Originally Posted by
evergrn
But that's pretty much my point. All I want is a seat that's 18.5-19" wide with 34" pitch that you don't have to pay PE price for. I don't necessarily need 38" pitch. But other than JAL and a few other ones, you won't find such thing. So if I can't deal with your typical 17" wide 32" pitch seat with 1.5" armrest, then the only other option I can afford is PE. But PE is 2x Y price for 1.5x Y seat real estate. So the airlines rake in a lot more per sq m from PE than from Y, which means PE represents poorer value to the customer. Some people may find every inch of the extra space so valuable that they might think paying x2 the amount is totally worth it. Then there's me who will do PE reluctantly knowing that I'm getting ripped off because I'm just not in a mood for sardine can. Regardless, it's still the case that PE is generally overpriced relative to Y.
Well, it's hard to argue that it's a ripoff if they're honest about the seat's dimensions and the booking engine makes it clear what's PE and what isn't. Airlines are trying different things even within PE - including some that have 40+" of pitch and 19-20" of width. I think what you're saying is that your ideal product would be cheaper but closer to coach. Airlines are hoping there's a market out there for more expensive and closer to "long ago J". Since they can't feasibly put 6 different cabins in one plane, they're going to take their market research and pick what they think will sell the best. 5 years from now, it may evolve.