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The Incredible Shrinking Plane Seat
- pedalpete 13y agoThe interesting thing I find here is the economics of this decision. Using Air Canada 777 as an example from SeatGuru http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Air_Canada/Air_Canada_Boeing_777-300ER_77W_new.php http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Air_Canada/Air_Canada_Boein... Adding the 9th seat per row results in an extra 43 seats per plane. Factoring in only the economy section of the plane, there are 344 seats in the 8 seat configuration, 387 in the 9 seat. Estimate a long-haul flight costs $1000, that makes an easy calculation of $43,000 extra revenue for the airline. That is only an extra $125/seat in revenue compared to the 8 seat configuration. Apparently it costs 1 gallon of fuel/pound on domestic flights, so let's say is 30% more on long haul flights and the average person including luggage weighs 200lbs (170lbs for the person plus 30lbs luggage). Jet fuel is currently $2.92/gallon, so let's say the airline buys it at a reduced rate of $2.70, and our 30% brings us to $4.00 per person. I'm guessing this is much of what airlines are doing with Premium Economy, but you pay a $300+ ticket difference per seat, so for each row in Premium Economy, the airline is making $1000 extra profit over the same row in Economy.
- pitchups 13y agoIn addition to the seat-width, the other dimension that has been shrinking is the seat pitch - the distance between rows of seats. Seat pitch, of course, determines how much leg room you have, whether the seat in front of you hits your knees. A low seat pitch can be extremely uncomfortable - and airlines have been been squeezing seats closer. A seat pitch of 31" seems to be the norm now among most major carriers, down from 32" or even 34" in the past. Now, you have to pay extra to get Economy plus/premium seating to get the 1" of extra leg room, that used to be the standard in the past.