MRTC versus Travelocity: AA became (even more) rarely the cheapest option.

As much as the profits come out of Y and premium cabin seats, just the sheer number of apex economy passengers makes them (in the aggregate) impossible to discount. Economy seating is there just so airlines can squeeze more incremental revenue, after all.

Seat pitch is the problem. I am 6' 5" and upper 200's. I can fit in the seat with armrests comfortably down and seat belt with no extensions. BUT, my knees are jammed against the seatback in front of me.

Nonsense. Just do as Kebosabi says: lose some weight. Still can't fit?? Nothing a chopping above the knees won't fix... 31" is perfect reasonable, nothing wrong with the airlines, so it must be your fault... :rolleyes:

3 words for you:

United Economy Plus

34-36" legroom

^ This pulled me away from AA.
Being tall and flying coach is EXTREMELY miserable. I thank UA for E+.
A couple inches of legroom really makes the difference.

There is no difference between good seats costing more and bad seats costing less except the way you express it. Are you by any chance a politician?

Isn't this the way it works now? Y is cheaper than F. Pay more, you get room for your freakishly long legs.* Pay less, and you don't.

* I'm 5'10 and my knees clear the coach seat in front of me by a good 5 inches.

Coach sucks, but only because I have to pay for my drinks and share the narrow seat space with giants too cheap to pay for a seat they fit in.

Dupe.

Sorry, I think I'll have to stop posting until this thing stabilizes.

And three words about me:

Too Damn Cheap
I'm one of those people that always try to pay the lowest price available, which presumably makes me personally responsible for the declining fortunes of AA. ;)

Yes, coach sucks, but the bottom line is the lowest price. The flying public (in general) will always fly the lowest price. After that discriminator they will look at comfort etc. So, until the masses determine that they are willing to pay more for comfort, the airlines can't deliver. :rolleyes:

I watched the movie Saw last week-I know how to take care of this!

You are correct. The most amazing fare I had in economy was Malaysia Airlines EWR-BKK $699 rt + tax. Currently, it has gone up to $705+taxes.

I'll jam in to a seat for that price :D

>People really deserve better than this,
>even if they're apparently not willing to pay for it.

Huh? What the heck does *that* mean :) ? You *can* get better 'than that', you just have to pay for it. Want more domestically? Pay for Economy Plus on United. Want more internationally? Fly "deluxe economy" on one of the intenational carriers.

Cheers,
Geoff Glave
Vancouver, Canada

>I do not think seat pitch will be in it, but it would be nice

The problem with a bill of rights for seat pitch is the issue of international carriers. For example, if United airlines has fewer seats on their flights to Canada, and therefore higher fares, everyone will flock to Air Canada's cheaper fares. If American had fewer seats on flights to London, and therefore higher fares, everyone would flock to cheaper fares on BA. Or AC or... It gets very complicated.

Cheers,
Geoff Glave
Vancouver, Canada

Yep. Same with my husband, who's 6'2" and normal body weight. His thighs are just too darn long for "standard" Coach seats. I'm 8 inches shorter but I can't lean down and pull my computer or my bag out from under the seat in front of me because my head bangs into the seat back. I have to lodge my foot on it and pull it towards me. This is crazymaking.

Ironically, it's the "quality" of the Coach seating that will determine where I spend most of my travel dollars next year and that will include probably 4 transatlantics in Business Class. You can cosset and pamper me all you want in Business, but if the Coach seats (where my husband and I will spend most of our time) are crappy you won't see me in Business Class on your airline, either. I guess the airlines haven't figured that out.

Re: OP. The Dreamliner situation was just awful. Hopefully Boeing learned a lesson from it. I think they were naive or stupid to think most airlines would do the "right" thing if given a choice.

Unfortunately I can't think of any product from Boeing in the last 15 years, at least, that I like any better in COACH with what the airlines are doing. Seems the whole ballgame on that has been with the video systems, and I'd rather have the legroom back and more seat room.