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Why Bigger Planes Mean Cramped Quarters (popsci.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: The ironic thing about the compressed state of air travel today is that planes are getting larger. The jet I was on, an Airbus A321, stretches nearly 23 feet longer than its predecessor, the A320. More space, more passengers, more profit. These bigger planes are increasingly the most common Âvariants -- both on American Airlines and across all carriers. The current Boeing 737s, the world's most flown craft, are all longer than the original by up to 45 feet. And yet, on the inside, we're getting squeezed.
That's because more space doesn't equal more space in Airline World. It equals more seats -- and typically less room per person. In 2017, for example, word leaked that American was planning to add six economy spots to its A320s, nine to its A321s, and 12 (that's two rows) to its Boeing 737-800s. JetBlue is reportedly ramming 12 extras into its A320s, and Delta's will gain 10. And, come 2020, you'll likely find more seats on every United plane. In Airline World, they call this densification, which is a silly word. Passengers call it arrrgh!
Consumer Reports recently polled 55,000 of its members about air travel. There were complaints about all aspects, from ticketing to agents checking carry-ons at the gate. But 30 percent of coach-class fliers rated their seats as outright uncomfortable, and every airline received extremely low scores on legroom and cushiness in economy. Clearly, things are dismal and seem to be getting even worse. They're so bad, in fact, that last year, nonprofit consumer-advocacy group FlyersRights.org filed a suit against the Federal Aviation Administration, after lobbying the agency to stop the squeeze and standardize seat sizes.
That's because more space doesn't equal more space in Airline World. It equals more seats -- and typically less room per person. In 2017, for example, word leaked that American was planning to add six economy spots to its A320s, nine to its A321s, and 12 (that's two rows) to its Boeing 737-800s. JetBlue is reportedly ramming 12 extras into its A320s, and Delta's will gain 10. And, come 2020, you'll likely find more seats on every United plane. In Airline World, they call this densification, which is a silly word. Passengers call it arrrgh!
Consumer Reports recently polled 55,000 of its members about air travel. There were complaints about all aspects, from ticketing to agents checking carry-ons at the gate. But 30 percent of coach-class fliers rated their seats as outright uncomfortable, and every airline received extremely low scores on legroom and cushiness in economy. Clearly, things are dismal and seem to be getting even worse. They're so bad, in fact, that last year, nonprofit consumer-advocacy group FlyersRights.org filed a suit against the Federal Aviation Administration, after lobbying the agency to stop the squeeze and standardize seat sizes.
My thoughts exactly.
Everyone's always willing to complain, but yet they continually want cheaper and cheaper flights, while the actual costs of operating an airline just keep rising. Customers want more destinations and more airport services. Somebody's going to be paying for that, so it comes at the cost of legroom.
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
Go back to live evacuation tests. Require that they use airline CEOs, upper management, and their families as the test subjects... If the plane can't be evac'ed in 90 seconds without injury, increase seat pitch and try again.
If a few airline upper managers get hurt during an evacuation test, maybe they'll realize WHY extremely dense seating is a bad idea.
Yep, if only for safety. Small-pitch seats are much more difficult to evacuate in an emergency than seats with more legroom. There should be actual, live-person evacuation tests for any proposed seating configuration of an aircraft, not just for the manufacturer's original/intended seating plan.
One of the things they don't tell you about capitalism in civics class is that companies do everything they can to avoid competition by making their prices hard to compare with other vendors. They do this by making transactions absurdly complicated (car dealers), by bundling irrelevant stuff into the deal (mobile phone companies, cable companies), unbundling essential stuff (airlines and baggage fees) or by adulterating/diluting their product (airlines and seat sizes).
If you are price comparing two tickets between the same destination, the airlines make it quite difficult to figure out what you're getting for the price, the incidentals you'll have to pay, and even the certainty that you'll actually be able to board the plane. There's intense competition to get the lowest found ticket price in a computerized search, but a price ranking of alternatives is highly unreliable.
On top of this, many airline passengers are in the same position that Microsoft Windows users were for many years: other people make the purchasing decision. I once had an employer book me on an itinerary that took twenty three hours from the time I boarded in Manchester, NH to when wheels touched down in Sacramento, thanks to layovers in Newark and Phoenix. Normally I'd fly out of Boston (where I live) and it would take about eight and half hours, but my boss figured out he could save fifty bucks by making me drive an hour north to a smaller airport.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Many top tier airports are slot restricted - they are at capacity and can't increase the number of aircraft landing or taking off, which means that the only alternative is larger aircraft.
My thoughts exactly.
Everyone's always willing to complain, but yet they continually want cheaper and cheaper flights
What cheaper flights? In the US, at least, flights are getting more expensive and more cramped and with more extra fees.
What I see happening is sneaky inflation. The base fare stays more or less the same but the ticket is less usable. To get back to where you were you have to pay more. We approaching the point where I may be forced to pay for "premium" economy. This is big problem because those seats are typically 50% more expensive for often less than one inch of extra knee room.
Actually, the cell phone, car, cable, and airline industries have nothing on the health industry on obfuscating pricing.