Air Canada, WestJet Ditch Fuel Surcharge

by Jordan Yerman | September 19, 2008 at 08:29 am

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Air Canada is dropping its fee to check a second piece of luggage, and will also jettison a portion of its fuel surcharge. Westjet, Air Canada's rival and, for all intents and purposes, the only other domestic operator, followed suit shortly after.

Air Canada's landing page had no special notices, but a look at the flight reservation page reveals a message at the bottom: "New. Two checked bags free with all economy fares." (As if it's a feature that they somehow developed; yeah, I'm just cynical)

A visit to WestJet's website is met with the message, "We eliminated our fuel surcharge because we said we would."

Air Canada said yesterday the decision to eliminate the fee for a second checked bag was made because of the retreating price of oil, which hit a seven-month low of $90.51 (U.S.) a barrel two days ago and is now trading around $97 per barrel.

The move comes just before the winter travel season when passengers tend to fly with more luggage.

Ben Smith, the airline's executive vice-president and chief commercial officer, said in a statement the change in policy reflects the "expressed preferences" of Air Canada customers and comes even though the cost of fuel remains "highly volatile and far above historic norms."

The change takes effect Tuesday.

However, the two rivals took different approaches to their announcements Thursday, with Air Canada also saying it would adjust the base price of its tickets while. WestJet insisted it was simply getting rid of the surcharge.

“As promised we said we would remove our fuel surcharge when we were able to do so and we’re proud to announce that we’re eliminating it,” said WestJet executive vice-president Bob Cummings after a news conference at Calgary International Airport.

However, with Toronto-Vancouver round-trip prices hovering around C$900 during December, this is still cold comfort for travelers, considering that the same route cost maybe $300 last year.

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