No more SW for me...
Dec 29, 2018, 8:02 am
#136
Moderator: Southwest Airlines, Capital One
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: California
Programs: WN Companion Pass, A-list preferred, Hyatt Globalist; United Club Lietime (sic) Member
Posts: 21,625
Don't forget about seat width too. It's less than an inch more, but the seats are wider on the Max as well (thanks @LegalTender for the reminder!).
Dec 29, 2018, 12:32 pm
#137
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Denver, CO, USA
Programs: Sometimes known as [ARG:6 UNDEFINED]
Posts: 26,707
That's right. A 1970 737 fuselage is exactly the same width as a 2019 737 fuselage. The only way to increase actual seat width would be to make the aisle ridiculously narrow.
Dec 29, 2018, 1:11 pm
#138
Join Date: May 2002
Programs: WN F9 HA UA AA IHG HH MR
Posts: 3,305
The first B737s seated less than 100 pax and were known as Fat Alberts. Little resemblance to today's airplanes.
Dec 29, 2018, 1:37 pm
#139
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Denver, CO, USA
Programs: Sometimes known as [ARG:6 UNDEFINED]
Posts: 26,707
Dec 29, 2018, 3:34 pm
#140
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: ORD, MDW or MKE
Programs: American and Southwest. Hilton and Marriott hotels primarily.
Posts: 6,463
It is relatively easy to make a plane longer or shorter as a variant. Making it wider is essentially making a new plane.
Dec 31, 2018, 1:56 am
#142
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: RNO
Programs: AA/DL/UA
Posts: 10,778
The middle seats were "overflow" needed on big city pairs on high travel days. It's like a movie theater in that the vast majority of the time, you can find a seat with an empty seat on both sides of you. Only if you insist on seeing a popular movie the day it comes out do you have no choice but to sit between two other people.
Dec 31, 2018, 7:13 am
#143
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2001
Programs: DL 1 million, AA 1 mil, HH lapsed Diamond, Marriott Plat
Posts: 28,190
Minimum aisle width less than 25 inches from the floor is only 15" for aircraft capacity of 20+ passengers. Passenger evacuation times may demand more width depending on cabin length and number/type of exits. Put yourself on a Bombardier CRJ (-200, -700 or -900) with a tape measure and then compare aisle width to a WN 737 or Max.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/25.815