As Austin Cho pointed out “WestJet is facing a lawsuit for its recent baggage fee implementation.” With this as a starting point, he argued that that this decision is “merely a cash grab” as people who want to have a baggage will now have to pay more to do so and thus WestJet could increase its profits from the people who are willing to pay the fee.

I totally oppose that view, and I will explain why.

WestJet has targeted a niche market of consumers who would not travel first class but would rather travel in a baggage to reach a destination quickly but with minimum costs. It is thus rational for WestJet to assume that its consumers would be happy to pay a cheaper ticket by reducing their packing.

This assumption means that the number of WestJet consumers that will pay the fee will not be large and thus the collection of the fees will not be enough to increase WestJet’s profits but  would merely cover the costs of transporting the baggages. Consumers are currently forced to pay tickets that  include the option to have a baggage. By introducing a baggage fee people’s option gains a financial repercussion to it. WestJet would thus give people the option of carrying a baggage without charging then ahead of time. 

Globalisation increases the demand for transportation by airplanes as an increasing amount of people either have to or want to oftenly travel for work,  entertainment or education.  Traveling by plane is the fastest but most expensive means of transportation and thus people are increasingly searching for cheaper alternatives. WestJet has tried to tackle this exact demand and thus provides cheaper airplane tickets to consumers by minimising its costs without affecting the safety of the passengers on board. 

WestJet is able to achieve this by for example providing less or no on-board complements for its consumers or by not landing to the largest airport of each city to reduce parking costs. In my opinion, implementing a baggage fee is another example of trying to reduce the cost of the tickets as it reduces WestJet’s cost of packing and unpacking the baggages.

All in all, WestJet’s ultimate goal is to reduce the cost of the tickets as much as possible while still making profits. Implementing a baggage fee reduces the cost of the tickets for the people who are willing to travel without a baggage while covering the costs of transporting baggages by collecting the fee. The goal is met, the consumers are happy and as a result the implementation of the fee is a smart decision.