WestJet Ordered to Scrap 300-Pound Wheelchair Limit After Regulator Calls It an ‘Undue Barrier’

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For travellers who depend on complex power wheelchairs, a baggage rule can determine whether a trip is merely inconvenient or impossible. Canada’s transportation regulator has now ordered WestJet to remove the 300-pound mobility-aid limit that applies across most of its aircraft, concluding that the restriction creates an “undue barrier” for some passengers with disabilities. The Canadian Transportation Agency has given the airline until before July 2027 to make the change and has identified spreader plates as a way to distribute wheelchair weight more safely across cargo-hold floors. Until the modification is in place, WestJet must arrange alternative transportation with other airlines for affected travellers. The ruling follows a complaint by Winnipeg resident and former federal transport minister Steven Fletcher, whose experience turned an airline weight policy into a wider test of accessibility, engineering evidence and accommodation rights in Canadian aviation.

The CTA Has Ordered More Than a Simple Policy Rewrite

The Canadian Transportation Agency’s decision goes beyond asking WestJet to reconsider how it describes its wheelchair rules. The regulator says the airline must eliminate the 300-pound maximum applying to mobility aids on the vast majority of its aircraft before July 2027. It has also identified a specific physical solution: spreader plates, which can distribute the load from a heavy power wheelchair across a larger area of the cargo floor. That finding is important because WestJet had defended the restriction as necessary for aircraft safety. The regulator has effectively concluded that the barrier can be addressed through an operational or equipment change rather than continuing to exclude mobility devices above one fixed weight.

The transition period carries obligations of its own. Until WestJet has implemented the required changes, the carrier must arrange alternative transportation with other airlines for passengers whose mobility aids cannot be carried because of the restriction. That is a significant difference from simply refunding a ticket or directing someone toward another WestJet departure. One part of the dispute is not finished, however. WestJet has said it will not comment while portions of the proceeding remain before the regulator, and the CTA is still expected to decide how much advance notice passengers travelling with mobility aids may be required to provide. That issue could determine how easily the new accommodation works in practice.

Steven Fletcher’s Trip Turned the Weight Limit Into a Regulatory Test

The case began with a situation that had once been routine for Steven Fletcher. The Winnipeg resident, a former member of Parliament and former federal minister of state for transport, had travelled with WestJet before using his customized power wheelchair. But in early 2025, while arranging a Winnipeg-to-Toronto trip, Fletcher was told the device could not be carried because it exceeded the airline’s newly enforced 300-pound limit. He challenged the restriction before the Canadian Transportation Agency, where the matter was formally identified as accessibility case 25-19492. The CTA docket lists Fletcher as the applicant and WestJet as the respondent under provisions of the Canada Transportation Act and the Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations.

The consequences were not confined to a missed piece of baggage. Fletcher said he travelled using a different wheelchair and subsequently experienced pain and pressure sores serious enough to require medical attention. That example illustrates why customized wheelchairs cannot always be treated as interchangeable transportation equipment. Complex power chairs may be configured around an individual’s posture, positioning, pressure-management and mobility requirements. Fletcher’s complaint also arrived amid reports of another family being told that a specialized wheelchair was too heavy for a planned WestJet trip, despite having travelled with the device previously. What looked like a technical luggage restriction was therefore affecting whether some passengers could travel safely and independently at all.

WestJet’s Own Tariff Shows How Broad the 300-Pound Rule Became

WestJet’s passenger tariff in force in 2026 spelled out the restriction by aircraft type. A mobility aid was limited to 300 pounds on Boeing 737 aircraft and Bombardier Q400 aircraft. A Boeing 787 could carry up to 500 pounds when a mobility aid was loaded inside a unit load device, or ULD, but the limit dropped to 300 pounds when the same aircraft used bulk-baggage loading. WestJet’s rules also required powered mobility aids to remain upright during handling and imposed separate height and width restrictions. On a 737, for example, the listed maximum upright dimensions were 35 inches high and 48 inches wide.

One of the most consequential provisions concerned connecting journeys. WestJet’s tariff said that when an itinerary involved multiple aircraft types, the most restrictive mobility-aid capability applied to the entire trip. That meant a passenger could potentially encounter a 300-pound restriction even if one segment used an aircraft able to accommodate a heavier device. WestJet also reserved the right to refuse a mobility aid when its weight or size exceeded the stated limits, when carriage would jeopardize airworthiness or safety, or when necessary instructions or specialized tools for disassembly were not supplied. The CTA order specifically challenges the fixed weight threshold, rather than eliminating legitimate restrictions involving dimensions, batteries or demonstrable safety limitations.

The Fight Ultimately Came Down to How Weight Is Distributed

WestJet previously told the regulator that it established the 300-pound threshold in 2024 after a technical analysis examining maximum allowable weight per square inch in the cargo holds of its Boeing aircraft. The airline argued that the restriction was necessary to ensure mobility aids did not jeopardize aircraft airworthiness. Floor-loading limits are real aviation considerations: a heavy object concentrated over a small contact area can create different structural stresses than the same total weight spread across a broader surface. Mobility devices also introduce other operational questions, including cargo-door dimensions, battery configuration, securement and safe loading procedures.

The CTA’s solution focuses precisely on that distinction between total weight and concentrated floor loading. Rather than accepting 300 pounds as an unavoidable ceiling, the regulator says WestJet should use spreader plates to distribute a wheelchair’s weight more evenly across the cargo floor. In practical terms, the plate increases the area over which the load is transferred to the aircraft structure. International Air Transport Association guidance similarly recognizes that powered wheelchairs require specialized handling and that aircraft cargo dimensions, securement and battery procedures must be evaluated. The ruling therefore does not suggest that aviation safety should be relaxed. It indicates that safety concerns must be addressed with workable engineering measures where those measures can remove an accessibility barrier.

Canadian Accessibility Law Sets a High Bar for Calling a Barrier Unavoidable

Canadian regulations already recognize circumstances in which an airline can legitimately refuse a mobility aid. Under the Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations, carriers must generally accept a required mobility aid as priority baggage. An air carrier may refuse it when the cargo door or compartment is too small, when transportation would jeopardize aircraft airworthiness, or when the mobility aid exceeds the capacity of a lift or ramp. When a refusal occurs, the regulations also require an explanation and information about available alternative trips operated by the carrier. The rules are designed to balance accessibility with genuine physical and safety limitations rather than assuming that every device can fit on every aircraft.

The CTA’s broader accessibility framework goes further. Once an applicant establishes a disability-related barrier, the transportation provider must either explain how it will remove that barrier or demonstrate that doing so would cause undue hardship. The regulator says the threshold for proving undue hardship is high: general assertions that an accommodation would cost too much or would be unsafe are not enough. Safety arguments should be backed by objective evidence such as engineering reports, applicable rules and assessments of actual risk. Section 172 of the Canada Transportation Act gives the CTA authority to order corrective measures when it finds an undue barrier. Importantly, Canadian law allows such a finding in some circumstances even when a carrier has complied with the minimum requirements of an existing regulation.

The Population Affected Is Much Larger Than a Handful of Frequent Flyers

Mobility-related disability affects millions of Canadians. Statistics Canada found that more than 3.1 million people aged 15 and older, representing 10.6% of that population, had a mobility disability in 2022. The prevalence rises sharply with age: 25.5% of Canadians aged 65 and older were identified as having a mobility disability. The broader disability rate reached 27% of Canadians aged 15 and older, or about eight million people. Those figures do not indicate how many individuals travel with power wheelchairs, but they illustrate why accessible transportation policies can affect a substantial and growing segment of the population rather than an exceptionally small group.

Power wheelchairs can also be unusually difficult pieces of equipment to substitute. Motors, batteries, customized seating, tilt and positioning systems and other components can make complex rehabilitation chairs substantially heavier than basic mobility devices. Industry accessibility guidance acknowledges that powered mobility aids can pose loading challenges because of their dimensions and weight, while also emphasizing planning, communication and appropriate handling rather than blanket exclusion. The problem extends beyond whether a device gets accepted at check-in. U.S. transportation authorities have reported that more than one in every 100 wheelchairs and scooters placed in aircraft cargo holds on domestic flights are damaged, delayed or lost, underscoring how consequential handling practices can be for passengers whose mobility depends on that equipment.

A Similar U.S. Dispute Shows Why the WestJet Decision Could Matter Beyond One Case

WestJet is not the first North American carrier to confront a dispute over a fixed wheelchair-weight ceiling. In 2020, American Airlines introduced limits that prevented wheelchairs weighing more than 300 pounds from travelling on some regional jets. The restriction drew complaints after wheelchair users who had previously travelled on the same aircraft were denied transportation. American subsequently reversed the policy. The airline said it replaced its conservative weight caps with guidelines developed after consultation with its safety team and aircraft manufacturers and reviewed by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. Those guidelines focused more closely on the cargo floor’s ability to support a mobility device based on distributed weight.

The parallel does not mean every large power wheelchair can automatically be carried on every WestJet flight. Cargo-door dimensions, compartment space, airport loading equipment, battery requirements and other aircraft-specific constraints remain legitimate considerations under Canadian regulations. What changes is the role of the 300-pound number itself. The CTA has determined that using that threshold in its current form creates an undue barrier and has identified a practical mitigation instead. WestJet now has months to implement the engineering change, while affected passengers are supposed to receive alternative-airline transportation in the meantime. The remaining advance-notice decision will matter as well, because an accommodation that exists only with difficult booking conditions can still determine whether spontaneous, urgent or simply ordinary air travel is realistically accessible.

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