tracon

B737-600 no change. I believe they are getting to seats. Recardo?
B737-700 increasing from 130 to 134
B737-800 increasing from 168 to 174

Fleet should be reconfigured by the end of June.

Heffeh41

Is the blocked middle seat in the plus section included in this count?

ricktoronto

737-700 has 6 Plus seat sections, so you think 4 rows get a middle seat and 2 don't?

Can't imagine on the 600 they leave all the Plus, on the 700 they alter 4 of 6 rows and the 800 they add all middle seats.

And keep Plus as a product people can either understand or want to buy.

tracon

The Plus section stays the same.
Extra seats are coming from reduced leg room. Minimum 30".
It looks like the -800 is getting smaller washrooms in the back.

189 seats is the design limit of an -800.
This new configuration makes WS one row more comfortable than the Sunwing and Ryanairs of the world.

CanuckFlyHigh

Wow, that really sucks for the longhaul flights.

aerobod

I've just tested out the new seat config on the first -700, which is about to be returned to service. The Recaro BL3520 seats provide about 2" more knee room with a 2" recline than the old seats at the same pitch with a 3" recline. At 30" pitch the BL3520s provide more knee room when the seat in front is fully reclined than the old seats at the original 31" pitch. Row 7 to 23 on the port side is at 30" pitch besides row 11 at the emergency exit, row 12 to 23 on the starboard side is at 30" besides row 11. Most other seats are at 34" pitch. Row 11 is now 6 seats instead of the original 5 at the emergency exit row. The guest wheelchair storage behind the last row has now been removed to free up 10" or so and the last row now has seats that recline.

We did fit an employee who is 6'6" into the 30" new seat with his knees just brushing the seat in front, he had more problems in the old seat at 31" pitch.

Here are photos of my 5'10" frame with 32" inside leg in the new seat, in the first photo with neither seat reclined my knees are a sick bag width away from the seat back, in the second photo my seat is upright and the seat in front is fully reclined:

aerobod

In terms of the overall aircraft seat changes, the -600s will get the seat reconfig along with USB / 110V power and WestJet Connect systems this summer, the -700s will have the seat reconfig finished by the summer, and the -800s will be last when they receive the space saver bathroom (the same as the MAXs) that has the same floor space as the original, but has all the storage space relocated to provide approximately 8" more of seat space: http://beaerospace.com/products/stru...nced-lavatory/. At that point the WestJet -800s will have 180 seats (174 sold, 6 blocked in PLUS) compared with the Ryanair config for the MAX 200 (same fuselage dimensions) with 197 seats.

ricktoronto

If they can move seats and crappers around then maybe they can start putting two real seats per row in Plus for those of us who pay for it. If it's in the garage on the lift anyway.

winnipegrev

I wonder if they ran this idea by the "WestJet Gold Advisory Council".

Easy choice now between 17x30" or an AC Airbus, though I'm sure it'll be similar to AC's MAX coming in this year minus real IFE.

aerobod

At the moment the lead time of a business class seat for a 100+ aircraft fleet is about 1 year. To replace the Plus seats with powered business class seats would cost about $150,000 per aircraft plus down time to remove panels, rewire and install the seats, I would estimate several days per aircraft, compared with re-positioning the existing seats during regular maintenance cycles. A decision to invest in business class seats as opposed to the European premium economy blocked seat model would be needed. Three days of lost aircraft productivity for 90 737s (the ones with the new seats already fitted) is worth about $20 million.

sokolov

So where do the wheelchairs go now?

aerobod

The original slot was for guest wheelchairs only, not the compact airline one. So few are carried, that the new solution to use certified webbing nets that fit over the back of the seats and the wheelchair to hold it in place, will only be needed on about one flight per day.

freeflyer

Just curious aerobod, what's that metal container in front of your left foot? It looks like it would get in the way somewhat of one's foot space...

Symmetre

It actually is an easy choice. I was apprehensive about the Recaro seats at first, but I've come to quite like them. As Aerobod noted, there's noticeably more space compared to the old seat at the same pitch. Losing an inch will bring space down to what you get on AC mainline with its current seats. And, of course, still substantially better than rouge.

J. Leslie

How are the Recaro seats comfort-wise? I suspect there's a lot less padding.