>According to a press release from the airline, economy seats on the retrofitted planes will have "back support with a fixed recline design," which in simpler terms means the seat will not have the ability to recline.
>The Premium section at the front of these planes will have "ergonomically contoured seat cushions, reclining seat backs and a large headrest with four-way adjustment capability."
During Corona time all the airlines in Europe pleaded not to cash in the vouchers, but instead re-use them. I did that for many. But then Corona was over and there was no reciprocity. The amount of time they have fffd me over and not even have the decency to have a non-automated response is mindboggling
So, yeah, I recently learned about Westjet while visiting Ireland, and my first thought was "ah, OK, so Canada's RyanAir, eh?"
And they seem to be following the very same media playbook: make outrageous statements about some kind of insane fees they're going to introduce (like the famous RyanAir toilet-use add-on) to emphasize how cheap they are.
Anyway, the ever-ongoing enshittification in the air-travel space is entirely to blame on the consumers -- the people could stop this nonsense at any time, but apparently they're fine with it, so...
I’m stuck flying with Westjet for many routes because I’m Calgary-based and the inconvenience of non-direct flights is almost always greater than the inconvenience of poor seating/service/whatever - but Porter Airlines is expanding and is my first choice if I can fly direct with them.
(Or Air North - very limited service, but my favourite North American airline. Great service, they’ll pre-prep meals for you if you have dietary restrictions, their economy snack is a lovely warmed-up cookie, and they serve local beer and coffee from the Yukon.)
Selling discomfort is the business model. Make it so terrible of an experience that people are forced to pay more. Too bad North America (Yes, I AM lumping a bunch of countries together here) doesn't understand the value of trains and doesn't invest in them.
Sure. Yet what economists and policymakers often can't or won't understand is that slight pricing inefficiency are a load-bearing parts of a happy and productive society. When you slice and dice every market segment such that everyone gets a product with just barely positive ROI, you spread cynicism, misery, and a zero-sum mindset and you actually reduce overall productivity.
Yeah, okay, if you require as policy that seats decline and people have a certain amount of legroom, prices might rise a bit, and on the margin, people would take fewer trips and thereby GDP would tick lower or something.
So what? Letting people feel a shred of dignity while flying is worth perhaps reducing total trips by some infinitesimal percentage of it reduces the overall misery of society.
The crappy thing about enshittification is we're all part of the same system and participate in the same economy. Hyperoptimization for cost is spiritually shitting where you eat.
This is notable because Westjet is not an ultra low-cost airline. It's one of Canada's two major carriers.
For daytime flights within North America, I have to say I haven't reclined my seat in years. The person in front of me doesn't recline half the time, either. It just seems like there isn't the space for it, and it barely makes a difference in comfort, anyway. It's not like reclining increases legroom. So, I can see where Westjet is coming from.
(I think I might change my tune if I was on flight long enough to sleep/nap on.)
I'm sure there are some lawyers already doing research for the class action lawsuit that's going to result from increased cases of deep vein thrombosis this will cause.
I ask the person behind me if they would mind me reclining. They've never said no, and both parties now feel better. I'm not "intruding" in their personal space as much, since I asked.
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[ 4.6 ms ] story [ 33.7 ms ] thread>The Premium section at the front of these planes will have "ergonomically contoured seat cushions, reclining seat backs and a large headrest with four-way adjustment capability."
So.. poor people don't deserve ergonomic seats?
And they seem to be following the very same media playbook: make outrageous statements about some kind of insane fees they're going to introduce (like the famous RyanAir toilet-use add-on) to emphasize how cheap they are.
Anyway, the ever-ongoing enshittification in the air-travel space is entirely to blame on the consumers -- the people could stop this nonsense at any time, but apparently they're fine with it, so...
[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/29/spirit-airlines-chapter-11-b...
(Or Air North - very limited service, but my favourite North American airline. Great service, they’ll pre-prep meals for you if you have dietary restrictions, their economy snack is a lovely warmed-up cookie, and they serve local beer and coffee from the Yukon.)
Sure. Yet what economists and policymakers often can't or won't understand is that slight pricing inefficiency are a load-bearing parts of a happy and productive society. When you slice and dice every market segment such that everyone gets a product with just barely positive ROI, you spread cynicism, misery, and a zero-sum mindset and you actually reduce overall productivity.
Yeah, okay, if you require as policy that seats decline and people have a certain amount of legroom, prices might rise a bit, and on the margin, people would take fewer trips and thereby GDP would tick lower or something.
So what? Letting people feel a shred of dignity while flying is worth perhaps reducing total trips by some infinitesimal percentage of it reduces the overall misery of society.
The crappy thing about enshittification is we're all part of the same system and participate in the same economy. Hyperoptimization for cost is spiritually shitting where you eat.
For daytime flights within North America, I have to say I haven't reclined my seat in years. The person in front of me doesn't recline half the time, either. It just seems like there isn't the space for it, and it barely makes a difference in comfort, anyway. It's not like reclining increases legroom. So, I can see where Westjet is coming from.
(I think I might change my tune if I was on flight long enough to sleep/nap on.)
I wish people would talk to each other more.