Prospero

Hello esteemed FlyerTalkers. I'd like to welcome you to aeroLOPA. It's a project I started over a year ago initially for my own benefit but from May this year the project transformed into its own dedicated website. Today, I am happy to announce a new portfolio of Alaska Airlines cabin layout plans is in production and the first (beta) phase covering the Boeing 737 is now available on Alaska Airlines - aeroLOPA | Detailed aircraft seat plans.

AeroLOPA's mission is to create and share detailed seat diagrams that are as easy to access and read on a mobile phone as they are on a desktop computer. What they do not do is tell you where the best seats are, rather its aim is to provide all the necessary information you need to make your own informed decision. For the all chit chat, questions, answers, and debate, FT is still the place

The creative process starts with a technical blueprint of each aircraft type. Factory standard galley, washroom, storage units are inserted, then the cabins are populated with seats and carefully space planned. It sounds simple, but to ensure accuracy scores of photos are scrutinised, cabin videos closely studied allowing seat positions to be spot checked, adjusted if necessary and the diagrams fine tuned. Thanks to the detailed information I have read here in the Alaska Airlines forum the AS content has been a joy to prepare and I hope the wider portfolio of AA, BA, IB, and AY cabin layout plans will also be useful to you.

Full cabin and seat descriptions for each aircraft type will be added during the days ahead, and of course the A320, A321 neo, and E175 seat maps.

Enjoy and let me know what's working and any areas you think need attention.


Samples below:

dayone

Prospero Thanks for including AS in your beta and good luck with your project. The diagrams look great. FTers love detail.

My suggestion is to add a designation (e.g., a blue square, like the green arrows) for Premium Class (and AA's MCE) seats to your diagrams. And the Airbus A321 when you are able.

To highlight your very useful thread for the AS faithful, I made your thread a sticky for the time being.

dayone, AS Moderator

Prospero

Many thanks for your very kind words. I should point out, mapping the AS cabins is a desktop project but I have developed tools which enable accurate mapping. That said, errors will inevitably be present so it would be great if the AS faithful are able to identify any aspect of the maps they think could use some adjustments.

I read here that the 737-900 and 737-900ERs all received compact lavatories during the last refit cycle, so my thinking is including the 7M9 all three aircraft share a common seat layout. What surprised me is the diversity of seat pitches present in the 16F 162M configuration.

For example, here are the row pitch measurements in the 737-900ER cabin currently mapped
First class rows 1 to 4: pitch = 39.5"
Premium class rows 6 to 9: pitch = 34.5"
Main cabin rows 10 to 15: pitch = 31"
Overwing exit rows 16 and 17: pitch = 37.5"
Port side (ABC) rows 17 to 32: pitch = 32"
Starboard side (DEF) rows 17 to 34: pitch = 30.5"

Note, the Premium Class seats are indicated with "Khaki" accents

dayone

I missed that. Since the PC seat count is not broken out, the khaki designation might be too subtle.

RAD_PDX

I'm curious what your source is for the first class pitch measurements? 41" is what is generally accepted as the pitch in AS F, but perhaps this is wrong?

dayone

The AS website says "up to 41 inches," but maybe that includes E75s.

Prospero

I understand. This was actually a deliberate decision. The graphics in the gallery pages show the seat counts for each primary cabin class, so in the case of AS the seats marketed as Premium Class are included in the economy class count. This is consistent across the site, and applies to Iberia’s XL, AA’s Main Cain Extra, and Finnair’s Economy Comfort seats. When you open the seat map, the number of PC seats is explained in the header narrative.

RAD_PDX

Correct, but the generally accepted number (and what is often published in articles) is the 41" number. It is interesting to see the actual measurements (assuming those are accurate).

dayone

Again, I saw that seat count but missed the khaki designation. I'll chalk it up as user (me) error.

Prospero

This is great feedback. With small cabins changing the seat pitch from 39.5" and 41.0" doesn't destabilise the overall layout. I've amended the 737-900ER seat map which now shows the F seat rows spaced 41" apart and without moving row 6.




The khaki designation needs explaining which is on the to-do list

notquiteaff

Cool looking diagrams. TIL what LOPA means.

Did you consider some sort of indicator for seats that have their tray table in the armrest?

dayone

Or use a color.

notquiteaff

The khaki is somewhat more noticeable on the actual website compared to the shrunken screenshots, I think. Doesn’t mean that everyone knows what it means, but as an AS flyer it seems obvious to me.

mildfrequence

A legend is, I think, an obvious requirement for color coding anything, generally speaking. What's cool about this is the degree to which the diagrams are standardized and how functional they are in the mobile context. I think the idea of *not* including the information about one seat being more desirable than the next is interesting given the significant value that information theoretically holds (and the fact that such debate can often be addressed via seatguru) but I get the appeal of avoiding that kind of subjective debate. That said, it seems like there could be some middle-ground here, where there isn't discussion of the merits of a given seat, but still useful annotations specific to said seat (seatguru tries to do both and achieves varying levels of success in my opinion.)

Prospero

We're making progress. The A320 and E175 seat maps are now live.

The full cabin/seat descriptions will follow