WestJet is running their second bonus promotion for buying points since the launch of the new program and this time they are offering 50% extra. This is 10% less than the promotion we saw back in June. As with all previous iterations of WestJet buy points (nee dollars) offers, it really doesn’t make sense to buy them. There are very few options where you might eke out a little more value than what you pay for them but I’m not really sure it’s worth the hassle.
The 50% bonus points offer
Receive a 50% bonus when you buy 2,500 or more WestJet Points by July 27, 2025. Click here for more details & to buy points
With a 50% bonus you end up paying 1.33 cents per point (+GST/HST) and this is where we run into issues. Your paying 1.33 cents for something that typically maxes out at 1 cent in value. There are very rare occasions where using points for Member Exclusive Fares may get you more value than what you pay for buying them but in most cases it does not.
Just like the last buy points bonus, this one coincides with a 40% off Member Exclusive fares sale, which means there are possibly opportunities where you can “eke” out a little bit of value – which was the case when they had a 60% bonus but is even less likely with the 50% bonus.
I quickly looked at one flight between Calgary and Toronto and in this case you would lose out by buying points. Make sure you do the math to see if it works to buy points
For the above example, you could buy 25,000 points to end up with 37,500 points with the bonus. The cost for the points ends up being $525 if you live in Alberta:
If we take the cash cost of the fare of $627.63 and subtract the fees required on the Member Exclusive Fare of $116.97 you end up with $510.66 of the airfare being covered by the points. That means with buying points you are spending $525 to get $510.66 in value (and even worse if you are in other provinces!) Technically you would have 420 points left over from the purchase, which is valued at $4.20. So that brings the $15 difference down to just under $11 (so you are still spending more) and….. with the buy points+member exclusive combo, you lose out on earning any WestJet points, so really it just not a good option! In this case it’s just better to buy a fare like this outright as you’ll be spending less and earning WestJet points to use in the future.
Wrapping it up
When the new WestJet Rewards program we had high hopes they would revamp the buy points offers to be more inline with what other loyalty programs provide but unfortunately that didn’t happen. When you have a program that has flat rate redemptions (100 points = $1 max.) and no true outsized value why try to sell the currency for more than it’s worth? Granted the current Member Exclusive Fare Sale may provide some options where you can eke out some slight value from buying points which I think will be difficult to find with only a 50% bonus. Let us know in the comments below if you do happen to come across any such examples!
Images via WestJet
Originally posted on June 5, 2025 @ 1:29 pm
