WestJet 'Discriminatory' Baggage Policy Reviewed

WestJet Airlines' "discriminatory" baggage policy is being reviewed after one traveler complained that it was targeted to travelers going to Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago, The Toronto Star reported Wednesday.

The newspaper said the policy limited to passengers to those countries to two bags, unless the extra luggage was "a golf bag containing golf clubs."

Jared Walker complained about the policy on social media after his 62-year-old mother was kept from bringing an oversized bag to Jamaica recently to attend a funeral, the Star wrote. He charged that the policy amounted to preferential treatment to tourist as opposed to those traveling to their country of origin, the newspaper noted.

To the people at @WestJet, please think on this:

Why is my mom's care package for our grieving family less worthy of space on your plane than a tourist's golf clubs?

Is that really who you want to be? And now that I've said something, what're you going to do about it?

— Jared A. Walker (@JAWalker) July 3, 2018

"All we wanted to do was be able to send her home to bury her older sister and be able to take care of her affairs with as little stress and as much dignity as you can muster in that scenario," Walker, a speech writer and communications director for Canada's federal New Democratic Party, told HuffPost Canada. "But that is not what we were afforded."

WestJet told the Star that the baggage policy was started for Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago bound passengers "due to the amount of excess checked baggage brought by guests traveling to these particular destinations."

The airline admitted, according to the Star, that the golf bag exception made for "poor" optics.

"It was never our intention to be discriminatory in this specific baggage policy and we recognize the optics are poor," Lauren Stewart, a WestJet representative, said, according to the HuffPost Canada.

"Baggage limits to Jamaica and Trinidad have been in place for many years as we have historically had to leave bags behind due to the amount of excess checked baggage brought by guests traveling to these particular destinations," Stewart added.

Walker told the HuffPost Canada that he does not want to be reimbursement or given an exception from WestJet, but to get the policy changed.

"I talked to my mom about it, and both of us ... we've both lived in this skin, and we've experienced certain treatment," Walker said, per the HuffPost Canada. "We both agreed that what they can do for us is change this policy. That's what they can do for us."

• Baggage Handler's Cargo Hold Lock-In Luckily Short From NC to DC
• Passenger Checks Can of Beer as His Luggage, and It Makes It