WestJet seat pricing policy stinks

Okay, so I book a WestJet flight just yesterday from Toronto to Ottawa in May for some business. So I made the mistake of looking again today, less than 24 hours after booking the flight, and what do I see? They've dropped the price for the same day by $20. Thing is, I checked the flight numbers... and it's for the exact same flight as I'm already booked for!

So I call up the call centre, you'd think that they'd have some sort of price guarantee for at least 24-48 hours, right? Not a chance... to get the lower price, I'd have to pay a $50 change fee... even though I'm not making a change, it's the exact same flight! But they consider that a "change", so they can't do it without charging a fee that's more than double the cost reduction of the flight.

Yea, I know, it's how the airline industry works, but that's just not cool. Of course I'm not out any money, it's for work, but I'd still like to save the organization a few bucks if I can.

UPDATE: Well that didn't take long... yes, I can see that you folks at WestJet are paying attention, thanks for stopping by this blog post. (at least two of you so far) You can reach me at "christian[dot]conservative[dot]2007[at]gmail[dot]com" if you'd like to discuss this further.

UPDATE II: Thanks to a sharp eyed reader, it turns at that just two weeks ago, WestJet offered just such a protection to it's customers. From their own news release:

WestJet guarantees its lowest price
Yellowknife to benefit from unique airline pricing proposition

CALGARY, March 31 /CNW/ - WestJet today introduced the WestJet Price Guarantee for guests booking between March 31 and April 6, 2009. Despite uncertain times, WestJet guests can be certain of one thing - they'll get the lowest WestJet price.

"We're introducing the WestJet Price Guarantee in response to our guests, who want some certainty in these uncertain times," said Bob Cummings, WestJet's Executive Vice-President of Guest Experience and Marketing. "Our guests want to know they're getting the lowest fare we have to offer and this news today delivers that peace of mind. This is a unique price guarantee within the airline industry in Canada. WestJet is proud to be the airline that continues to drive value for the guest. Our strong financial and brand health as well as unique offers like this are all part of the value proposition that has more and more guests flying with us."

Since they've offered such a deal before, I'd recommend a really low cost solution for them... why not introduce a 24-Hour price guarantee? If you book a flight on WestJet, and they drop the price within 24 hours, they'll refund the difference? Of course, this will be a low cost venture for them because how many people keep checking prices AFTER they've booked? We're probably talking somewhere like 20-40 people a week would take them up on such an offer, likely in the neighbourhood of $10-$30. So if you average things out to $20 an occurance, we're talking somewhere around $500-$1000 a week... a really small price to pay for customer satisfaction, don't you think? (of course, they'd have to do a cost analysis on the venture, but I don't think my numbers would be too far off)

(THIS UPDATE ALSO POSTED AS A NEW POST)

UPDATE III: Come on all you WestJetters... I can see all of you reading my blog about this complaint, so what's the hold up? At least a half dozen members of your staff have been looking at my posts from today. Real simple solution guys, e-mail me at "christian[dot]conservative[dot]2007[at]gmail[dot]com" to talk about it.

In the meantime, it looks like your rivals at Air Canada are enjoying this... because someone from their HQ was taking a look at my posts on this issue.