These days there is much ado about various First Class and Business Class services on a variety of airlines.  The introduction of the A380 brought a new level of first class service from Emirates, Singapore and QANTAS.  Even their business class on those aircraft are more in line with First Class on any other. 

A week ago, I visited the Fort Worth air show at Alliance Airport.  While that show (and most others) tends to be oriented around military aircraft, I did get to tour the new Pink Ribbon American Airlines 777.  Like all 777’s tend to be, it was an impressive 3-class aircraft.  At least for First Class and Business Class.   Indeed, I actually thought that the Business Class arrangement on that aircraft was as good as First Class with respect to how I would value it on space and comfort.   AA’s First Class separates you more from fellow passengers but I don’t think its seat or entertainment is necessarily any better.

In any case, what I wonder about is Economy Class.  In this airline world, Economy Class remains largely what it was 30 years ago.  If anything, instead of rising in service or comfort, it has, perhaps, fallen just a bit.  Seat pitch is reduced.  The seating itself tends to be older and less comfortable on most airlines.  There is rarely entertainment and only on international flights.  

In my world, I put a premium first on seat pitch, then seat width and then on seat location (the opportunities to get either a window or aisle seat.)  In almost every case, entertainment means nothing to me.  While I acknowledge that it *does* excite some people, I would wager that if you gave a person a choice between a 34″ pitch seat with no entertainment and a 32″ pitch seat with entertainment, you would sell more of the former.  At least on most domestic flights. 

There appears to be no game changer for Economy Class.  There is no incentive to improve economy class service for almost any airline.  American’s 3-class 777 offers 2-5-2 seating (imagine sitting in one of those 3 middle seats) that is not one iota more comfortable in any way.  The one amenity, that I could observe, was a personal entertainment screen.  That was it.  I sat in the economy seat and it did not seem, to me, to be any different in pitch, width or general comfort than a AA MD-80 seat. 

There really isn’t any incentive for most airlines to improve this experience either.  By operating fortress hubs, the airline knows that most economy class passengers are a captive market.  There really isn’t much choice when choosing an airline for most destinations.  The only incentive for an airline to change seating comes from either being able to fit more seats onto an aircraft or to provide a seat that lasts longer.  

Delta is going to introduce such a seat using Thompson Cozy Suites.  You can see more about it HERE.  It is more comfortable and it does allow Delta to add some seats to their aircraft but they also have contract to use it exclusively (at least for a while).   jet Blue and United do offer some economy plus seating but they market it poorly.  Most passengers are unaware of it as an option to search for and only learn about it at check-in as an upgrade option. 

Wouldn’t it be nice to see a game changer for economy class for once?  A seat that offers some comfort and space even if it costs just a bit more to purchase.   Keep the free soda and coffee.  Keep the entertainment because I can carry a tiny MP3 player for music and I really prefer a book to a TV show anyway.   Keep the food and the pillows and the blanket because I can dress appropriately and probably sleep better with just a touch more room.  Find us a seat that we can sit comfortably in for 3 hours and I’ll buy your ticket every time.

Filed under: Airline Fleets, Airline Seating, Airline Service by ajax