downinit

The airlines clearly omit these because of weight and cost savings; however, anyone even close to 5'10" or taller can certainly be grateful for this omission. For the few '5 star airlines' that still offer these in Y, they are not only completely useless, but actually painful. Due to the very close quarters of the seats, they will cut into your shins if you try to stretch out. The only option is to lower them all the way and place your feet in the narrow gap between the footrest and underneath the seat, which is never very comfortable. And all this discomfort is on long haul planes in premium airlines, which offer 32+ inches of seat pitch. I can only imagine how horrible they would be on a plane with 28-29" of pitch. Personally, I would much rather have leg-rests that fold out from under the seat than footrests that are designed for people under 5'6".

pinniped

They're useless, IMHO. Occasionally, I'll have one on a bus or train, briefly attempt to use it, and then put it away. My 10-year-old is short enough to maybe use one, but I don't see her life as incomplete without them. So I'm glad they are not there.

gglave

Back in the good ol' days I recall seeing (and happily using) footrests on Air Canada's widebodies in economy - Specifically on the 767s.

Some selective googling of c2000 trip reports on Airliners.net also yields references to economy-class footrests on airlines like EVA.

Oxnardjan

I hadn't thought of the weight issue nor being useless for tall people. I was thinking of ones that folded flat into a narrow design recess in the back of the seat leaving the under seat area clear for storage. Just dreaming, but it would be nice to have. I will look into the sling things that they sell online. Has anyone used them and what do you think?

kalderlake

Perhaps their disappearance has something to do with decreasing seat pitch?

Bluehen1

LOT has them on their 787s in both Economy and Premium Economy. Not useful when sleeping and moderately useful when awake. Didn't affect underseat storage for me too much.

muji

ANA does as well, at least on the trans-Pacific flight I took this week.

EricH

When I've been tempted to use them on Amtrak's NEC trains, I've been untempted pretty quickly. There's also the maintenance issue. People will put some weight on them and they break.

Dublin_rfk

Really? After watching / listening thousands of preflight safety spiels. If they are required to demonstrate how to use a seat belt - ( something that is installed in EVERY car that the average traveler has ever been in) Can you imagine what the m0r0ns that determine what needs to be in a safety video will add to the 228 seconds already wasted with stupidity?

Annalisa12

Fully agree that foot rests in economy are of no use. They put your feet 5 or 10 cm if you are lucky in the air. I think it is just for advertising purposes... oooh our sardine tin economy cabin has footrests... so hopefully you'll now ignore the 20 inch seat pitch and 15 inch seat width.

princeville

I bought this one a few months ago and have used it on three US west coast-Europe flights in economy as well as some shorter red-eyes to/from Hawaii and Alaska and it makes a huge difference in comfort for me. I wish I would have found it years ago - I don't mind flying long haul in economy now.

aquamarinesteph

Virgin Atlantic had footrests in Premium Economy on our more recent flight.

itsallgood

The safety video's a government regulation. As such, it specifies required items to be covered. One of them is how to use a seat belt.

ibrandsguest

Doesn’t American Airlines premium economy (international flights) have footrests?

I don’t see footrests as necessary on planes. In coach, it’s too cramped. In domestic first class, it’s too cramped. In international business, there’s already other stuff to support your feet and legs.

Proudelitist

Weight=Fuel=MONEY

And I am sure safety issues come into play as well in evacuating the aircraft and in blocking underseat storage.