Originally Posted by
armagebedar
It's an interesting strategy and is in stark contrast to their domestic rival, who seems to be trying to make improvements in all classes.
Indeed. But business class (which is already has a competitive product) along with cargo is where the money is and Y is just gravy. So the squash in as many as possible in the back with reduced service could make sense, but only if they drop prices relative to JAL. Although, this may come down to the agreement with UA as they might have to price tickets similarly, so NH will need to cut costs to match UA's service.
If this goes ahead, I can't believe they will redo all the already converted IOJ 77W, so they will end up continuing with different seats/layouts in their fleet for a while to come. There's not that many old config 77W left, but then there are new deliveries due next year. I wonder what routes the 10-abreast would go on, or will they just be swapped in late in the process based on how well ticket sales go in Y?