The Canadian Transportation Agency said WestJet must scrap its 300-pound weight cap on mobility aids before July 2027. The airline is imposing an “undue barrier” on travellers living with a disability by effectively barring some power wheelchairs from its planes, said the transport regulator.
WestJet should use “spreader plates” to better distribute the wheelchair’s weight in the cargo hold and arrange alternative travel with other airlines until then, the CTA said.
The case was brought before the transportation agency by Winnipeg resident Steven Fletcher, a former federal minister of state for transport, after he was stopped from flying with his custom wheelchair on a flight between Winnipeg and Toronto early last year.
He and other advocates say the weight cap has curtailed air travel in parts of the country and discriminated against people living with a disability.
“They have stigmatized and alienated and excluded an entire population of Canadians – through no fault of their own – just because of some arbitrary number which doesn’t hold up,” Fletcher said.
“WestJet should have taken proactive steps to accommodate the power wheelchairs. And obviously they’ve done it before because I’ve been flying with them for three decades with power wheelchairs, and many other people have as well.”
WestJet said it has no comment as parts of the matter remain before the regulator.
The agency is poised to hand down a final decision on how much advance notice passengers using mobility aids must give the airline.
Last year, Calgary-based WestJet argued that the weight limit was key to flight safety and that accessibility regulations allowed it to refuse transport of heavier mobility aids.
The company landed on the 300-pound threshold in 2024 after a technical analysis, which examined the “maximum allowable weight limit per square inch for the cargo holds” of its Boeing-made planes, according to a submission in response to a regulatory complaint filed by Fletcher.
At issue was what reasonable accommodation looks like for power wheelchair users, with two carriers in Canada arguing that safety and regulations justify the weight limits.
Advocates stress the severe curtailment of mobility for individuals whose wheelchair serves as an extension of their body – and the fact that most airlines impose much looser restrictions.
In Fletcher’s case, he was forced to use a different wheelchair on his trip, causing pain and pressure sores that required medical attention, he said.
Last fall, the parents of a 14-year-old girl from Saskatoon were told she could not fly to Mexico for a planned family vacation because her specialized wheelchair was too heavy. Her trip was denied despite the fact she had flown with WestJet from Saskatoon using the same mobility device before.
The airline said in November it was working with the family to help with their upcoming travel, but that the wheelchair was “significantly above” WestJet’s weight threshold.
No other major North American airline maintains such a low cap for Boeing 737 jets – these narrow-bodies make up the majority of WestJet’s 200-plane fleet – or similar-sized planes, according to John Morris, founder of U.S.-based WheelchairTravel.org.
However, the same limit is in place at B.C.-based Flair Airlines, which exclusively flies 737s, according to the budget carrier’s website.
That two of Western Canada’s most prominent airlines have prohibited a range of power wheelchairs on thousands of flights a month poses a problem, advocates say, as many routes are served by only one or two airlines.
“Being able to move around your own country is not a service upgrade, and it is not a courtesy. It is a condition of citizenship,” Fletcher said.
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