WestJet ordered to scrap wheelchair weight cap

WestJet is imposing an “undue barrier” on travellers living with a disability by effectively barring some power wheelchairs from its planes, says Canada’s transport regulator.

In a recent decision, the Canadian Transportation Agency said the country’s second-largest carrier must scrap its 300-pound weight cap on mobility aids before July 2027.

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 regulator 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 in an interview this week.

“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.