Airline Announces Plan To Start Charging Passengers To Recline Their Seats
Customers are voicing their complaints about airlines demanding more money for basic comfort.
kelvn | Shutterstock As convenient as air travel is, it can also be a major hassle. Not only are you dealing with the chaos of being in the airport, but also the sheer discomfort of sitting on a plane with a bunch of uncomfortable passengers for hours. And if being squeezed into a flying tin can wasn't bad enough, Canadian airline WestJet just announced plans to charge passengers an extra fee if they want to recline their seats.
Let's be completely honest: reclining your seat in economy doesn't really make anyone more comfortable, especially the person seated behind you, but this just feels like a gross money grab. Airline travel is hard enough, and since most of us can't afford the luxury of first class, maybe airlines should work a little harder at keeping passengers happy instead of inciting more rage.
WestJet Airlines announced a plan to start charging passengers to recline their seats.
On WestJet's website, the airline announced that, starting in October 2025, it would offer premium cabin seating at an extra cost, including reclining seats. Representatives of the airline explained that the modern cabin will feature new seats, adjustable headrests, and enhanced cushion and back support.
The premium cabin has just 12 seats, and customers willing to pay extra can access it. There are no reclining seats in the new "extended comfort" section of the economy cabin; the 36 seats located directly behind Premium will have extra legroom and will be separated by a cabin divider.
"The cabin has been thoughtfully designed to offer WestJet’s welcoming service at every budget. It reflects our commitment to elevating every aspect of the travel experience and meeting guest demand for a broader range of product offerings," said Samantha Taylor, WestJet Executive Vice-President and Chief Experience Officer, in a statement.
According to WestJet, the seats in the back of the cabin, rows 20-31, will have the least space, there will be slightly more space in rows 15-19, and the seats in the front of economy will have the most space on the aircraft.
People expressed outrage that WestJet is charging more just to fly in basic comfort.
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In an interview with Canadian broadcast CBC, an airline passenger advocate insisted that this move is asking people to pay more for a feature they already had and now lost.
"The imagination of airline marketers never stops to astound me: the depths they will go through kind of give people an impression that if I pay more, I get more," John Gradek, an aviation lecturer at McGill University, said. "Right now, it’s like you pay more to get what you had."
The fact that passengers are being forced to pay extra just to recline their seats, on top of all the other fees that come up when traveling, is, frankly, annoying. It's even worse when you think about how seat sizes and legroom on planes are already decreasing.
According to CBS News, the Federal Aviation Administration asked for public feedback on airline seat sizes, and the agency was flooded with 26,000 submissions back in 2022. One telling detail amongst all of the comments was the word "torture," which was used by more than 200 commenters to emphasize the lack of personal space on planes.
While there are currently no rules on seat dimensions, passengers have still expressed not only the physical stress of being squeezed into smaller spaces, but also concerns about whether they could quickly leave their seats in an emergency. At the end of the day, flying shouldn't have to be as much of a hassle as it's become, nor should consumers have to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars just to fit into a seat.
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor's degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.
