WestJet is running their first bonus promotion for buying points since the launch of the new program and they offering 60% extra for doing so. While it is the first buy points offer for the new version of the program, they have run the promotions before when they had WestJet dollars. In the previous iterations it almost never made sense to buy WestJet dollars – even with a bonus and I had my hopes up that perhaps things would change with the new program but alas they have not.
The 60% bonus points offer
Receive a 60% bonus when you buy 2,500 or more WestJet Points by June 25, 2025. Click here for more details & to buy points
With a 60% bonus you end up paying 1.25 cents per point (+GST/HST) and this is where we run into issues. Your paying 1.25 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.
UPDATE: I just learned WestJet are also running a Member Exclusive Sale offering up to 40% off – so there may be more options to buy points and have it work out to give you a slight discount on flights.
I quickly looked at one flight between Calgary and Kelowna and it you would save a slight amount by buying points for an economy fare but would end up paying more if you went for premium economy. Make sure you do the math to see if it works to buy points
In the above example buying 11,680 points, you would actually have to buy 12,000, but I’ll use the amount you have to redeem for this fare and multiply that by the 1.25 cents would mean $146 to buy that many points plus GST (assuming you are in Alberta since it departs from Calgary) puts the cost to buy those points at $153.30 and add in the $52.52 for taxes/fees and you have a total outlay of $205.82 – saving you just under $9 over buying the fare outright but then you also lose out on earning WestJet points so the savings shrinks a touch more.
In the above example buying 21,520 points, you would actually have to buy 22,000, but I’ll use the amount you have to redeem for this fare and multiply that by the 1.25 cents would mean $269 to buy that many points plus GST (assuming you are in Alberta since it departs from Calgary) puts the cost to buy those points at $282.45 and add in the $57.44 for taxes/fees and you have a total outlay of $339.89 – so you would pay almost $15 more over buying the fare outright and you also lose out on earning WestJet points.
Wrapping it up
I was hoping the new WestJet Rewards program would revamp the buy points offers to be more inline with what other loyalty programs provide but that is not the case. When you have a program that has flat rate redemptions (100 points = $1 max.) and no 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.
They should take an example from GHA DISCOVERY – they also run a flat rate redemption value and right now their buy dollars offer allows you to buy each dollar (with a value of US$1) for only 85 cents each – that’s an offer that makes sense.
Images via WestJet
