Airlines Tackling the Squeezed-Seat Problem

Wherever you’re sitting as you read this column is probably more comfortable than the average airline seat. That’s not likely to change soon, but on several carriers there are improvements afoot.

Legroom is a difficult amenity to define and measure, but most major airlines have settled on “seat pitch” as a measure of space. Seat pitch is the space between your upright seat back and the upright seat back one row ahead. The figure on major U.S. carriers for coach seats is typically 31 to 33 inches--roughly equivalent to what you’d find in the back seat of a Volkswagen bug, perhaps even less comfortable if the traveler in front of you decides to recline.

These close quarters are part of the formula that allows airlines to keep leisure fares where they are, but the sheer discomfort of sitting in coach continues to provoke widespread cries of anguish, especially among taller travelers.

Citing such “customer input,” United Airlines on Aug. 5 created a new subclass of service: Economy Plus. In about 450 of its jets, the carrier is tearing out one row of coach seats and reconfiguring the first six to 11 rows (depending on the plane) with seat pitches of 35 to 36 inches instead of United’s coach average of 31.

Who gets these seats? United’s best customers and biggest spenders, of course. Advance assignment to Economy Plus will go on a first-come, first-served basis to travelers with premier status (25,000 miles in one calendar year on United or its partner carriers in the Star Alliance) and to travelers who buy full-fare economy tickets. (Anybody who buys these non-sale, full-fare coach tickets when they can avoid it deserves either a lot of airline attention or therapy: On United flights between LAX and New York, restricted coach fares begin around $380, but full fares in coach can cost a whopping $1,003.)

Economy Plus reservations may not be available until fall. But United says it’s counting on this move to please their frequent fliers, mostly business travelers, and perhaps win a few away from competitors.

But the competitors, of course, have seat plans of their own.

At American Airlines, spokesman Tim Smith reported that “we are obviously studying the United move” but so far have tried to meet comfort demands by maintaining a large number of first-class seats and making upgrades available to frequent fliers. Most of the carrier’s Gold, Platinum and Executive Platinum customers get the upgrades they seek, Smith said.

For the rest of us non-premium (read “leisure”) travelers, there is this solace: American is midway through a $400-million effort to upgrade seats and interiors of its 660-plane fleet. In coach, this means new seats (made by Recaro, a German company that makes seats for Porsche and Mercedes, Smith noted) with a different design. The pitch will still be 32 inches--and the width will still be between 17 and 18 inches--but the seat back will be thinner, and a design innovation where the seat back and seat bottom meet is said to offer two additional inches of knee room. Besides that, the new seats feature small, height-adjustable headrests with “winglets” that fold out to support the heads of those who doze.

So far, Smith said, almost one-third of American’s jets have had their interiors redone, with the project to be completed in 2000. (For its very biggest spenders, American announced July 15 that it was adding fully flat sleeper seats to the first-class sections of its Boeing 767-300 jets. Those seats--already available on the carrier’s Boeing 777s--are scheduled to enter service next summer. American officials vow that coach seating configurations won’t be affected.)

Southwest Airlines has no first-class seats, but it is making similar improvements on its fleet of 300 Boeing 737s. Like its competitors, Southwest’s seats are pitched at 31 to 33 inches, and most are about 17 inches wide. But a spokeswoman said its newest generation of aircraft (737-700s from Boeing, about 43 now in service) features more ergonomic contouring and those same headrest “winglets.”

Provisions for toddlers have long been another sore point with air travelers. Children under age 2 are able to travel free, so long as they sit in a parent’s lap. But many consumer advocates and federal officials have argued that it’s unsafe for those children to be flying without seat belts or safety seats.

Now comes British Airways with what it says are the world’s first airline seats for toddlers. The seats, designed by Britain’s leading maker of children’s car seats, debuted on Aug. 1. They are affixed to a plane’s bulkhead (which means only a limited number are available per flight) and afford infants eye contact with their parents. That wasn’t possible with the flat “carrycots” previously used by the carrier. With or without the seats or carrycots, the transatlantic fare for children under 2 is 10% of the adult fare.

About 1,000 of the new seats are available for use on long-haul flights, and a spokesman said British Airways eventually plans to offer them on shorter flights as well.

Meanwhile, the skirmishing continues over infant safety requirements within the U.S. The National Transportation Safety Board has been urging for 20 years that babies be required to fly in child-restraint seats, but the Federal Aviation Administration, mindful of the costs attached, has resisted, seeking voluntary measures instead. To encourage parents to bring their own safety seats aboard, major U.S. carriers in 1997 began offering discounts to parents who buy tickets for their infants (instead of carrying them on laps for free). A January 1999 survey by Consumer Reports found all nine major domestic U.S. carriers offer 50%-off fares for children under 2 on domestic flights.

Parents should call the airline at least 24 hours before departure to see if their child’s safety seat is an approved model. Federal safety officials recommend that children under 20 pounds sit in rear-facing seats, and those 20 to 40 pounds in front-facing seats. For more information, reach the FAA at (800) 322-7873 or on the Internet, https://www.faa.gov.

Christopher Reynolds welcomes comments and suggestions, but cannot respond individually to letters and calls. Write Travel Insider, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053, or send e-mail to chris.reynolds@latimes.com.