WestJet Baggage Fees: What You'll Actually Pay

WestJet's official carry-on limit is 56 cm x 23 cm x 36 cm (22 in x 9 in x 14 in), and the requirement is that you're able to place it in the overhead bin without assistance. No numeric weight limit is published for the carry-on itself, just the ability to lift it yourself.

The personal item allowance is 41 cm x 15 cm x 33 cm (16 in x 6 in x 13 in) and has to fit under the seat in front of you. WestJet's official wording covers both bags together: each Econo, Member Exclusive, EconoFlex, Premium, PremiumFlex, Business, or BusinessFlex guest can bring one carry-on bag and one personal item.

Both figures include wheels and handles where applicable, the same convention most airlines use, so measure your actual bag rather than the size printed on a hangtag. WestJet's carry-on number lines up closely with the 22 x 14 x 9 inch figure used by United, Delta, American, and Alaska, just presented with the dimensions in a different order (length, height, width instead of length, width, height), which is easy to misread if you're comparing two airlines' size charts side by side.

A standard WestJet checked bag can weigh up to 23 kg (50 lb) and measure up to 157 cm (62 in) total, the same combined length-plus-width-plus-height convention most major airlines use. Go over on size and you're into WestJet's oversized baggage bracket, 158 to 203 cm (62 to 80 in) combined.

On weight, WestJet's overweight bracket runs from just over 23 kg (51 lb) up to 45 kg (100 lb) on most routes, though that ceiling is lower on flights to Europe, where the overweight bracket tops out at 32 kg (70 lb) instead of 45 kg. Either way, a bag over those upper limits isn't accepted as standard checked baggage at all.

For tickets purchased on or after April 23, 2026, WestJet's UltraBasic fare pays $55 CAD for the first checked bag and $70 CAD for the second when prepaid online. Econo and Member Exclusive fares pay less: $45 CAD for the first bag and $60 CAD for the second, also when prepaid. Prepaying online ahead of your flight is consistently the cheapest way to add a bag; adding it later through Manage Trips or at the airport costs more on every fare tier.

WestJet's higher fare tiers, EconoFlex, Premium, PremiumFlex, Business, and BusinessFlex, have historically included more checked bags free or at a reduced rate compared to UltraBasic and Econo. Since WestJet's fee tables change with each update, confirm the current figure for your specific fare on WestJet's own fees page before you fly rather than relying on last year's number.

WestJet does charge extra for a bag that's overweight (over 23 kg up to the 45 kg or 32 kg ceiling depending on route) or oversized (158 to 203 cm), and that surcharge increased as part of the same fee update that raised standard checked bag prices in 2026. Because the exact current dollar figure for these surcharges has moved more than once recently, and because WestJet doesn't publish it on the same page as the standard bag fee table, check WestJet's fees page directly for the live number rather than trusting a fixed figure here or elsewhere.

What is fixed and worth knowing regardless of the exact dollar amount: a bag that's both overweight and oversized gets charged for both issues, not just the larger of the two, so a heavy, bulky bag can rack up more than one surcharge on top of the base checked bag fee.

WestJet's lowest fare, UltraBasic, only guarantees the personal item as standard. A full carry-on bag requires an additional purchase on UltraBasic, except on specific routes where it's included. That's the same pattern as Frontier or Spirit style ultra-low-cost pricing in the U.S., where the cheapest ticket unbundles the carry-on rather than including it automatically.

If you've booked UltraBasic and you're planning to bring a full roll-aboard rather than just a personal item, check your fare rules or add the carry-on during booking, since showing up with an unpurchased carry-on on a route that doesn't include it free will cost you more at the gate than adding it in advance.

This mirrors what's become a common pattern across low-cost and hybrid carriers on both sides of the border. Air Canada's lowest fare, Economy Basic, similarly narrows the free allowance on certain itineraries to a personal item only, while its Flex and Comfort fares keep the full carry-on included. If you regularly compare WestJet against Air Canada on price, factor in which fare tier you're actually booking on each airline, not just the headline fare, since the cheapest ticket on either carrier can carry the same kind of baggage catch.

Add any checked bag during initial booking or well before your flight through Manage Trips rather than waiting for the airport, since WestJet's own pricing consistently rewards prepaying and penalizes last-minute additions. If you're deciding between UltraBasic and Econo and you know you're checking a bag, run the total cost of UltraBasic plus a checked bag against Econo's slightly higher base fare, since the gap between the two fares can shrink or disappear once bags are added.

Before you pack, measure your bag against WestJet's actual 56 x 23 x 36 cm carry-on limit using the fit checker, especially if you're used to a different airline's slightly different size.