NJTraveler

I didn't see a thread specific to this. What are travelers' experiences comparing Main Cabin Extra vs Exit Row seats? More or Less room?

Mark_T

This is covered in the aircraft specific MCE threads as it varies from plane to plane.

TheFlyingFoodie

I like having the choice. Traditionally I have taken an Exit window seat, but depending on the flight, I have chosen a Main Cabin Extra window seat in one of the first few rows (but not the bulkhead) making for a quicker exit from the aircraft on arrival. This is particularly handy with a tight connection.

TR7_DFW

MCE seats will be wider if the exit row seats contain the tray in the armrest.

Maui Time

This thread probably needs to be consolidated, but in the meantime to answer your question, I personally bounce back and forth between MCE and Exit Row depending on how short my connection time is. I have been in MCE on the 757 and MD80 and in both cases the exit row leg room is much better.

Crazy4Birds

True, and can be an advantage for MCE. For red-eyes, and trying to sleep in the window seat, I actually always opt for the exit row, preferring the tray in the armrest that gives a bit more privacy/less disturbance...

FWAAA

So far, the only MCE seats with exit-row-like legroom are the 763s, as a four-row mini-cabin went to a three-row mini-cabin, with more than enough legroom to go around.

That said, for those who don't like it cold, MCE offers plenty of legroom and none of the freezing cold that you'll find in the exit rows.

While the single-aisle airplane MCE seats don't offer as much legroom as exit rows, you'd have to have a very long inseam (leg length) for any MCE seats to have insufficient legroom. Most exit rows have "wasted" space. It's spacious, to be sure, but only Shaq and a few other similarly tall people would really need all of the exit row legroom.

Antarius

752 and 738 as well. Although that is due to the exit rows being part of MCE.

skiermsm

+1 This definitely prevents the "overflow" from the passenger next to you. Inspires me to keep my backside in shape too.

sdsearch

You seem to be assuming legroom with nothing under the seat in front of you?

For those of us who have to store a max-size "personal item" there, there's nothing "wasted" about the space in most exit rows!

The only exit row seats that I would consider to have truly "wasted" space are 10A and 10F on the 757 (even before MCE).

Having said that:

1. I haven't sat in an MCE seat yet.

2. Because the same number of people (rows) are spread out over a longer aisle length in MCE, perhaps less often there do you need to store a big "personal item" under you seat there (than in the exit rows of pre-MCE planes)?

3. Obviously in bulkhead seats (such as 10A/F, 9B/C/D/E on the 757) there's no underseat storage anyway. But in those cases, you get priority for overhead storage, which is no the case if you have space under the seat in front of you.

4. However (on the other other hand You may need to access what's in that big "personal item", so storing it up top all the time may not be an option.

Max M

I normally sit in row 20 or 21 (exit rows) on the Md-80.

The seat map for the Md-80 I flew on Sunday showed the aircraft had MCE, so I decided to take a gamble with the A/B side of row 9.

I'm a pretty big guy and found the legroom in row 9 to be equal to that of row 20/21. I did get bumped more by people getting seated due to more fort traffic at row 9 versus rows 20 and 21.

Otherwise comfort level was equal to that of the exit row.

Normally the bulkhead of Y begins with row 7 on MD-80's.
On MD-80's with MCE the bulkhead of Y begins with row 8.

ChiFlyer

Same for me.

TTopJohn

I've waded through several of the aircraft specific MCE threads and this question is generally not addressed. On 738s, S80s and 752s, my legs tell me the MCE seats definitely have less pitch than the exit rows. It's better than regular coach for sure, but you don't get the stretch out room that say 21A on an S80 gives you. However you're not stuck back in row 21 when it's time to disembark the aircraft so I've been selecting MCE for the past few months.

NJTraveler

Thanks for the info. I should have been specific re: the airplane type,the MD-80.

brp

So, you mean MCE on the MD-80? I found this

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...solidated.html

searching {"MCE" MD-80"}

Cheers.