{"id":392677,"date":"2026-01-06T23:08:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T23:08:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/392677\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T23:08:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T23:08:06","slug":"westjet-says-shorter-legroom-on-some-flights-will-keep-costs-low","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/392677\/","title":{"rendered":"WestJet says shorter legroom on some flights will \u2018keep costs low\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

WestJet<\/a> says cutting legroom on some of its aircraft helps \u201ckeep costs low,\u201d following criticism over a video clip shared widely online that appears to show passengers pressed into a cramped seats on what the airline says is of \u201cone of our newly reconfigured aircraft.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In the video originally posted on TikTok and since shared widely on multiple social media platforms, two passengers are seen struggling to fit their legs and knees in the space of their seat while pressed into the back of the chair in front of them.<\/p>\n

It comes after WestJet had previously announced it would remove the option to recline seats<\/a> on some of its seats, then paused further installation over blowback.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe video shared is of one of our newly reconfigured aircraft. Previously, this aircraft operated with an all-economy cabin layout,\u201d WestJet said in a statement posted to social media.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWestJet pioneered making air travel available to more Canadian, through our ability to keep costs low and to offer affordable airfares \u2013 to continue to do so, we need to try new products, these aircraft accommodate an extra row by varying seat pitch between 38 and 28 inches,\u201d the airline said.<\/p>\n

The airline says that is \u201d in line with what you\u2019ll find across North American airlines\u201d and that \u201call modifications were completed in accordance with Transport Canada\u2019s rigorous airworthiness standards and WestJet\u2019s own high internal safety requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The WestJet component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees last year launched a campaign called \u2018UltraExtraBasic\u2019 \u2014 a play on WestJet\u2019s Ultra Basic fare \u2014 adding that flight attendants continue to do unpaid work while passengers suffer a bad flying experience.<\/p>\n

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Last month, WestJet paused the move to install non-reclining seats<\/a> on a big slice of its fleet after pushback from employees and passengers.<\/p>\n

The airline announced in September it would reconfigure the seating on 43 Boeing 737 jets to install an extra row and divide the cabin into several tiers, some with more space \u2014 and pricier tickets \u2014 than others.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

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Many of the economy seats would have less legroom than the previous layout and feature what WestJet called a \u201cfixed recline design,\u201d meaning they could not be tilted back.<\/p>\n

In an internal memo obtained by The Canadian Press, WestJet vice-president Robert Antoniuk told staff that the new configuration will only go ahead on 22 planes \u201cfor the time being,\u201d with 21 of those already sporting the tighter interior.<\/p>\n

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In the meantime, the Calgary-based company will conduct a review and \u201ccontinue to gather feedback from guests and employees,\u201d he said in the message.<\/p>\n

\u2013with files from Canadian Press<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMore on Lifestyle
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\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WestJet says cutting legroom on some of its aircraft helps \u201ckeep costs low,\u201d following criticism over a video…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48,1849,46,519,49809],"class_list":["post-392677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-consumer","tag-economy","tag-trending","tag-westjet"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}