WestJet Completes All-Economy Cabin Refresh… But Your Seat Still Won’t Recline

Earlier this week, WestJet announced that it has completed the all-economy cabin refresh across its former Swoop and Sunwing aircraft. Broadly speaking, the trade press has treated it as an unambiguous win: new Wi-Fi, upgraded Premium seating, an expanded Extended Comfort cabin, and a fix for the legroom fiasco that made headlines back in early 2026. 

It’s worth noting that most of that framing is fair, especially when it comes to the selfless good deed of giving folks in economy a couple of inches of legroom back. However, the coverage is missing an important part that could actually affect how you feel three hours into a six-hour flight.

While the cabin refresh means you can no longer get Swooped, your seat still won’t recline, at least if you’re flying in most of the economy cabin.

WestJet’s Reversal Fixed Pitch, Kept Fixed Recline

Back in September 2025, WestJet announced that it would reconfigure its former all-economy Swoop and Sunwing 737-800s to bring them in line with the broader fleet.

Part of this reconfiguration meant adding an extra row of seats to make for a denser economy cabin. The original plan was for 180 seats, with ultra-slimline seating in the back rows at a 28-inch pitch, permanently fixed in place with no recline at all. WestJet called it a “fixed recline” at 1.5cm, which is just another way of saying that you get a seat that doesn’t recline.

For what it’s worth, WestJet’s press release claimed that the ultra-slimline seats allowed for another entire row of seats to be installed, therefore offering a reduced cost per seat. My take on that is that taking 2 inches of legroom away from much of the economy cabin also contributed to the addition of another row and a few more rows of Extended Comfort.

Interestingly, the press release also shared that the seats had been tested by WestJet Rewards members and employees in 2023, and their feedback was incorporated to “help shape rollout, training and preparation for the launch.” I would have loved to be a part of that process.

Once the cabin went live in the skies, the backlash was fast and loud. A TikTok showing a passenger’s knees jammed into the seat-back in front of them picked up over a million views, and flight attendants and pilots raised safety concerns about evacuation in a cabin that cramped.

Due to public outcry, WestJet reversed course in February, and by all accounts, they moved quickly since it’s now complete. The extra row came out, the cabins went back to 174 seats, and pitch in Standard and Preferred economy seats was restored to a modest 30 inches. 

That’s the part everyone’s reporting on this week as the milestone: the fix is done, all the affected aircraft are updated, move along now.

However, what didn’t get reversed course on is the fixed-recline seats. The new seat model WestJet installed across Standard and Preferred economy is the same design from the original controversial plan – they just gave it a bit more room to be fixed in. 

With the new configuration, 21/27 rows in economy have seats that don’t recline. In other words, if you aren’t in Premium or an Extended Comfort seat, the position your seat is in when you board is the one that it will be in throughout the flight.

This Isn’t Just a Swoop Hand-Me-Down Problem

The initial instinct here is to treat this as a quirk of the ex-Swoop and ex-Sunwing planes that are becoming civilized. That’s not quite right, and I think it misses what’s happening next.

WestJet has described the all-economy refresh as part of its effort to “unify” its narrow-body fleet. Indeed, this is just the start. 

Starting this September, WestJet begins refurbishing its legacy 737-800 fleet – the aircraft that were always mainline WestJet, never Swoop or Sunwing – with the same cabin standard, a process expected to wrap by the end of 2027. 

WestJet’s legacy economy seats on these soon-to-be-spruced-up aircraft currently recline about 5 centimetres. Under the new standard, that becomes a “fixed recline” at roughly 1.5 centimetres, at least to the Preferred and Standard economy seats.

In other words, the fixed-recline seat design is becoming the standard WestJet economy seat. 

Of course, the main exception here is Extended Comfort seats, which keeps genuine recline (8 cm) as a paid upsell for folks in economy. Everyone else in economy is trending toward the same hard product, regardless of which airline their aircraft originally belonged to.

Here’s a breakdown of what folks who fly WestJet can expect across the entire narrow-body fleet once the reconfiguration is complete.

How Is WestJet’s New No-Recline Economy Seat?

This year, I’ve had a chance to give WestJet’s new no-recline economy seats a try on several occasions.

Importantly, I should note that these have been on relatively short flights of roughly two hours or so.

Let’s start with the positives. Overall, the cabin aesthetic is nice, and I think the teal-blue headrests pop out and add nice hits of colour to the space. I grew up in Alberta, and the teal blue always reminds me of the lakes in the Rockies.

On my flights, I didn’t find the ultra-slim seats to be particularly uncomfortable, which is a complaint I’ve read about online for longer flights. I also didn’t have seat-mates for my flights, so there was no contest for elbow room. 

The device holder is a great option for folks to keep themselves entertained, since WestJet doesn’t offer seat-back entertainment. On that note, having fast, free Wi-Fi (as well as both USB-A and USB-C outlets) are great perks, and I’m happy to see them rolled out. 

Aside from the fixed recline, which doesn’t bother me too much on short flights since I’m 5’9″ and therefore not particularly vertically gifted, I found a couple of quirks in the cabin.

The first is that the under-seat storage for aisle seats is reduced by the seat attachment. I found it cumbersome to store a standard-sized backpack, which is bad news for anyone on an UltraBasic fare who is technically “not allowed” to use the overhead bin.

Speaking of overhead bins, there isn’t enough room for carry-ons to be stored on their sides. Rather, they must lie flat, which takes up more space (and probably contributes to the Hunger Games atmosphere for overhead storage). 

I feel like both of these issues could have been factored into a cabin refresh, especially if the goal is to streamline and standardize the passenger experience.

In its initial announcement, WestJet shared that there would be a cabin divider to separate the folks in Extended Comfort. On my flights, I haven’t noticed that yet, nor have I noticed any sort of divider for the Premium cabin.

During service, anyone in economy whose pathway to the two rear lavatories is blocked is allowed to use the one at the front of the aircraft. However, without a divider in place, it feels like that’s just the more convenient option for anyone in the forward half of the plane at any point throughout the flight.

In sum, I don’t think these new seats are anything to be concerned about for shorter-haul flights, at least if your body can reasonably handle a 30-inch pitch.

However, I can’t help but wonder how awful you’d feel after a six-hour hop from Calgary to Cancun (or any red-eye) when a few more inches of recline could at least allow for some extended comfort. 

Indeed, WestJet flies these jets on routes that are in excess of 5, 6, and even 7 hours. 

In my opinion, that’s where you’ll notice the fixed recline the most, especially if you need to sit at an angle to get your legs under the seat in front of you.

Conclusion

WestJet’s completed refresh of all-economy aircraft is an improvement over the version that caused the backlash, and it’s worth giving credit where it’s due. The pitch fix was fast, the aesthetic update is nice, and small touches like the device holder and free Wi-Fi solve are wins for passengers in economy.

However, the headline being reported – “WestJet fixes its all-economy cabin” – only tells you about the complaint that went viral. The seat that doesn’t recline was always the plan, and it’s the plan for the rest of the fleet, too. 

If you’re flying WestJet economy on a short hop, I wouldn’t think twice about being in the new cabin (if you can easily fit into the seats). 

For anyone settling in for a longer flight, it’s worth knowing what you’re actually getting before you’re three hours in and realizing your seat hasn’t moved since takeoff – and isn’t going to.