This Budget Airline Plans To Start Charging Travelers Extra For Reclining Seats

Earlier in 2025, the underrated Canadian airline WestJet's budget-friendly prices and comfortable seating made headlines for the right reasons. Today, WestJet is again in the news for a new seating policy that's prompted mixed opinions from passengers and aviation experts. The budget airline is changing the interior layout of over 40 of its Boeing 737-8 Max and 737-800 passenger jets, removing the ability to recline when you're sitting in standard economy. Instead, passengers on these planes will need to pay extra for Premium or Extended Comfort seating if they want to recline during the flight.

"The cabin has been thoughtfully designed to offer WestJet's welcoming service at every budget," said Samantha Taylor, the company's Executive Vice-President and Chief Experience Officer, in an official press release from WestJet. "It reflects our commitment to elevating every aspect of the travel experience and meeting guest demand for a broader range of product offerings." This "broader range" includes 12 new Premium seats with extra comfort and ergonomic features, a built-in snack tray, and a dedicated device holder. Extended Comfort seating will now comprise 36 seats with extra legroom, a cabin divider, and adjustable recline. Standard seating in Economy will have a slight angle that won't be adjustable.

While WestJet has stated that the changes are to help travelers enjoy more options for different budgets while keeping costs down, some aviation experts see it as another example of passengers getting charged for features that should be free. "This is a cash grab by WestJet — pure and simple. These efforts are there to maximize revenue for the airline," said John Gradek, a faculty lecturer at McGill University, to Global News. "This is a continuing evolution of ways for airlines to add charges to their fees and basically cut back what you would normally expect to be included in your ticket."

WestJet is already the airline you might want to avoid if you're flying with a cat, but it might also become the airline you want to avoid if you're hoping to sit back and relax. These seating changes that essentially leave 48 reclinable seats on jets with between 174 and 189 seats are already in effect for some of the planes as of this month. While the changes get rolled out onto all 43 planes, you'll still be able to find some Economy-only flights. Unfortunately, these may not include some amenities, such as in-flight Wi-Fi and seat device charging. Economy-only flights will have a specific icon on the WestJet website to help you identify them.

If you do want to still recline on your WestJet flight, you might have to pay almost three times the amount of a standard economy seat. At the time of writing, looking at a one-way flight from Calgary to Seattle in November, a standard seat increased from $113.51 to almost $300 for the option of selecting your seat. If you wanted to select an Extended Comfort seat for the ability to recline, you would need to pay an additional $33. Premium seating on this particular flight was around $320.

To coincide with its seating changes, WestJet is also implementing a new, faster onboard Wi-Fi system. This service is intended to be as fast as internet speeds on the ground, allowing you to stream movies and TV shows as you normally would at home. However, like the ability to recline in your seat, WestJet Wi-Fi will cost extra. Only WestJet Rewards members will get it for free. This could be a deal breaker for some travelers who have gotten used to more airlines letting you enjoy free Wi-Fi while you fly.