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A major airline is going to make you pay to recline your seat (www.thestreet.com)

submitted 3 days ago by cm0002@sh.itjust.works to c/canada@lemmy.ca

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This week, Canadian airline WestJet became one of the first to try to switch the ability to recline into a paid "perk" by announcing that it was reconfiguring 43 of its Boeing 737-8 MAX and 737-800 (BA) planes to have what it classifies as a "refreshed range of seating options."

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[-] Eranziel@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Please explain how this saves them money? All I see is finding ways to upcharge customers for what used to be standard options, while maybe cramming in one more row of passengers.

[-] chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Cramming in one more row of passengers means you get more passengers per flight => each passenger costs less to fly.

I don’t actually know if they’re going to fit in one more row though. Maybe the non-reclining seats are lighter in weight? That would save money on fuel costs.

If the system for optional reclining seats actually adds weight to the plane then they’re taking a gamble that enough passengers will pay extra for the reclining to pay for the additional fuel costs. That could backfire!

In a lot of ways this seems like an experiment that could backfire, even if it doesn’t risk increasing flight costs on some flights. Only time will tell!