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In the wake of a backlash sparked by a viral video, WestJet has cancelled a new seat configuration that squeezed an extra row on board many of its planes and left passengers with less legroom.<\/p>\n
In a Friday email obtained by The Canadian Press, the airline’s vice-president of inflight operations told staff that executives made the decision to return the cabins to their previous layout \u2014 a costly reinstallation process \u2014 after feedback from employees and customers.<\/p>\n
Already installed on 22 of WestJet’s Boeing 737s, the non-reclining seats in a majority of the cabin’s economy section featured the smallest amount of legroom on any large Canadian carrier.<\/p>\n
The configuration, which had been planned for 21 more aircraft, went on to draw national attention after a TikTok video showing the tight fit for passengers drew more than 1.1 million views.<\/p>\n
Staff and travellers warned that the cramped cabin curtails safety, particularly in the event of an evacuation, and hurts the customer experience.<\/p>\n
WestJet has pointed out that the reconfiguration underwent a full certification process.<\/p>\n
In a news release Friday, CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech said WestJet tried out a seat pitch that is “popular with many airlines around the globe,” noting they allow for lower fares.<\/p>\n
“As an entrepreneurial airline founded on making air travel affordable to Canadians, it’s in our DNA to try new products. At the same time, it is just as important to react quickly if they don’t meet the needs of our guests,” he said.<\/p>\n
A dozen of the 22 rows in the planes’ economy class feature 28-inch pitch \u2014 the distance between one point on a seat and the same point on the seat in front \u2014 versus 29- or 30-inch pitches on most other carriers’ lower-tier seats. They also have what WestJet calls a “fixed recline design,” meaning they cannot be tilted back.<\/p>\n
WestJet said it will begin to convert all of its tight-packed 180-seat jets back to a 174-seat layout after receiving regulatory certification. The timeline is “still being determined,” it said.<\/p>\n
The change could come with trade-offs for travellers.<\/p>\n
“It sucks to have to pay more to fit into a seat. I get that. But also some people are just not well off financially enough to be able to afford more, and if they can have that cheaper option, why not?” said Andrew D’Amours, founder of flight deal site Flytrippers.<\/p>\n
“But it is certainly very, very tiny.”<\/p>\n
Whatever the effect on fares, the decision represents a direct response to customer feedback \u2014 or bad publicity.<\/p>\n
“It’s one of the rare occasions where people’s voices and opinions have an actual impact on how airlines treat us,” D’Amours said.<\/p>\n
The narrower rows put some WestJet cabins on par with budget carriers such as Spirit Airlines, Frontier Airlines and Wizz Air, all of which sport 28-inch seats.<\/p>\n
“At what point do we just all stand and hold onto a rubber ring handle?” asked one TikTok commenter.<\/p>\n
However, the now-nixed configuration also carved out more space for 36 “extended comfort” seats with 34-inch pitch and 12 premium seats with 38-inch pitch, both of which yield bigger profit margins.<\/p>\n
In December, WestJet paused a move to install the controversial seats on a big slice of its fleet amid earlier pushback, but also “to support our operations during the peak winter travel season,” said spokeswoman Julia Brunet in mid-December. <\/p>\n
“We plan to resume reconfiguring our all-economy aircraft in the spring,” she said.<\/p>\n
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