Originally Posted by www.iflyswa.com
wow! On UAL, the 757s have 24 FC seats! (Unless it is a TED 757 in which case it has 0). It seems that is is hardly worth it to have a 8 seat FC cabin. Maybe U would be better off getting rid of first class and perhaps offer something like economy plus on United.
Iflyswa, since you're relatively new to this forum, you probably missed the extensive threads earlier in the year on the 757 conversion from 24F to 8F. This co-insided with reallocating the '57 to the leisure/low yield routes to FL and LAS. A few Carrib. routes are flown with it, too, but those are not necessarily low yield in season. The 757 has become a ratty, dirty airplane inside. That's too bad, because just a few years ago it was a pleasure to fly.....
The delivery of all the A321's has allowed US to focus that equipment to nice long haul transcon service with 26F seats. But, that service can be tight with 2 attendants in a full front cabin. You can't compare a 737 on a 4+ hour flight to an Airbus single-aisle(A319/320/321). Sorry. There's a huge comfort factor that puts US ahead of SW in that regard.
It is now rumored that the 757's will get some more seats back in F due to some nebulous Star Alliance rules that dictate what percentage of total seats need to be F. But having not been able to attend RoachFest 04 where this topic surely was addresssed, I don't know whether there's truth to those rumors. (HINT: WAITING EAGERLY FOR RF 04 REPORT!!!)