The current economic climate doesn’t speak well for airlines who depend upon business travelers to meet their expenses on a flight.  For the past several years, airlines have been introducing airline seating that specifically caters to the business traveler and, quite frankly, a product that meets or exceeds anything that represented First Class even in the 1990’s. 

 

The airlines are always faced with a difficult set of priorities to balance.  On the one hand, catering to the business traveler is essential because they do pay for a good portion of each flight and they must compete for those travelers very aggressively.  On the other hand, filling those last 100+ economy seats is also essential because that is the difference between profit and loss.   Typically, an airline will woo the business traveler with comfort and the economy flyer with price.  In order to compete on price, that means reducing your costs per seat to the lowest possible and offering a ticket price that bests anyone else on a route.

 

Or does it?  In the late 1990’s, American Airlines began a program of more space in coach.  MD-80 aircraft were reconfigured to offer as much as 34″ of seat pitch and as someone who was flying a great deal at that time, I can confirm that it made a huge amount of difference.   Unfortunately, the post September 11th terrorist disaster forced American to reconsider its configuration and the aircraft were reconfigured back to a 31/32″ pitch.   But how many seats did that gain them?  Only about 9 seats.

 

The one thing airlines never seem to try to differentiate themselves on is seating.  While some airlines have tried an economy plus seating (offering about 34″ to 36″ of seat pitch), no one really advertises the advantage of more seat room.  It is never heavily marketed like many other airline qualities.   That is a lost opportunity.   I do not believe people would necessarily choose a flight on an airline on the basis of only price if they were fully aware of a more comfortable option at a minor extra cost.   Airlines such as United Airlines often only take the opportunity to tell a customer of these seats after they’ve already made a purchase and only as an upgrade. 

 

Offering an increased seat pitch and explaining its comfort and, possibly, better position in the aircraft would, I think, be an attractive offer. 

 

The question is how much extra do you have to price that seat per leg?   I suspect about $20 per flight segment would work.   Possibly as much as $30.  But why not offer it by the hour?  Would you pay $10 / hour for a better seat?  Chances are you would.  However, that upgrade must be presented BEFORE the purchase to be attractive on price and that upgrade must be described in what it offers the customer.  More leg room, a better position in the cabin which makes for easier entry and exit from the aircraft. 

 

More room does not necessarily have to mean fewer seats either.  I’ve written before about Delta’s adoption of the Thompson Cozy Suite seats on their 767 aircraft.  There are other options as well.  Airtran offers a Recaro aircraft seat on the Boeing 737 aircraft that is unparalleled currently as an economy seat.  Its design offers just a tiny bit more leg room and yet configures easily to the same 31/32″ seat pitch airlines want to use.  It provides a more conventionally thick seat cushion on the bottom and upper half while offering a better contoured lumbar area that while thinner, is much more comfortable and yet offers the passenger behind you that little bit of extra room.

 

Sicma Aero is concentrating its efforts on a more ergonomic seat but I question that direction because how do you create an ergonomic seat that feels comfortable to both the 5′ tall 100lbs woman and the 6′ 2″ tall, 270lbs man?  It requires adjustability and that quite likely is going to cause trouble both with maintenance and the customer who doesn’t understand how to adjust the seat.

 

Avio Interiors has taken an approach more like Recaro by offering a seat that is properly cushioned in the right points but sculpted to again offer that small but important extra space for legs. 

 

 Thompson Solutions offers both the Cozy Suite as well as a more conventional but ergonomic economy seat.  The key to their offering is a staggered or herringbone style layout that allows airlines a 15″ gain in capacity or greater width and seat pitch.  Since aircraft are generally limited by either their load or the maximum seating they are certificated for, Thompson’s solutions (no pun intended) allow an airline to offer a new seat that is competitively priced, less maintenance intensive and vastly more comfortable than a conventional seat.  The key obstacle here is that airlines are afraid of making the investment and facing customer rejection of a design that is admittedly fairly radical in appearance.  With Delta introducing this on their 767 aircraft, I suspect the airline’s fears will be reduced and there will be a push to find similar solutions for new fleets.

 

Weber Aircraft, based in the United States, is offering a much more conventional product that, unfortunately, seems pointed towards high density seating without any emphasis of comfort.  Make of that what you will.

 

While airlines will no doubt seek to maximize their loads on aircraft and match pricing from their competitors, it becomes increasingly obvious that market capture can be based on these new seating options provided that the airlines themselves will actually market their product.  People still want comfort and the success of a la carte pricing indicates that people will still pay for what they want. 

 

The challenge is in airlines changing their marketing model both on their own websites as well as through popular travel sites.  When a customer can make their choices from an a la carte menu and choices include better, more comfortable seating that is well described, airlines will both differentiate and sell their product better.  Airlines even have the chance to sell such a product as a business offering to companies that do understand the value of taking care of their employees but who have to now measure that against the often 4 times greater cost of a business class seat.

Filed under: Airline Seating by ajax