386170 - westjet.com - Site Sniffs for Firefox, Fails in Varying Degrees in Other Gecko Browsers

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Web Compatibility :: Site Reports, defect)

Description

[Mike Bradley]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X; en; rv:1.8.1.4) Gecko/20070509 Camino/1.5
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X; en; rv:1.8.1.4) Gecko/20070509 Camino/1.5

I can't access the home page of this website - instead, after selecting "English" from the splash screen, Camino acts as if it's repeatedly refreshing the page, rather than actually loading it. Oddly enough, selecting "Francais" from the splash screen does not produce the same result.

I would have reported this bug as a broken web page, but it loads under Firefox, so I thought this would be a more appropriate forum.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Open http://www.westjet.com
2. Click on "English"
Actual Results:  
The resulting page never loads; instead Camino acts as if it is reloading repeatedly, with no sign of stopping (the status bar goes through an endless "cycles" of requesting / transferring / reading.) Each time it goes through one "cycle" the following text is added to the URL in the location bar: "&isClassicStepOne=true"

Expected Results:  
1. Open http://www.westjet.com
2. Click on "Francais"

(same thing, but in English)

I'm using the default theme.

Comment 1

[Chris Lawson (gone)]

This works great when spoofing as Firefox, so kicking this to TE.

Comment 2

[David E. Ross]

This is still a problem.  With SeaMonkey 2.0.3, I went to <http://www.westjet.com/>.  The middle of the page was covered by an inline "popup" (JavaScript artifact?) that said:
>  Welcome to WestJet.com!
> 
> Your browser is not one of our officially supported varieties and therefore 
> the flow through certain areas of our site may not be as robust as 
> otherwise.  
> To fully utilize all of our great features, we recommend switching to one of 
> the following:
>     * Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher (download now)
>     * Mozilla Firefox 3.0 or higher (download now)
> If you prefer not switching to one of our recommended browsers at this time, 
> you are still more than welcome to visit our website, although you may not 
> get to utilize all of our features to their fullest extent,

When I changed my UA string from "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.8) Gecko/20100205 SeaMonkey/2.0.3" to "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.8) Gecko/20100205 SeaMonkey/2.0.3, NOT Firefox/3.5.6", everything worked okay.  I did not get that message.  

I have informed WestJet of the problem, with a reference to <http://wiki.mozilla.org/User:Sardisson/Gecko_is_Gecko>.  

This affect Gecko browsers other than Camino.  Changing Platform from "PowerPC/Mac OS X" to "all/all".  Changing Summary from "westjet.com - page refresh loop in Camino, works in Firefox".  

Given the bilingual laws in Canada, this might also involve Component:French.  (WestJet is a Canadian airline.)

Comment 3

[David E. Ross]

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:13.0) Gecko/20120604 SeaMonkey/2.10

This is still a problem.

Comment 4

[Adam Stevenson [:adamopenweb]]

Website works fine in SeaMoneky 2.26.

Spoofing the UA in Firefox to "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.9; rv:30.0) Gecko/20100101 Palemoon/30.0" basically removing "Firefox" I get nagged about my browser but it doesn't stop me from accessing the site.

"Unfortunately, your browser isn't optimal for experiencing all that westjet.com has to offer. To take advantage of all our great features, we recommend switching to one of the following:
    Mozilla Firefox 3.0, 3.5, 3.6, 4.0 or 5.0 (download now)
    Safari 4.0 or 5.0 (download now)
    Google Chrome 10.0, 11.0 or 12.0 (download now)
If you prefer to continue with the browser you're using, you can still visit westjet.com, although you may not be able to use the site to its full extent."

Moving to desktop component.

Comment 5

[David E. Ross]

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:29.0) Gecko/20100101 SeaMonkey/2.26

If SeaMonkey 2.26 is used with "Advertise Firefox compatibility" disabled, this is still a problem.  Going to <http://www.westjet.com/>, I get the following:  

> Get the most out of WestJet.com
>  
> Unfortunately, your browser isn't optimal for experiencing all 
> that westjet.com has to offer. To take advantage of all our great 
> features, we recommend switching to one of the following: a
>     Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0, 8.0 or 9.0 (download now)
>     Mozilla Firefox 3.0, 3.5, 3.6, 4.0 or 5.0 (download now)
>     Safari 4.0 or 5.0 (download now)
>     Google Chrome 10.0, 11.0 or 12.0 (download now)

Note which versions of Firefox are considered current.  Indeed, all of the recommended browser versions are obsolete.  

(I disable "Advertise Firefox compatibility" because that feature results in Web pages being developed that ignore the existence of SeaMonkey.)

Comment 6

[Karl Dubost💡 :karlcow]

Their support chart is currently

IE      Microsoft Internet Explorer 10.0 and higher. Download
Firefox 	Mozilla Firefox 43.0 and higher. Download
Safari 	Safari 9.0 and higher. Download
Chrome 	Google Chrome 47.0 and higher. Download

They have a contact us page.
https://www.westjet.com/guest/en/contact/index.shtml
but I don't think any contact will work for this matter. Unfortunately.



https://wiki.debian.org/Iceweasel#Unsupported_Browser_Error
>     In order to browse websites like mlsni.net which allows Firefox but not Iceweasel, you'll need to change the user agent string of your browser. Look at the section "User Agent String" on how to change the user agent string. 

And maybe it is solved now
> By default, general.useragent.compatMode.firefox is set to true, which includes "Firefox" in the User-Agent string. 
https://wiki.debian.org/Iceweasel#User-Agent_string


I guess SeaMonkey should probably have Firefox in its UA string too. That would minimize the issues.


I'm closing. If you reopen, feel free to make action to contact the web site.

Comment 7

[David E. Ross]

Windows 7 Ultimate

Comment 8

[David E. Ross]

Arrggg!  Accidentally hit Enter before completing comment.  

Window 7 Ultimate
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:43.0) Gecko/20100101 SeaMonkey/2.40 
"Advertise Firefox compatibility" disabled

The problem appears to be resolved.