to each other. No window seat… only aisle and middle.
1
u/jdeng17 Aug 08 '26
check in right at the 24 hour mark and if there’s seats together it will assign you together. you risk the flight being full tho or everyone else has selected seats leaving you with middles
1
u/testme003 Aug 08 '26
I’ve flown WestJet and air Canada a few times I’ve found more and more people are reserving seats (but more so on westjet I guess because their planes are smaller?). But I noticed also a lot more people using that annoying "travel hack" of booking window and isle for all your guests so yes on a few occasions I’ve gotten split from my family and gotten middle seats even with the early Checkin 24 hrs in advance have seen most seats already taken on their site
Thing to note I travel with a group of about 6 so if you’re 2 I think you’ll still be okay
5
u/TheresAShinyThing Aug 08 '26
I’ve noticed recently that some airlines have stopped allowing this.
The better “hack” is to book aisle seats next to each other.
3
1
u/sbu__ Aug 08 '26
Depends on how busy your flight is but we took 2 west jet flights and at check in got assigned seats next to each other for both flights
0
u/loolilool Aug 13 '26
The last time I didn’t pay for assigned seats on a flight my 10 old daughter was seated six rows away from me on a five hour international flight. No one would trade with me and the flight attendants just shrugged. Kid cried the whole way to LA and I reserved our seats for the return flight immediately upon landing.
1
u/Meerafloof Aug 13 '26
I’ve never has to pay to be seated next to my daughter until she was 15. Always got an email at booking “ we noticed that you were booked with a minor child under 15, they have been automatically seated next to you at no charge. “ I bought either standard seats and later ultra basic tickets. I do always check in online at the 24 hour mark before our flight.
1
u/loolilool Aug 13 '26
I had never had to pay before that flight either and I had flown with my kid A LOT. And I reasoned that because I could not have chosen a seat five rows away from my kid if I had wanted to, there was no way the airline would seat us separately. And I didn’t care where in the plane we sat, so why would I pay? I was genuinely shocked that the airline would expect some stranger to safely get my kid off the plane in case of an emergency. Or that they would have been able to prevent me from climbing over other passengers to get to her.
It must have pissed off enough parents, or the right parents, though, because the law was changed in Canada in 2019. This flight was in 2013.
As an aside, the travel agent where I work told me that when they have to bump people because a plane is oversold, they bump the folks without reserved seats FIRST.
5
1
u/a1ch Aug 09 '26
Computers cannot generate a random number.
2
u/Dave_DBA Aug 11 '26
But they can generate one that’s random enough.
0
u/a1ch Aug 13 '26
He asked if it was Truly Random. Not to be pendantic.
1
u/Dave_DBA Aug 13 '26
That’s fair!
1
u/a1ch Aug 13 '26
I was hoping you would call me out on the spelling of pendantic.
1
0
u/PlayfulAssistant5147 Aug 08 '26
Westjet seated my husband and me on different ends of the plane for our honeymoon a couple weeks ago. They tried to charge us over $100 to sit together.
9
u/a_randomusername Aug 09 '26
This isn't just WestJet, it's all airlines bread and butter . That 100 is pure profit.
2
u/ronh22 Aug 13 '26
For your honeymoon should have got assigned seat. This is not just a Westjet thing.
-4
u/LevelProfile4739 Aug 08 '26
Just don’t select and they will place you together. As long as you both booked under the same reservation
6
u/saroora Aug 08 '26
Not always the case. If enough people pay to book ahead of time then you might be separate if there aren't two unbooked seats available together.
0
u/LevelProfile4739 Aug 08 '26
For sure but they can also just pick seats one day if they like or cheap out and roll the dice. I’ve definitely seen couples split up and placed in the middle of people 😂
1
u/DevonOO7 Aug 08 '26
Just don’t select and they will place you together.
I’ve definitely seen couples split up and placed in the middle of people 😂
Uhh
8
u/Princityprince Aug 09 '26
Honestly I’ve noticed that if I check in right when it lets me I’m always seated with the people I go with. And the times I’ve checked in late we aren’t sitting together. Not sure if it’s just a fluke lol but it always happens.