WestJet ordered to scrap weight cap on wheelchairs after CTA finds “undue barrier”

Canada’s transport regulator has ordered WestJet to eliminate a weight restriction on mobility aids after finding the policy creates an “undue barrier” for some travellers living with disabilities.

As reported by the Canadian Press, the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) says WestJet must remove its 300-pound weight cap on mobility aids from the vast majority of its aircraft before July 2027.

The regulator said the airline should instead use spreader plates, which distribute the weight of power wheelchairs more evenly across the cargo hold floor.

Until the change is implemented, WestJet must arrange alternative transportation with other airlines for affected passengers.

The ruling stems from a complaint filed by Winnipeg resident Steven Fletcher, a former federal minister of state for transport, after he was prevented from travelling with his custom wheelchair on a WestJet flight between Winnipeg and Toronto early last year.

Fletcher and other accessibility advocates have argued the restriction limits air travel options for people with disabilities in parts of Canada and amounts to discrimination.

WestJet said it would not comment because portions of the case remain before the regulator. The CTA has yet to issue a final decision on how much advance notice passengers travelling with mobility aids must give the airline.

WestJet previously defended the 300-pound limit on safety grounds, arguing last year that accessibility regulations permitted the carrier to refuse mobility aids exceeding the threshold.

The airline established the limit in 2024 following a technical analysis that examined the “maximum allowable weight limit per square inch for the cargo holds” of its Boeing aircraft, according to a submission responding to Fletcher’s regulatory complaint.

Speaking in an interview this week, Fletcher welcomed the regulator’s decision and said WestJet’s policy has marginalized some Canadians with disabilities.

“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,” he said.

Don't miss a single travel story: subscribe to PAX today!  Click here to follow PAX on Facebook.