Baze

Here is another reason to hate these slimline seats. This past Wednesday flying MSP-SFO seat 7C would not stay in the upright position so mechanic had to fix it before we could leave. They worked on it for an hour and could neither fix it not get it to just be stuck in the upright position. MSP uses contract mechanics and they did not know how to work on these new seats. They ended up moving 7C to another seat and moved 8ABC to another seat as was a safety issue having the seat stuck in a reclined position. We were about 90 minutes late taking off. At the last minute the mechanic managed to get it locked in the upright position so they put all the people back in their seats. But come on, 90 minutes late because the mechanic did not know how to work on the seat?

Hill713

I was on the same flight in 21A. This was my first ever experience with these seat, absolutely hated them. I was dead tired, and was looking forward to the rest. Was in an exit row with nobody in the middle seat. Could never get comfortable.

I'm 6'2" and the seat is WAY to short and way to low to the ground, and hard as a rock. These things are truly awful.

Still 0 forever on having working Wifi. Why is it so difficult for UA to get the Wifi on the 8 planes that offer it, to work?

CO_Nonrev_elite

It can't be just coincidence that Delta's slim line seats are actually comfortable can it. I'm assuming that Delta chose the better ones in order to a) gain the extra space to get an extra row in and b) to keep the customers happy. I am sure that the DL one probably cost a little more, but you get what you pay for. UA would rather save $5 and lose a customer forever. These seats are terrible

LASUA1K

Are the DL seats better? Are they as low? I fly WN often and they are a bit more comfortable but they are also too low. Why oh why are these seats so low.

CO_Nonrev_elite

The delta ones are significantly more comfortable than the bad UA ones. Some of the UA ones are ok. I didn't mind the 739 ones

LASUA1K

Ya theUA 739's are a bit better, I just wish the cabin was as wide as an Airbus.

Kmxu

Finally, I sat on this slimline seat for 4 hours for the first time. It was painful for every minute. It was worse than the seat on CR7. Will definitely book away from these airbus a/c.

Hill713

Had my 3rd and 4th experience with the slimlines. They are truly horrific. Why is the seat bottom so short, it is smaller than a jump seat. I sent an email through the UA feed back. I got the normal, we are sorry and your info has been passed on.... and they also credited my 3500 miles.

I asked if all the planes were going to these seats, and that part was not answered. Is that the plan? If so I am going to have to find another airline.

username

What I am concluding is that those seats smell terrible. Maybe it is the new seat smell but it really makes the plane smell like sewer. Luckily the nose adjusts to it quickly.

Critic

7/16, UA 366 LAX-EWR on an A320. Had completely forgotten about the slimlines and sniped 20F when it opened up, thinking the exit row window (albeit the non-reclining exit row) would be more comfortable on the redeye (especially since it was the only window left, and I like to sleep on the redeye). I was wrong.

This particular A320 (I didn't think to write down the tail number, but I'm sure someone can find it) had what I believe were the reupholstered Recaros; as others reported, the bottom cushion was shorter than standard and both the seat and back had NO GIVE WHATSOEVER. These seats make the old CO park bench Koitos look like La-Z-Boys. The only upside is that the bulkhead-side armrest in 20A/F is mounted to the bulkhead, so the seat itself feels slightly wider than standard, but that slight advantage is quickly nullified by the the rock hard seats and the short bottom cushion.

By 90 minutes in, my lower back was in minor pain. By 3 hours, it was minor agony. And on arrival at EWR, I was shocked I was actually able to stand.

I'm not a fan of the slimlines in general, but the BAEs seem to be a little bit better than the Recaros in terms of general comfort. But that's a bit like saying marble is slightly more comfortable to sit on than granite.

Hill713

This blog perfectly articulates my experience with the slimlines.

http://badice.com/2013/06/07/new-uni...n-improvement/

This part specifically is my biggest issue.

I had a BOS to IAH flight, was supposed to depart at like 8:15, ended up leaving closer to 10 due to weather. The same weather forced use to take the long way to IAH, so a 4 hour flight ended up being over 5 hours.

Was dead tired and nobody in the middle seat. I normally have zero problems sleeping on planes, I didn't sleep a wink on a flight that landed well after 1AM Houston time. Just a miserable experience.

LilAbner

I had back surgery last Dec and always take a cushion for my back or I can't make it too far anymore. Flew from SFO-LAS a few weeks ago, put the cushion behind my back, like always, sat down and whoa Nellie. Reclining meant that my a$$ was accelerating north bound at a take off speed yet we were still docked at the gate.

Hill713

All my experience with the slimlines are in exit row seats. Is the bottom part of the seat just in short in all the rows, or is it specific to the exit rows?

Also, is the plan to change the entire fleet out to these seats?

catocony

I think the exit row Recaros are a couple inches shorter than the regular seat.

The armrests on the aisle seats go up, so that's one benefit. But, they are truly uncomfortable for anything over an hour. And pray that you don't end up in E-, where it's 29" pitch and the hard shell right in your face.

The FAs hate these seats as much as we do. No one likes them except the bean counters. They're narrower, the seats are a bit shorter to the ground, less seat pitch, the cushions are shorter, they're hard as rocks and there's no space in front of you to stash anything larger than a cell phone and maybe a bottle of water.

LilAbner

I dropped 2 drink chits in the seat back and spent 10/15 mins trying to fish them out with the front page of Hemispheres. Then my 17 year old dropped the tray table and bingo there they were- 2 G & T' on the way!