WestJet promised that 2025 will be the biggest and best year yet for their WestJet Rewards program and stage two of the changes look to live up to that promise.
From being able to earn WestJet Points on almost the entire airfare to redeeming those points for 100% of your ticket cost to earning the HIGHEST Elite Tier status without flying and so much more, the biggest revamp in the program’s 15 year history will launch on April 30, 2025. And from the looks of things – these are all positive changes!
“We are improving WestJet Rewards to bring more value to all Canadians, whether that’s our frequent flyers, credit card holders or the casual traveler,” said Steve McClelland, Vice- President of Loyalty, WestJet. “That’s why we’ve introduced changes to our program across both flights and everyday partnerships, that give members so many great ways to earn points and save for flights, vacations or enhanced travel experiences.”
WestJet dollars become WestJet Points
Say good-bye to the almighty dollar! The long standing currency of WestJet Rewards will be changing from dollars to points as of April 30.
When the program adopts the new currency members will receive 100 points for every 1 WestJet dollar they hold. And what are the points worth? 1 cent per point so 100 points will $1. Simple as that. There is no gain and no loss in the move to issuing points in regards to members redeeming for flights, vacations etc. as they know it today.
There will be different valuations per point when it comes to redeeming them for new products the program is set to introduce in the future, some of which are detailed below.
The main reason behind the airline switching from dollars to points is that it allows for needed flexibility for adding new partnerships, the introduction of new reward products and should provide easier integration in terms of being able to earn and redeem with all of the airline’s current and upcoming partners.
My only concern with issuing points versus dollars is that it makes it much easier for future program devaluations. When issuing dollars, a dollar is a dollar is a dollar. You can’t change that, sure the earn rates can be changed but when you redeem a dollar you get a dollar of value. With points, not only can the earn rate be toyed with but so can the redemption rate.
Earn WestJet Points on almost your entire airfare
The next big change to the WestJet Rewards comes in the form of earning WestJet Points on flights. Currently the program only awards WestJet dollars on the base fare portion of a ticket. That can amount to pennies on those tickets where the base fare is extremely low but that all changes now!
As of April 30 WestJet Points will be awarded on every portion of a fare paid except for taxes. Base fare, seat selection fees, Other ATC, you name it, if it’s not collected on behalf of the government, you’ll earn WestJet points for it.
Earning points on WestJet flights:
| Fare Portion | Up to April 29, 2025 | April 30 & beyond |
|---|---|---|
| Base Fare | Yes | Yes |
| Surcharges (Other ATC etc.) | No | Yes |
| Fare Extras (Seats, Bags etc.) | No | Yes |
| Paid Upgrades | No | Yes |
| Taxes | No | No |
All spend except for taxes will count as elite qualifying (TQS = Tier Qualiying Spend)
WestJet will also make more of your airfare count towards elite tier qualifying! As of April 30th, everything you spend on your airfare except for the taxes will now be counted as Tier Qualifying Spend (TQS). This will make it easier for travellers to reach the three status tiers and especially those striving to hit Platinum seeing how the requirement was bumped up to $10,000 TQS as of this year (now it makes sense as to why they bumped it up!)
Recommended reading: WestJet Rewards Elite Tier Status Updates for 2025
Elite status qualifying earn on WestJet flights:
| Fare Portion | Up to April 29, 2025 | April 30 & beyond |
|---|---|---|
| Base Fare | Yes | Yes |
| Surcharges (Other ATC etc.) | No | Yes |
| Fare Extras (Seats, Bags etc.) | No | Yes |
| Paid Upgrades | No | Yes |
| Taxes | No | No |
Credit Card Earning
The value of the earn rates on the credit cards will not be changing. Instead of percent earn, the values will simply become points. For example the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard’s 1.5% and 2% earn rates will become 1.5 and 2 points per dollar spent.
Partner Airline Earning
For WestJet marketed flights that are operated by partner carriers (e.g., the ones you can buy on WestJet’s website) the earn will be the regular point earn rate (1pt/3pts/5pts/8pts), which is the same as today’s program, just in points.
If a WestJet Rewards member books directly with a carrier like Delta, Air France and KLM and enters their WestJet Rewards member number for earning, the earn for those airlines will be the same and continue to be based on distance/fare-class but in points instead of dollars with a 50/75/100% bonus for Silver, Gold, and Platinum members, respectively.
For example, members currently earn between 3 and 10 WestJet dollars per Delta flight in Economy class:
This means in the new points based system the earn rates will be 300 points for 0-500 miles, 500 points for 501-1000 and so forth.
Other points earning
WestJet Rewards members will continue to earn on WestJet Vacations and car rentals booked via WestJet just as they before but with an equivalent earn rate in points.
Points Earning Summary
Redeem WestJet Points to pay for up to 100% of your airfare!
This is one of the most welcome changes to the program that I know a lot of you have been asking for. When April 30th hits, you’ll be able to redeem your WestJet Points for every portion of the airfare – including taxes! That means you the opportunity to get your WestJet flights completely free!
In the program revamp, you will redeem points towards the base fare at 100 points to $1, which is the exact same value as it is today.
Then the program will give you the option to redeem points towards the flights extras, surcharges and even government taxes. Members will have two selections when choosing the option to redeem points for these additional fare items, either 50% points + 50% or 100% points.
The amount of points required will vary but WestJet gave us an example of a flight to London,UK whereby a member choosing to redeem for those extras with 50% points and 50% cash would be charged approximately 110 points for every $1 while a member choosing the 100% points route would be charged approximately 105 points for every $1.
As you can see you’ll still the get the same value for your WestJet dollars once they are moved to points when you redeem them for the base fare. Redeeming points for fare extras, surcharges and taxes is what I was referring to with the previously aforementioned different valuations per point. You will receive a lower value per point for using your points for these extras but the value is still reasonable (~110 points to $1 or ~105 points to $1) and it reminds me of Aeroplan’s option to use points to cover the entire cost of an award flight, with which Aeroplan also provides slightly lower value than the best flight redemption option in that program where you still pay the taxes with cash.
The minimum redemption amount in the program is also changing. Currently members have to redeem a minimum of $15 WestJet dollars per person per direction ($30 round trip) and that is being changed to 2,500 points per booking. So no longer is it per person, per direction but it does mean on a one-way flight with only one person on the booking the minimum redemption amount is actually higher than the old program but for any other bookings involving more passengers or round trip – it ends up being less.
Redeeming points on WestJet flights:
| Fare Portion | Up to April 29, 2025 | April 30 & beyond |
|---|---|---|
| Base Fare | Yes | Yes |
| Surcharges (Other ATC etc.) | No | Yes |
| Fare Extras (Seats, Bags etc.) | No | Yes |
| Paid Upgrades | No | Yes |
| Taxes | No | Yes |
You can even make companion voucher fares 100% free
Today with the WestJet Rewards program when you use a companion voucher (either from the credit cards or from Milestone Awards) you still have to pay for the extra surcharges and taxes with cash. As of April 30 that will no longer be the case as members will be able to redeem WestJet points to any fees being charged on the companion fare – including the co-pay amount that is required on the vouchers provided on the WestJet credit cards!
Earn Top Tier Status with Credit Card Spend
Very few programs around the world allow their members to earn the highest elite tier level in their program without setting foot on a plane and now WestJet Rewards will be joining that small list!
As of April 30, holders of the WestJet RBC® World Elite Mastercardǂ (Existing and new cardholders) will be able to spend their way to any status level in the WestJet Rewards program.
The current Status Lift benefit on the card is being retooled to help make achieving status even easier and faster. In the current program the Status Lift benefit provides $500 of tier qualifying spending for every $15,000 spent on the card and it is awarded up to three times.
In the revamped program the Status Lift benefit will provide $200 of tier qualifying spending for every $5,000 spent on the card. The Status Lift Benefit is capped at 50 per year per cardholder ($250,000 in spend). That means you can earn elite status with WestJet Rewards solely with your credit card spend and here’s how much you have to spend to do so:
| Elite Status Tier | EQS required | Credit card spend required to achieve |
|---|---|---|
| Silver | $3,000 | $100,000 |
| Gold | $6,000 | $150,000 |
| Platinum | $10,000 | $250,000 |
Now of course, you don’t have to do it just by credit card spend as you can also earn TQS by flying with WestJet and as we already know from above, more of your airfare now counts towards TQS.
The good news for existing cardholders is the new Status Lift benefit will operate on a yearly calendar basis starting on January 1st so WestJet will be retroactively crediting the 200 TQS per $5,000 spent (or making up the difference for any Status Lifts already awarded) for spend made between January 1 and April 29, 2025.
New small business (SME) WestJet credit card coming soon
The suite of WestJet RBC credit cards will grow to three cards later this year! A small business (SME) credit card will be added to the line up which currently includes the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard and the WestJet RBC Mastercard.
We don’t have many details yet about the card but what we do know so far is the points earning and Status Lift on this new card can be combined into the same WestJet Rewards account that a member may be earning points and Status Lifts with one of the consumer credit cards!
New Milestone award choices (including Gift of Gold Status for a year)
The first stage of the WestJet Rewards changes were revealed late last year (read our article about them here) and those were for the elite status part of the program. Those changes were met with mixed reviews and we covered them in-depth on the RWRDS Canada podcast:
The biggest source of disappointment for members was that the Milestone awards were taking a massive hit. The program in its old form provided Milestone awards with every $2,000 in qualifying spend (after reaching your first $4,000 in spend) but as of this year that has moved to $2,000, $8,000, $12,000, $16,000, $20,000, $30,000, $40,000, and $50,000. That’s a significant amount of Milestone Awards no longer being awarded but quoting myself from our article last year:
With all that said, WestJet will be introducing new milestone award choices and when I met with the WestJet Rewards team towards the end of October they assured me that the choices should more than make up for the new levels they are awarded at. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
And now we have been made aware of what the Milestone Award Choices are. Some of them are quite lucrative, that’s for sure! Whether they more than make up for receiving a lower amount of awards compared to before, well, that will be subjective based on each individual. I feel for some members, these will more than make up for receiving a lower amount of awards but for others they may not.
It’s also worthy to note that as of April 30th all members will be earning more Milestone Qualifying Spend (MQS) on WestJet flights as eligible published base fares, other Air Transportation Charges, seat fees selection, checked bag fees and cabin upgrade fees will all count. This means the larger spread in spending between awards (at least at the lower levels) isn’t as significant as we all first thought when the levels were announced last year.
Here are the new Milestone award choices:
I won’t go into detail about every single award option, I think many of them are self-explanatory but will highlight some of the significant ones:
- $500 TQS bonus for current year ($8k level) – When a member reaches $8,000 in qualifying spend they will be half way between Gold and Platinum Tiers. If they don’t have the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard or do but don’t have the spend to help “lift” them to Platinum, this is a nice little boost to get them closer.
- $1,000 TQS head start for next year ($10k level) – At $10k in spend the member will have reached the top tier of the program and as such won’t need anymore TQS for the current year so they can choose this to get a head start on the next year’s qualifying
- Transferable WestJet-wide companion voucher ($20k & $50k levels) – With WestJet doling out so many companion vouchers to elite members at every $2K spend level in the past, there were members who more vouchers than they knew what to with them – and they still have some of them since they were extended to a 2 year expiry. So members asked about the option for transferring those vouchers and while existing vouchers cannot be transferred, members can select this one going forward and give the voucher to whomever they like.
- 40% off discount on any Business Class fare ($40k level) – I can see this being a goal for some WestJet Rewards members as their way to fly Business Class to Europe or Asia. This choice alone could easily be worth $4,000 or more when used for two people!
- WestJet Suite for a Blue Jays home game for the member & up to 17 guests ($50k level) – This one is going to be fought for as there is ONLY ONE AVAILABLE! So the first WestJet Rewards member to reach $50,000 in MQS will be given this option and if they take it, everyone else will be out of luck!
- One year Gift of Gold voucher ($12k and $30k levels) – We all thought this was being discontinued (and technically it was as it was only Gift of Gold for one flight) but now in the new Milestone award choices members who reach $12k and $30k will have the option to gift anyone WestJet Rewards Gold status for an entire year!
So what do you think? Let us know in the comments below if you think the ability to earn more MQS and having some more lucrative award choices make up for the larger spread in spending required to receive those Milestone awards?
Complete look at Tier Status Benefits
New Online Shopping Portal – WestJet Rewards eStore
Here’s one of the first examples of where having points is probably easier than dollars and that is WestJet’s new WestJet Rewards eStore (I am a little surprised they named it the same as Aeroplan’s but what can I say). The WestJet eStore will operate in much the same fashion as Aeroplan’s with members earning points for online shopping with the portal’s affiliate partners. The eStore will also provide members with the option to redeem their points on merchandise and gift cards in their catalogue.
Earning points via the new online shopping portal will range from 1 point per dollar spent and go up to 5 points per dollar spent depending on the brand and limited time promotions.
“Members will have the ability to earn when they shop, as well as redeem WestJet points on merchandise and gift cards with popular retailers like Amazon, Apple, Sephora and Sport Chek.”
When it comes to redeeming points in the eStore, for merchandise, members may use partial redemption (minimum of 2,500 points) up to a full redemption (including taxes and fees) however, members cannot earn WestJet points on the payment (i.e., cash) portion. For gift cards, members need can only use points for the full redemption.
New earning and redeeming partners – starting with Skip & Telus
Another big benefit of moving to points as their currency is WestJet’s ability to handle more non-flight partnerships. Points earned on low dollar transactions are easily awarded (or redeemed) whereas dollars are tough – since the program didn’t break those down into cents! I believe we will see WestJet really expand their partner catalog in the coming months and years and the first two to kick things off are Skip and Telus. (We really need them to get some good hotel partners onboard!)
While we don’t have the details of the partnerships just yet, we do know WestJet Rewards members will be able to earn and redeem points with Skip and Telus in the very near future:
Members will soon be able to link their WestJet Rewards accounts to their TELUS Rewards and Skip accounts, unlocking opportunities like point transfer and bonus offers. Additionally, they can earn and redeem WestJet points for TELUS services as well as earn and redeem WestJet points with Skip to bring their next trip closer on each order
Wrapping it up
After a shaky kick-off with the so-so news around the Elite Status Tier changes late last fall (‘so-so’ due to not having the full picture in front of us) the airline has now revealed the revamped and all-new WestJet Rewards program to the public. With some major improvements, the airline is delivering on their promise to make this the best year ever for the program. There will be more ways to earn, more ways to redeem and it will be easier to earn elite tier status in the program.
What more can be said? By all accounts, outside of the previously announced elite status changes, this revamp of the everyday portion of the WestJet Rewards program can truly be called an “enhancement” and “improvement” – two words that generally have he opposite meaning when it comes to loyalty program changes!
Quick Summary of changes:
All images courtesy of WestJet