WestJet Rewards Just Got a Makeover: Here’s What You Need to Know

Big news for WestJet Rewards members! As of April 30, 2025, WestJet is rolling out some major updates to its loyalty program. After raising the tier requirements earlier this year (ouch), they promised to make it easier to earn status. Now, they’ve revealed exactly how they plan to do it.

Let’s break it all down—because if you love travel (and free flights), these changes matter.

Bye-Bye, WestJet Dollars—Hello, WestJet Points

WestJet is swapping WestJet Dollars (WSD) for WestJet Points—but before you panic, this is mostly a name change.

• Old system: $1 WSD = $1 CAD

• New system: 100 WestJet Points = $1 CAD (which means 1 point = 1 cent)

For now, this doesn’t change anything, but the switch to points instead of a straight dollar value could mean future devaluations (cue dramatic music 🎵). Keep an eye on this one.

More Ways to Earn Points

Under the old program, you only earned WestJet Dollars on the base fare—which, as we all know, is often a tiny fraction of what you actually pay. The new program fixes that!

What’s changing? Now, you’ll earn points on:

✅ Base fare

✅ Carrier surcharges

✅ Seat selection

✅ Checked bags

✅ Cabin upgrades

❌ (Still no points on taxes & fees, but we’ll take the win.)

For frequent flyers, this is huge—those extra charges add up fast, meaning your rewards will, too.

Redeeming Just Got Way Easier

In the past, you could only redeem WestJet Dollars on base fare—again, the smallest part of your ticket price. Not anymore!

Starting April 30, you’ll be able to use your points for:

✅ Base fare

✅ Carrier surcharges

✅ Seat selection

✅ Checked bags

✅ Cabin upgrades

✅ Taxes & fees

This is great news—you can now cover almost the entire cost of your flight with points instead of getting stuck paying all the annoying extra fees.

Easier Tier Status!

If you’re chasing Silver, Gold, or Platinum status, you’re in luck! Right now, only base fare spending counts toward status. With the update, everything except taxes & fees counts—making it way easier to hit those spending thresholds.

Here’s what you need to spend in a calendar year to reach each tier:

💠 Silver: $4,000 - $5,999

💛 Gold: $6,000 - $9,999

💎 Platinum: $10,000+

If you’re booking WestJet flights regularly, this change could fast-track you to elite perks.

Credit Card Spend & Status Lift: Big Changes

WestJet is tweaking how credit card spending helps you earn status.

🛑 Old system: Spend $15,000 on the WestJet World Elite Mastercard and get a $500 status boost (up to $1,500 max per year).

✅ New system: Every $5,000 in spend gives a $200 status boost—and you can do this up to 50 times per year!

That means if you put $250,000 on your card (insane, but hey, you do you), you could reach Platinum status without ever flying.

➡️ Bonus: This change applies retroactively to January 1, 2025—so if you’ve already been racking up charges, you’re in luck.

Final Thoughts

Overall, these are some really positive changes—earning and redeeming points just got a lot easier, and for frequent travelers, it’s now less of a hassle to reach elite status.

That said, the shift from dollars to points is something to watch—because once a loyalty program starts converting rewards into points, future devaluations become more likely.

Want my full breakdown of whether the WestJet Mastercard is worth it in 2025? Stay tuned—I’ll cover that in an upcoming review.

🚀 What do you think of these changes? Drop a comment below!