My first experience with European low cost carrier seating came aboard a Vueling A320 flight between Frankfurt and Barcelona. OMG! The 29" pitch was indeed tight. Thank goodness it was only a 2 hour flight! As an American used to flying aboard Alaska Airlines where seat pitch in economy is 32", I was shocked. The difference in space was especially notable given that I'd flown into FRA in First Class aboard an Emirates 777. It's worth noting however that Vueling charged about $105 for the FRA-BCN flight whereas a flight aboard LH or IB would have been double that and then some. Additionally, word has it that Iberia's standard seat pitch is not much better then Vueling's.

Here in the U.S. our low cost carriers (Allegiant, Spirit and Frontier) generally follow the European model on seating with Spirit Airlines inflicting an industry-low 28-inch pitch on all its aircraft. I believe Frontier and Allegiant check in with 29". Spirit describes its seats as being “pre-reclined,” which is just a clever way of saying they have no recline at all. That's probably just as well since reclining into a 28" pitch would be pretty invasive. Some years back I flew from Las Vegas to New Orleans for a quick visit with jlemon. AA, DL, UA and even WN were all offering one way fares in the $250 range. I booked a flight on Spirit for an incredibly low base fare of about $75. I then bundled in a checked bag and an upgrade to Spirit's "Big Seat" - essentially a First Class seat with 36" of pitch but no recline. Total cost: $154. Frontier also offers a more spacious product called "Stretch Seats". Located in the first 3 rows of Frontier's A320s, they offer a generous 36" pitch. I sampled this product aboard a Frontier A320NEO last year and was generally pleased.

Overall, despite industry wide reductions in economy class seating, we've got it pretty good here in the U.S. AA, DL & UA all offer a 30-32 inch pitch standard depending upon the aircraft and seat location. My hometown carrier, Alaska, offers a fleet wide 32" pitch. As a Million Miler with Alaska who thus enjoys Gold status for life, I am spoiled as I get to book Premium Economy seats at no extra cost anytime I fly. The seat pitch there is 35" which brings back memories of the "Good Old Days" when 34-35" pitch was the standard in economy aboard most all of the major US airlines (AA, BN, CO, DL, EA, NA, NW, TW, UA, WA). I remember flying aboard DC-10s from UA and CO when they entered service in 1972. 8 across 2-4-2 seating, generous seat pitch and coach lounges made for an unbelievably comfortable and pleasant economy class experience. As an added bonus, since the CAB had control over all fares and routes, the best way airlines had to differentiate from one another was through innovative and quality inflight service. Flying - even as an economy class passenger - was practically dream like compared to what we experience today.












I logged my 1000th flight in 1981 and so was fortunate to have flown a lot on all of these aircraft. Those were the days...