Airlines Moving Up in Class With a New Coach : Seating: Many carriers are finally upgrading their economy category by offering passengers better service and more amenities.

Coach class. Economy. The back of the bus. For more than 30 years, passengers flying coach on commercial jet aircraft have been subjected to cramped seats and little legroom. They’ve been wedged in center seats, eaten bad food and been forced to listen to screaming babies.

And, for most of that period, there were only two kinds of tickets: first-class (“F”) and coach (“Y”).

But since deregulation began in 1978, the price of coach tickets has varied wildly. In fact, at this writing, some airlines offer more than 60 price categories--for, unfortunately, the same coach seat, usually cramped and lacking the amenities of first or business class.

Coach prices can vary depending on such factors as how far in advance travelers purchase their tickets, what day of the week they fly, how long they stay at their destination, the time of the year flown and whether they qualify for corporate, military, senior or student discounts.

Not surprisingly, such a variation has made for some very angry coach passengers.

“Nothing makes a coach-class passenger complain more than when he finds out the person sitting next to him, in the same type of seat, eating the same meal, paid less than half of what he did,” says George Brennan, a former senior vice president of marketing for Eastern Airlines. Indeed, many airlines are now looking at ways to redefine coach--the class, the cabin and the service.

For a number of years, TWA has been automatically upgrading full-fare coach passengers to Ambassador (business) class on domestic flights. And in some cases, members of Pan Am’s frequent flier program holding coach tickets can often get bumped up to Clipper (business) class.

Northwest Airlines recently announced a transcontinental promotion that automatically upgrades full-fare coach passengers to the front cabin. On all flights from Los Angeles and San Francisco to New York, Washington, Boston and Philadelphia, passengers holding full coach tickets will be flown in first-class. As an example, the first-class fare between Los Angeles and New York is $2,202. Full-fare coach is $1,262.

Last August, MGM Grand Air, known for all-first-class deluxe service, added coach class to its fleet of three DC-8 jets.

On the MGM jets, behind the first-class cabin are 40 first-class leather seats arranged in two-by-two seating. It’s definitely an upscale coach product. There’s a five-inch television monitor for each two seats, an air-to-ground phone and special PC outlets to power portable computers.

Meal service, space and comfort in the first-class cabin is extensive, and passengers pay full first-class fares. But anyone flying on a full-fare coach ticket flies in the newly created Grand Class Coach, which is the equivalent of most domestic U.S. airlines’ first-class sections.

Foreign airlines are also beginning to take a hard look at their coach class.

After spending $40 million to redesign its business-class cabin and service, British Airways recently decided to concentrate on the back of the plane. The airline just invested an additional $30 million to essentially relaunch coach class, with a new emphasis on service and individual attention to coach passengers.

On intercontinental flights, British Airways’ coach class is now called World Traveller (and within Europe, Euro Traveller).

“We did a lot of research among passengers,” says Ian McComas, British Airways’ manager for World Traveller, “and the feeling more than anything was that coach passengers weren’t valued by airlines, that we didn’t care anything about them--that was the general feeling. Our passengers knew they wouldn’t get as much room or food, but they wanted the same service, and they didn’t understand why they didn’t get it.

“It was really quite simple. They wanted to feel wanted and welcome.”

British Airways held special retraining forums for cabin crew on the new approach for coach passengers.

However, don’t expect a redesigned coach section on British Airways planes. The coach seats are still coach seats. The legroom is still tight. And there’s still 10-across seating on its 747s.

Where British Airways spent the money was on some small but distinct product and psychological benefits. The airline changed both the pillows and seat headrest covers on its entire fleet from deep red to white--the color change gives the impression of more space and comfort. Coach passengers now get a round of orange juice before takeoff, as well as hot towels after the meal service.

Lastly, each long-haul flight now carries something called a “props box”--a container filled with backgammon and other board games, packs of cards and a Polaroid camera to use for special occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries.

In addition to the World Traveller service, coach passengers receive an amenities kit containing eye shades, socks, toothbrush and toothpaste.

And how has the experiment worked? “It’s too soon to tell,” says McComas. “But we’re sureusing up moe Polaroid film than we ever imagined.”