Originally Posted by
rzsionak
I wouldn't consider the US carriers any worse than European carriers when it comes to coach or even business class seating, and in most cases I would say the European carrier seats in coach are much less comfortable with less legroom and harder seats.
The US carriers are ahead or their European counterparts in realizing that you simply can't give away anything in coach beyond basic air transportation as search engines don't account for those amenities in the cost. Delta is probably the furthest ahead in monetizing the flying experience for the passenger and notably is the most profitable in the world.
Wow is that opinion out of date! Maybe it has been many years since you flew in Europe, but most all the carriers have updated their coach and business class seating and it is still going on. AF, KL, BA, LX, AZ, etc., all have revamped seats.
And I would say the opposite that US carriers are way, way behind in service because they do not give their customers anything, even consideration, beyond basic air transport.
But the big exception which hasn't even been mentioned yet is JetBlue! They brought in nice seats and DirectTV and by giving the customer more than just basic air transport, earned themselves a huge amount of business.