A major airline is now upcharging customers for seats that recline

To sit back and relax is a privilege on this airline.

Budget Canadian airline WestJet has announced that customers will no longer be able to recline seats on their aircraft — unless they pay extra.

The airline said they are reconfiguring its Boeing 737-8 MAX and 737-800 aircraft to offer a “modern cabin experience” with new seating options.

Economy seats will have a fixed recline design to help passengers “preserve personal space.”

While fixed-recline seating is not necessarily a new idea — Frontier Airlines are among those who have sacrificed reclining seats — WestJet is asking flyers to pay extra if they wish to recline.

The new aircraft interiors will have a Premium cabin with 12 new seats that have reclining seat backs, a large headrest with four-way adjustment capability and ergonomically contoured seat cushions — the same model as in WestJet’s 787-9 Dreamliner fleet.

Though there’s still no reclining seats in the new and larger Extended Comfort section of the economy cabin, the 36 seats located directly behind Premium will have extra legroom and will be separated by a cabin divider.

“The cabin has been thoughtfully designed to offer WestJet’s welcoming service at every budget,” Samantha Taylor, WestJet Executive Vice-President and Chief Experience Officer, said in a statement.

“It reflects our commitment to elevating every aspect of the travel experience and meeting guest demand for a broader range of product offerings.”

The new seat layout will allow the airline to add one seating row compared to the prior layout, which will ultimately reduce the cost per seat.

“The layout for our refreshed cabin caters to our guests’ diverse preferences,” Taylor explained. “Whether they opt for Premium seating with extra amenities and legroom or for more affordable ticket prices with less space, we’re excited to introduce this range of products for our guests to enjoy.”

According to WestJet, the seats in the back of the cabin, rows 20-31, will have the least space, there will be slightly more space in rows 15-19, and the seats in the front of economy will have the most space within that cabin.

An airline passenger rights advocate told Canadian national broadcaster CBC that this move is asking people to pay more for a feature they already had and now lost.

“The imagination of airline marketers never stops to astound me: the depths they will go through kind of give people an impression that if I pay more, I get more,” John Gradek, an aviation lecturer at McGill University, said. “Right now, it’s like you pay more to get what you had.”