Being a tall person (6' 3'' or about 190 cm), and (too) often having to travel long haul and intercontinental economy class, I feel it would be really useful to know just how much space you get on an airline (ie the pitch or distance between seats) in their various classes. A comparison chart would be nice. Does anyone know of such a chart or even how seat pitch information can be found?

In a Swedish newspaper today there was a article about the issue which got me thinking.

The Swedish aviation authority is to question all airlines for seat pitch information. Even they do not know what it is! It seems that there are no regulations on seat pitch except for some safety concerns where it should be possible to get out of the plane within 90 seconds.

In economy class, seat pitch varies a lot.

According to the article, the common practice is 74 cm (29.13 inches), but some airlines squeeze you into 70 cm (27.56 inches). Finnair gives you 75 cm (29.53 inches) on their flights to the USA while Singapore airlines offers a whopping 81 cm (31.89 inches) to their economy class passengers. American, on transatlantic flights have 52 cm (20.47 inches) between the seat cushion and the back of the seat in front while on their USA domestic flights it's 77.5 cm (30.52 inches)which looks a bit wrong but I'm quoting the article.

While the pitch may vary somewhat even on the same airline between domestic flights and intercontinental flights and aircraft type I think it would be great to know exactly what you're getting when you buy a ticket. For example if on the reservation systems you got seat pitch information as well as times, meals, mileage and so on.

We all talk about service on the planes, but for me, seat pitch, which let's face it means comfort, matters a lot - especially if the seat is going to be your home for the next 22 hours as is the case on some of my flights. Do any magazines publish such information?



[This message has been edited by Austman (edited 03-22-99).]

Depends on where you are...but there is a magazine called Business Traveller that publishes articles related to comforts on sitting in coach.

Singapore Airlines seat pitch is measley at 32 inches. BA is just as bad at 31 inches (sorry don't know the metric conversions).

Airlines that have great seat pitch on their long haul are :
Swissiar 33"
Finnair 33"
Malaysia Airlines 34"
Canadian Airlines 34"
Thai Airways 34"
Ansett Australia 35"

Most of the other carriers are about 30-32"

I think I have mentioned this before, but Business Traveller magazine is available on line.

http://www.btonline.com

You also might like to take a look at this site:

http://members.aol.com/hilesd/legroom.html#Pitchdef




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Nick

Consumer Reports Travel Newsletter publishes results of annual coach seat pitch surveys & Frequent Flyer publishes results of annual business class seat pitch surveys.

Actually, Consumer Reports Travel Letter publishes periodic surveys of both economy and business class seating (I think in alternate years, though I don't have my back issues here at the office so I may be wrong). Seat pitch varies widely even within airlines depending on airplane model and configuration.

Charlie

There was a great chart on the web awhile ago, but it is now "Not Found." But I understand that CP is removing 7 rows of seats from its trans-Pacific 747's. Based on my rough calculations, that should increase the seat pitch from 34" to about 40". Might not sound like much, but it's better than some business classes I have been on.

Regards,

Ken Hamer

CRTL (Consumer Reports Travel Letter) does frequent reports on pitch in all classes. It's a class newsletter. Primarily designed for liesure travellers, but also a real resource for frequent flyers.