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They haven't even bothered to try. Sure they have. All three of the big legacy US airlines have some form of extra-legroom economy: American has Main Cabin Ext

They haven't even bothered to try. Sure they have. All three of the big legacy US airlines have some form of extra-legroom economy: American has Main Cabin Extra, Delta has Comfort+ and United has Economy Plus. The problem is those seats cost more, and people shop for airfares based solely on the price they see in a search engine. Airlines have tried all sorts of tricks to get people to buy the nicer seat. They've tried showing it to you as an option at booking. They've tried offering it as an upsell afterward. They've tried offering it during check-in. They've tried branding it as a separate fare class labeled "premium" but still a reasonable-looking price. It's entirely due to passenger behavior at this point: people will grumble and complain and whine about the legroom and the lack of power and the extra fees for everything, but the next time they book a ticket they'll still just sort by lowest fare and pick that.

rconti 11y ago
I specifically mentioned that I was looking for a human-sized seat, not more legroom. I'm not unusually tall, I'm an average-sized male adult, and I'd like to have somewhere to put my arm. I don't really enjoy having my elbows pinned to my sides for 4 or 6 or 14 hours.
- ubernostrum 11y ago
  Wider seats take up more space, which means fewer seats which means less revenue. And there's no way they'll give that up; they're facing competition both domestically and internationally now from sardine-can aircraft layouts on low-cost carriers. So these days, US-based airlines have standardized on a width of 17-18 inches in economy class. Used to be long-haul international flights would have slightly wider seats, but now they're aiming to get 10-across seating in economy and you can't do that with 18-inch-wide seats. If you want a wider seat, your options are to pay for first class or (if traveling internationally) pay for premium economy on a foreign carrier.
bitwize 11y ago
It'd be one thing if the basic seats were basic but actually felt like you could sit in them four hours at a stretch without seriously jeopardizing your health. As it is, if the airlines could get away with packing people into 80cm by 80cm by 80cm crates they damn well would, and they'd charge $80 to upgrade to a full meter.

rconti 11y ago

I specifically mentioned that I was looking for a human-sized seat, not more legroom. I'm not unusually tall, I'm an average-sized male adult, and I'd like to have somewhere to put my arm. I don't really enjoy having my elbows pinned to my sides for 4 or 6 or 14 hours.

ubernostrum 11y ago
Wider seats take up more space, which means fewer seats which means less revenue. And there's no way they'll give that up; they're facing competition both domestically and internationally now from sardine-can aircraft layouts on low-cost carriers. So these days, US-based airlines have standardized on a width of 17-18 inches in economy class. Used to be long-haul international flights would have slightly wider seats, but now they're aiming to get 10-across seating in economy and you can't do that with 18-inch-wide seats. If you want a wider seat, your options are to pay for first class or (if traveling internationally) pay for premium economy on a foreign carrier.

bitwize 11y ago

It'd be one thing if the basic seats were basic but actually felt like you could sit in them four hours at a stretch without seriously jeopardizing your health. As it is, if the airlines could get away with packing people into 80cm by 80cm by 80cm crates they damn well would, and they'd charge $80 to upgrade to a full meter.