Flash by WestJet: A proposed approach to COVID-19 recovery
By: Amal Asiff, Anoosha Venkatesh, Brielle Pelletier, Jeremy Eusebio-Wong, Samuel Goldberg
The pandemic has decimated the airline industry, leading to a total loss in revenue of $371 billion (ICAO, n.d.). This has created a financial crisis for many airlines and disgruntled travellers who can no longer fly with the ease they were previously used to. Over the past year, WestJet has gone from 14,000 employees to 4,800. As a result, the pandemic has not only severely hurt WestJet’s bottom line, but has naturally led to increased worker limbo and dissatisfaction (Perry, 2021).
The implementation of an easy-to-use platform that increases the opportunity for Canadians to fly, and as a result, WestJet to increase revenue is what we are proposing in this article. Flash by WestJet takes advantage of diminished passenger numbers due to the pandemic to provide spontaneous and low-income flyers an opportunity to hop aboard and travel to their favourite Canadian destinations.
The growing number of passengers will help to give more work to demotivated WestJet employees. This will be due to greater quantities of luggage to be handled, added revenue management responsibilities, and increased customer service needs. Furthermore, generating more revenue could open the door for rehiring staff let go due to the pandemic; this will also reduce the chance of overworking employees as responsibilities are shared.
As of March 2021, WestJet forecasts a high demand for flights in June (CTV, 2021). However, with much uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, flyers may be unwilling to commit at normal prices due to increased flight risks. By providing discounted flight options on under-performing flights, WestJet can incentivize cautious flyers to buy a ticket, generating revenue as a result.
Our recommendation was inspired by Scott’s Cheap Flights, a service where subscribers have access to cheap flight deals found by flight hunters emailed straight to your inbox.
The difference with Flash by WestJet is that WestJet flight deals are exclusively curated and sent out to subscribers.
So what are the tools we used that allowed us to bring this idea to life?
Tool 1: Website creation using Wix
We used a website builder, in this case Wix, to create a platform from which Flash by WestJet could take flight. Click here to see the Flash by WestJet website.
We chose Wix due to its seamless user experience, however there are a variety of website builders that WestJet can use, including:
- Weebly
- Squarespace
- Zyro
Tool 2: Pushed
With the help of Pushed, users can subscribe to our service to receive push notifications whenever a Flash Flight is available. On WestJet’s operational side, a revenue manager would be responsible for identifying Flash Flights, and sending out notifications to subscribers.
Step 1: Go to https://account.pushed.co/signin and create an account
Step 2: Once you log into your new account, you will find the following message across the top of your screen. Select the green bar, “Request Developer Access now, it’s free”.
Step 3: Fill out the “Request Developer Access” form with your desired information. Agree to the terms and policy agreement and then select “I Agree, Request Developer Access”. This will prompt the website to allow you access to send notifications to your subscribers.
Step 4: After requesting access, you will receive an email asking you to confirm your email address. Once you confirm your address, you can log back into your account. The message at the top of the screen should now present the following:
Step 5: To create a new app to send notifications, go to the top of your screen to the option bar and select “Apps”.
Step 6: Then select “New App” and fill out the required information to your preference.
Step 7: You then have the options to customize your app. If you would like, you can add an icon so that users will be notified with your brand’s logo. In our case, we selected our “Flash” logo.
Step 8: Go back to your “App” page, and then you will be able to see your newly built notification app.
Step 9: After selecting your app, you will then be able to see your notification analytics and have the option to send a new notification in the top right corner.
The resulting notification on users phones will appear as follows:
This can all be done with the sandbox version we used. However, if you want more functionality, such as scheduled messages, you can use the Personal version, which costs $13.99/month.
Tool 3: Typeform
With Typeform, we were able to create a form on our website enabling users to sign up for a mailing list and newsletter.
How to embed Typeform onto the website and Setup:
1. Through Typeform we created a new template asking the following questions:
- First Name
- Last Name
- Location (province)
2. Connecting Typeform to Google sheets
- We easily did this through Typeform’s connect function, allowing us to record the responses from users onto a cloud saved spreadsheet.
3. Adding Typeform to Website
- After building the Typeform how we needed it, it was embedded onto our website by linking the published URL so that it may be accessed without leaving the page.
Tool 4: Zapier
- Choosing a service
- Using Zapier.com we created an automated process for sending out thank you emails for users who choose to sign up to be on our emailing list.
2. Connecting services
- After creating an account for Zapier.com, we set our Typeform-linked Google sheets as the trigger when “New or Updated Spreadsheet Row” event occurred.
3. Automated emails
- To send emails automatically, we used “Gmail” as the action app and “Send email” as the action.
- We continued filling out the fields necessary to build our automated thank-you email by implementing elements from the Google sheet and our templated messages.
4. Test
- We ran a test within Zapier to check for our intended output, and it worked perfectly!
Alternatives and Future Considerations
- We should note that for WestJet, using a third-party application like Pushed would not be necessary. Instead, WestJet can integrate the required subscription and notification software into its own interface. This will in turn give WestJet more control over their User Experience, and access to a greater database, resulting in a more seamless experience for customers.
- The Flash by WestJet initiative can be used to enhance the Swoop experience by offering low flight deals that redirect to the Swoop website. The demographic using both Flash by WestJet and Swoop will likely be similar, as both cater to those looking to minimize costs on a spontaneous trip.
- In the future, WestJet could look to expand the service to offer location-based services to identify where travellers are located.
- Price filtering can allow users to pick future Flash Flight deals at the price point they want.
- A Freemium model, utilizing WestJet’s current customer loyalty program. Premium users can pay a monthly fee to receive Flash Flight deals 24–48 hours before basic subscribers. This model would further increase revenue for WestJet as a result.
References
CTV. (2021, March 26) WestJet adding routes in Western Canada in anticipation of summer demand. Calgary. Retrieved April 21, 2021 https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/westjet-adding-routes-in-western-canada-in-anticipation-of-summer-demand-1.5363780?cache=a+href
ICAO. (n.d.). Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Civil Aviation. Retrieved April 21, 2021, from https://www.icao.int/sustainability/Pages/Economic-Impacts-of-COVID-19.aspx
Perry, J. (2021) Opinion: Federal failure on airlines leaves entire industry jeopardy. Calgaryherald. Retrieved April 21, 2021, from https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-federal-failure-on-airlines-leaves-entire-industry-in-jeopardy
