When it comes to air travel, one of the few markets that would be comparable to Australia would be Canada. They have one national carrier (“Air Canada” being their “Qantas”), who are the only Canadian carrier to travel to and from Australia, with two main domestic airlines for competition.
There’s Porter, who followed a similar trajectory to Rex – except their expansion actually seems to have stuck (and how!) – and WestJet, who are something of a Virgin Blue – the more affordable alternative to Air Canada that seems to be in the process a transition towards a more competitive service, a la pre-Covid Virgin Australia. Ironically, however, WestJet are partners with Qantas, while Air Canada are in partnership with Virgin Australia.
Recently I flew on WestJet’s international 737-700 service, from Belize International in the Caribbean to Toronto International Airport in Premium Economy – the highest class available for this service – for the first time. Here’s how that experience shaped up.
Airline Carrier: WestJet
Aircraft: Boeing 737-700
Flight Route & Number: Belize City (BZE) to Toronto Pearson (YYZ) – WS2387
Class: Premium Economy
Seat: 3C
Flight Time: About 5 Hours
On Time? 10 minutes late due to winds.
About the Departure Airport: Belize City International
After you arrive at Belize’s international airport in Belize City, either by connecting hopper flight (read about my Tropic Air experience from last year), or car, you’ll check in with your airline and then go through immigration and security. When you arrived in Belize, you would have received a departing passenger card – so make sure to bring this along. They have a check point before immigration where they make sure you have filled this out correctly.
After security, you’ll come to a single terminal with about ten gates. There’s plenty of stores to get last minute trinkets, and two of the best things about Belize – Belikin Beer, and Marie Sharp’s Hot Sauce. I left with several litres of the latter.
There’s a few places to get takeaway food from, and a sit down pizzeria. I like the spot right at the end of the terminal that serves some classic Belizean dishes, like stewed chicken with rice and beans. Note that there’s no where to refill your water bottle in this terminal, but you’ll find two bars – one, Johnny Z’s at one end, and Jet’s, which has the spirit of a dive bar – covered in stickers – at the other. And it’s near Jet’s that you’ll find the bathrooms, as well as Gate 1, which is where WestJet generally depart from.
Boarding
WestJet roll out their typical boarding procedure here. We upgraded to Premium Economy the day before the flight, after seeing it would only cost about $130 USD each. Given it was a five hour flight, and we both had work to do, this proved a sound decision.
Though it’s important to note that your fare class doesn’t change doing it this way. So for the flight down in economy on an “Econo” fare, it didn’t provide me with any points through Qantas. And the same rules applied on the way back – receiving no points for Qantas, nor for WestJet itself for that matter. I’ve always found WestJet Rewards to be one that rarely pays off unless you’re paying for the most expensive tickets outright, however they are reportedly updating their reward system so will be interesting to see if they’ll finally be more competitive.
They don’t have lounges at BZE, so the upgrade doesn’t include any additional access on ground. But you can just sit at Jet’s and pretend! You do, however, get automatically rolled into Zone 1 and get to be among the first to board. Which is handy if you have a carry on that you don’t want to end up underneath the plane.
Zones 1 and 2 were called at the same time, and while room in this terminal is limited, it all seemed to work reasonably smoothly!
The Premium Economy Cabin
Like many airlines, including Virgin Australia, WestJet’s 737s have the first three rows as their “premium” option, with a three rows of a 2-2 set up, in front of a 3-3 economy cabin.
The seats are wider than the rest, and there’s plenty of leg room, with the tray table in your armrest. Each seat has its own power supply (AC and USB), and a 355 mL bottle of Dasani waiting at your seat. The seat in front has a small pocket for the in flight magazine and safety card. There’s also a little netted pocket on the right side of the seat, which was handy for your phone or other items you wanted to grab with a moment’s notice.
Though an older plane (and there was plenty of wear and tear), the head rest of the chair was comfortable with side flaps that moved up and down. The seats were comfortable too – leather with great width and solid padding.
There was also a decent recline on the chair. And as row four had extra leg room, and tray table also in the arm rest, it didn’t affect people sitting behind us. The only slightly annoying thing on my seat specifically was they were using it to hold the cabin curtain, though that was only really for take off and landing.
Unlike many carriers with this plane layout, the front bathroom can be used by any passenger, though to line up for it you have to wait behind the third row. On the 737-700 aircraft they do have a curtain to separate the cabins, which is utilised during periods of service to prevent people from entering the area. Though that didn’t stop people for using it in those windows and the staff didn’t seem to be stopping people either. Though during service you do understand the need, as the rear bathrooms are blocked by the service.
Still, you start to understand why some airlines prohibit the rest of the cabin from using the front toilet – as those lining up behind the curtain would continually use it before you had the chance and there wasn’t a clear protocol for how and when to access it. Once the back bathroom was properly available it essentially became exclusive for the cabin.
In Flight Premium Experience
Wine, beer, spirits and even pre-mixed cocktails were available complimentary in Premium Economy, alongside a lunch.
A placemat and a hot towel were provided after they took our food and drink orders, which was shortly after take off. The drinks came first – I had a scotch and soda, and this was accompanied by pretzels and a celebration chocolate.
A menu would normally be distributed, but they didn’t have any – so they displayed the options with an iPad. The original choice was beef stew with egg noodles or mushroom risotto. But then they came around to tell us that they didn’t actually have that, and instead there was a chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy, or a vegetarian pasta with tomato sauce. I had the former, and it came with a beetroot and goats cheese salad (with balsamic), a raspberry cheesecake and a bread roll with butter. Salt and pepper shakers were also provided. The food was filling and tasty – comparable to what you once would get on an international flight in economy, though with better presentation.
A second drink was offered with the meal service, and then tea or coffee (in a real, actual mug!) was offered as they took the plates away. And they were happy to serve additional alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages for the duration of the flight.
Snacks like cashews and chips were brought around about two hours before landing.
Other Amenities
Westjet Connect worked on the flight, offering internet options as well as film and TV shows to stream throughout the flight. But these can only be accessed on your own devices – there’s no in built entertainment units in economy, nor in premium economy.
Sadly, the plugs at our seats (3F and 3D) weren’t working, which made the “getting work done” part of the flight a bit difficult. It was strange, too, because they were lit green when we got on the plane, as you’ll see in the photo below, but then turned red shortly before take off.
The staff kindly offered to charge our devices on the crew seats at the back of the plane. Though that wasn’t possible during service and I had to wait until more than two hours into the flight to make my way to the back of the plane. In the end, the stewardess kindly took it back for me, and I retrieved it – with a fresh charge – later in the flight.
The crew were jovial and helpful, bringing a positive attitude to our care from start to finish. The Captain was also very communicative – something I have noticed as a norm for WestJet. That sort of care does not go unnoticed. For one, they advised us as we were about to take off that we would have a longer flight time due to winds, so they tried to make for an early departure. Indeed, we did leave from the gate 10 mins early. We ended up only 10 minutes late as a result, with 4 hours and 45 minutes cruising time, flying up to 38k feet, with limited turbulence. A pleasant ride!
Final Verdict
There’s no question that this “Premium Economy” experience would better be described as “Business Lite” – as this is an offering on par with plenty of domestic carriers’ First or Business cabins, especially in the 737 layout.
For the minimal cost to upgrade to that experience – particularly compared to other airlines – this was a fantastic upgrade. Had I paid the full fare outright, I may have been less forgiving of some of issues like being a bit rough around the edges, or the lack of power at our seats – but ultimately that was just unlucky.
All in all, if you have the opportunity to upgrade at a great fare like we did, you should take it. The great seat, extra care and attention you get from the fantastic staff, as well as the inclusive meal, snacks and drinks, all make it worth it.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
To book with Westjet, head to westjet.com.
The author flew at his own expense in March 2025. Photos by the author unless otherwise credited.
