American Airlines reducing Domestic Flights Seat Pitch

[fountainhall]

It seems to be common now on most airlines. To squeeze more cash out of restricted cabin space, an airline can only up fares, install narrower seats and add an extra seat per row (as CX has recently announced for its 777 fleet - up from 9 to 10) or reduce the distance between rows. Until quite recently the main legacy carriers have had a eat pitch of between 32" and 34". Now 31" is common but more and more this is being further reduced. British Airways has announced a reduction to 29" on its short-haul A320 and A321 fleet. That makes it the same as the budget carrier EasyJet but 1" less than in Ryanair's 737-800s.

Not to be outdone, American has announced its new 737-800 Max aircraft will have a seat pitch reduced from 31" to 29" (3 rows) and 30" for the remainder. Those in the 29" rows will pay the lowest fare but have no benefits - i.e.no access to overhead bins, no reserved seating and no miles. Vdo monitors will also no longer be installed in any economy seating.

If my memory is correct, economy seat pitch on the first 747s I flew must have been at least 36"-38". Changed days!

[Jun]

Not to be outdone, American has announced its new 737-800 Max aircraft will have a seat pitch reduced from 31" to 29" (3 rows) and 30" for the remainder. Those in the 29" rows will pay the lowest fare but have no benefits - i.e.no access to overhead bins, no reserved seating and no miles.

At least reducing the pitch in a limited number of seats (presumably discounted) provides the customers with choice. I'm fine with that.

What I dislike is all the airlines squeezing seat sizes down, since the customer has no reasonable alternative option. So no choice and market forces will not prevent standards dropping more.
The price increment to business class is NOT a reasonable alternative for many & on many routes it's not like we have a choice of airlines. So I don't really see market forces working very well to correct this problem.

It gets to the point where there should really be some legal minimum standards. Many countries have some legal protection for livestock transportation, yet there doesn't appear to be anything for seat pitches on planes.

[Smiles]

I've given up on Economy over the last two years. Econ was 'OK' for many years when most long-haul planes were 8 across. Back then United's (for instance) 777's window seats were only 2 abreast. No more ... they added 2 seats on the window sides and all of a sudden on a long haul leg one is forced to clamber over two (sleeping) passengers just to take a piss. That's when I started booking aisle seats only.
Now many airlines have gone 10 across in Econ and it's a zoo.
I'm not a particularly large guy and I can sit in an Econ seat without scrunching the arm rests. But really, it's all about leg room in Econ and that metric has been going south for years.

For 'about' $700 or $800 more one can get Premium Economy on many airlines and, for me, the extra legroom is worth it when flying for 12hrs. Unfortunately my favourite airline, Korean Air, does not offer Premium Economy, so on that airline it's either Econ or Business. If the stock market is good to me on any given day I'll hit the Expedia button which says "Business". If it's down 100 points, I'll go Economy

[travelerjim]

Be quick to push that Business Class or Premium Economy button Smiles
The US Stock Markets are in record territory...
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Friday May 5, 2017 Closings:

Dow Closes 21,006
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Tj

[fountainhall]

At least reducing the pitch in a limited number of seats (presumably discounted) provides the customers with choice. I'm fine with that.

As the article states, the pitch of ALL seats is being reduced - some by 1" a few by 2".

[Jun]

As the article states, the pitch of ALL seats is being reduced - some by 1" a few by 2".

My response lacked clarity.
I'm quite happy with them adding a few cheaper small economy seats at the back. So people have a choice.
Even better, add a few larger economy+ seats for a proportional cost increase.

What I don't like is across the board size reductions, since the customer frequently has not alternatives without a very substantial increase in fare. Usually he cannot buy a 10% greater seat pitch for 10% more fare.
Since the market is not very free here & market forces don't work very well, there should be legislation with minimum standards.


For my long haul flights, I used to book economy, then be first in line to check in so that I got an emergency exit row seat. Since that no longer seems reliable with EVA, I have recently been pushing the boat out & going premium economy.
What I need to figure out is why most of the emergency exit row seats have gone when I am first in line AND the on line seat reservation doesn't allow us to select these seats.

For some of the low cost carriers like Air Asia, paying extra for the premium flex service can be good value. No queue for bag drop, free meal, extra leg room & if you choose the front row seats, first to the passport queue. This makes a big difference at the smaller airports.

[Up2u]

.... "there should be legislation with minimum standards." There is, I believe it is 28".

[fountainhall]

For my long haul flights, I used to book economy, then be first in line to check in so that I got an emergency exit row seat. Since that no longer seems reliable with EVA, I have recently been pushing the boat out & going premium economy.
What I need to figure out is why most of the emergency exit row seats have gone when I am first in line AND the on line seat reservation doesn't allow us to select these seats.

That's the big problem with the legacy carriers! Their loyalty programmes! Until recently I had been in the top tier of the British Airways Executive Club for 16 years, an airline I now refuse to fly for a variety of reasons. Reaching Gold or Silver status meant logging a certain number of flights or flight miles each year. One of the perks was then the ability to reserve specific seats at the time of booking without the ridiculously high cash supplements that others now have to pay, even if the booking was 10 months ahead of time. Since I know which seats I want on the A380s and 777s, they were always available booking so far ahead. Then add in bronze members who get a 7 day advance booking. By the time the average flyer tries to reserve 24 hours in advance, most of the best seats will inevitably have gone.

That largely explains why, when you try to check-in on-line, the best seats aren't available. With the large Alliances, this long advance seat reservation period is also open to the top tier members of many other airlines. Waiting till you get to the airport almost inevitably means all the good seats have been snapped up.

For regular flyers, the advice remains: stick with one airline and one alliance. Get up to the lowest of their Elite levels, and getting the seat you want suddenly becomes much easier. But that now requires quite a lot of flying!

This vdo is quite interesting where it compares the revenues airlines get from the various cabin classes and why they are desperate to wring more cash out of economy passengers.

[firecat69]

I feel sorry for people who do not live in the USA and qualify for the ridiculous amount of free miles available from CC bonuses.

Just in the last 2years I have gotten 220,000 DL miles and 220,000 miles to be used on any Star Alliance partner and 100,000 AA miles . Just by spending the amount required anywhere from $1- $5000 in 1 day to 4 months.

I usually pay for economy Domestic USA flights and spend miles on Business Class tickets around the world. All of them for small taxes etc.

[fountainhall]

As a non-USA citizen, I can tell you feel sorry too!! I wonder for how much longer the banks, airlines and hotels can afford to keep giving out these massive freebies.