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'Don't just let your leg hang out in the aisle': Passenger advocate applauds viral video from WestJet flight
A video taken on a WestJet flight leaving Edmonton has passengers decrying the shrinking size of airplane seats, but a passenger rights advocate says that aside from a change in the law there’s little travellers can do except fight back.
The video was posted to social media on Dec. 27 and has been seen more than a million times on TikTok and elsewhere.
In it, a couple can be seen wedged into their seats, the man’s legs disappearing unnaturally under the seat in front of him.
“Dad, can you just straighten out your legs there?” a voice asks. He replies: “It’s impossible to straighten out my knees.”
“How about you?” the voice asks the woman, who replies: “Yeah, well, I’m going to be sharing my leg space with him.”
“New planes,” the voice says jokingly. “You have to pay for the other leg.”
The caption reads: “Do better. My poor dad. The seats should at least fit normal-sized humans. Shout out to Yamy, who was THE BEST flight attendant and did everything she could to make the flight more comfortable.”
Gabor Lukacs, president and founder of Air Passenger Rights, called the video “damaging to WestJet as a brand. This is certainly not how an airline would want to be known.”
“They’re trying to see how far they can push passengers,” he told National Post. “And I’m very pleased that passengers are pushing back.”
He noted that there are no laws or regulations concerning how much legroom is required for passengers, but that in many ways it doesn’t matter; it all comes down to whether you can fit in the seat.
“The airline doesn’t have to provide a seat that is nice or comfortable,” he said. “Those are service qualities. They do have a legal obligation to provide a seat into which you can fit. That’s the ultimate test. If you don’t fit in the seat then the seat is too small.”
If you can’t fit, he said, you should tell the airline: “I can’t sit down here. Please provide me a seat where I can sit down.”
If they can’t, he said, another option is to buy a new ticket on another flight and charge the offending airline, in small claims court if necessary.
He applauded the use of videos or photos as a means of pushing back. “Don’t let things slide,” he said. “Don’t just let your leg hang out in the aisle.”
As to the video’s caption, thanking the flight attendant, that also makes sense to Lukacs. “Be polite and pleasant with the crew members, but be confrontational with the airline, absolutely defend your right to a seat that you can fit into.”
Lukacs added that tight seating might also prove physically dangerous for passengers, or hamper a quick evacuation of an aircraft in an emergency. “Unlike comfort, safety is an enforceable legal right,” he said.
WestJet released a statement about the incident, noting that the video was taken on one of its newly reconfigured aircraft, in which seat pitches vary from 28 to 38 inches, and an additional row has been added.
“We have 21 aircraft in this configuration,” the statement said. “We are closely monitoring guest and employee feedback to assess the product’s performance, comfort and suitability, while ensuring our unwavering commitment to safety remains at the forefront of every decision we make.”
It adds that the reconfiguration went through an extensive safety and certification process “in accordance with Transport Canada’s rigorous airworthiness standards and WestJet’s own high internal safety requirements.”
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