Originally Posted By: Astro14
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
I like to see an extra inch of seat room. I'm tall, not fat, so would prefer to read knee room than width in the seat, but I'll take what I can get..
The seat pitch, as it's known, is specified by the airline. The floors accommodate a seat every inch or so. For example, on United's Premium Service 757s, the seats were reconfigured so that every economy seat has a 36" pitch, 5" more than the industry standard of 31". But that's a premium offering, folks pay more for the trans-continental service with more legroom.
The profit margin of roughly 3 - 7% across the industry means that an extra row or two of of seats is the difference between profit and loss on a route.
The airlines will be able to configure this jet however they like, and most of them will cram in every seat they can.
Thank you for explaining this to people.
It gets to be very frustrating when people compare aircraft and say things like..."Oh, I hate the 737. Seats are too close" or "The A321 is so much better. The seats have more room" or vice-versa, etc., etc.
I really hope that people can get into their heads that it's the AIRLINES that desire these configurations. Just because a plane is slightly wider or longer typically means nothing as the airline will want ANY extra room to be made available for another seat.