Originally Posted by
ijgordon
Width between armrests is only one measure of comfort. At least as important is the width of the armrest/console, and to a lesser extent, the width of the aisle (can matter a lot for a pax in aisle seat in terms of how much they’ll get bumped in the shoulder.
The former is the only readily available measurement. Most (but not all) airlines with 350s do 2-4-2 in PE. I certainly wouldn’t judge DL’s overall product based on that.
UA has 2-4-2 on its 777s and I suspect the seat measurements are very similar to DL’s 350s, prob with the slightly wider aisle.
DL has 2-3-2 on its 330s which is probably marginally better than UA’s 2-3-2 on its 787s.
Both have 2-2-2 on a large fleet of 767s, this is a good configuration for both with no middle seats.
As mentioned, "seat width" is utterly meaningless because not only are multiple dimensions relevant, there is no standard thing being measured when a carrier claims a certain "width" for their seat.
2-4-2 PE on a 350 is an 8:9 overlay onto Y, which is
by far the closest to the same width to Economy compared to any other frame (6:7 on a 767, 8:10 on a 747/777/380, 7:9 on a 787, 7:8 on a 330/340).
The 777 is 10 inches wider than the 350 and has the same config, and it's tight enough that some carriers (LH, CX) opted for a 2-3-2 config on their 350s. 8-across PE on a 350 is a significant outlier.