Travel-minded folks who find it rude when the people in front of them on an airplane recline their seats have a new ally.
That ally would be WestJet, a prominent Canadian airline that shuttles people all over the world. WestJet recently announced that all Economy class seats on its passenger jets will now have a "fixed recline" design. In other words, those who pay for the cheapest seats won't be able to recline anymore. There will still be some reclining seats in both the "extended comfort" section of the plane and in the premium cabin, but it seems like most passengers will now be on an even playing field when it comes to the angle of their seat-backs.
According to WestJet, this means its Boeing 747 jets will now have an additional row of seats in them, and you can expect these to roll out by the end of the year. This could also reduce per-seat ticket prices, in theory.
On the flipside, the more rows there are in a plane, the less space there is for each person. It may also come across as problematic for customers who hate losing access to something that has been standard in airplanes for years. Still, those of us who find it a bit unbecoming when the person in front of us decides to recline probably won't mind.
As always, just remember that the other people in the plane probably hate being there just as much as you do, and adjust your behavior accordingly.
Alex Perry is a tech reporter at Mashable who primarily covers video games and consumer tech. Alex has spent most of the last decade reviewing games, smartphones, headphones, and laptops, and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. He is also a Pisces, a cat lover, and a Kansas City sports fan. Alex can be found on Bluesky at yelix.bsky.social.
