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United to "slim" the A320 fleet

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Old Aug 20, 2012, 1:45 am
  #46  
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Originally Posted by uastarflyer
Now that explains the bigger bins when they were already reasonable

And the downgrade of United continues. The current A320 is about the most comfortable domestic narrow body, especially when comparing E+.

More empty seats for them to fly
I still find B6's A320 to be the best domestic narrowbody fleet
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Old Aug 20, 2012, 1:59 am
  #47  
 
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How horrible! With decent seats, the A320 is my favourite plane in coach - reminds me of my beloved 727s.

As for NEK, the best thing that can be said about it is that it's the only airline seat I know where the passenger in the seat behind you can give you a back massage through the seat.
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Old Aug 20, 2012, 2:18 am
  #48  
 
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If these seats are anything like the Recaros on TACA's A320 fleet, they are great! The extra legroom at normal pitch is almost like E+.

A recent TACA Peru flight from MVD to LIM was quite comfortable for Y, even with the seatback AVOD and USB power. On the next 2 TACA legs up to SAL and then to SFO, I didn't get AVOD but the same kind of scooped out no-pocket seatback (storage up high near the tray) gave the same almost-E+ feel on 31"-32" pitch.
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Old Aug 20, 2012, 4:03 am
  #49  
 
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I will give UA some credit here. At LEAST they aren't installing the CO Japanese seats. Whatever those things are are God-awful. Worst. Airline. Seats that I've ever been on, anyway.

Does anybody know if this includes the supposedly already slimline ex-Ted aircraft, or just the PMUA legacy aircraft?
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Old Aug 20, 2012, 8:40 am
  #50  
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Originally Posted by tuolumne
Where are these specific percentage figures coming from exactly? I'm sure they have calculated the capex is worth it, but to what detriment to the customer? You can make a lot of moves that may have a slight revenue benefit, but when you start making them in every facet of the corporation (marketing, employee training, on-board services, FF benefits, etc.), they have the very real potential to inflict far more harm collectively, not to mention damaging your reputation. This does not seem to be understood in the C suite at the current moment. They are managing the combined entity in a ruthless manner. Unfortunately for them, their short-sided immediate revenue gain moves have already started to inflict pain on the bottom line. Their strategy is a flawed one, and one that is in the early stages of failure at the current moment.
The 10% figure was an estimate to illustrate my point that passengers (as a whole) are not willing to pay more to offset the economics of a more comfortably configured aircraft.

Outside of offering a distinctly different product, like EconomyPlus, airlines have failed to obtain higher Y yields by offering a better coach product. Why would you accept inferior economics when they provide no measurable tangible or intangible benefit?
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Old Aug 20, 2012, 9:09 am
  #51  
 
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Originally Posted by sbm12
I've flown on these seats with LH a few times. If United doesn't opt for the "comfort" package with better padding then folks are going to be longing for the legacy CO seats before too long.
Well if the 'comfort' seats cost more, I think we all know $misek's answer to that will be.

I'm not quite sure what the problem is with the current A320 seats? Too comfortable? Is this just about trying to jam more seats in the plane? Like I don't know the answer to this
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Old Aug 20, 2012, 9:15 am
  #52  
 
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Originally Posted by exbayern
The post 3/3 UA mess plus NEK is why I have shifted much of my travel to OW.

Those NEK seats are hard and unpleasant. I've flown many km's in them and they haven't gotten any better.
At 6'4" there's NO way for someone like myself to sit properly in those seats except by "pushing" my body upwards, which I dont think is possible to do at all. This is why I don't fly LH at all, coach or biz.
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Old Aug 20, 2012, 9:18 am
  #53  
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Originally Posted by Renard
Well if the 'comfort' seats cost more, I think we all know $misek's answer to that will be.

I'm not quite sure what the problem is with the current A320 seats? Too comfortable? Is this just about trying to jam more seats in the plane? Like I don't know the answer to this
I don't think the comfort version of the seat costs, or weighs, significantly more. It is basically different padding and an adjustable headrest.

The existing A320 are old, heavy, and take up more space than necessary. They would need to be refurbished or replaced at some point and replacing them with lighter seats that allow an additional row (4-6 seats) to be added to the plane makes the economics very compelling.
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Old Aug 20, 2012, 10:14 am
  #54  
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Originally Posted by UAPremierGuy
I will give UA some credit here. At LEAST they aren't installing the CO Japanese seats.
Koito is no longer certified to sell aircraft seats. Installing them would render the aircraft out of service.
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Old Aug 20, 2012, 10:19 am
  #55  
 
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Originally Posted by frankmu
Nah, Row 7's pitch will go from great to crappy.
Row 7 will almost certainly see an increase in pitch. They can only remove a row after the exits, so E+ should see a pitch increase of 1" (due to the thinner seats)
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Old Aug 20, 2012, 10:23 am
  #56  
 
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Originally Posted by sbm12
Koito is no longer certified to sell aircraft seats. Installing them would render the aircraft out of service.
Installing those seats may have been the only way for United to have reduced operating performance more than what they have been doing lately. One has to wonder if it was contemplated at WHQ.
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Old Aug 20, 2012, 11:03 am
  #57  
 
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Originally Posted by andrewwm
Row 7 will almost certainly see an increase in pitch. They can only remove a row after the exits, so E+ should see a pitch increase of 1" (due to the thinner seats)
That's not a seat pitch increase, it's the same seat pitch but with improved legroom.

Look, I think a lot of people are excessively down on this decision (for many people Jeff Smisek at this point could personally come to their house and give them a pony and they'd complain about the colour) but given that this is a particular version of a particular seat which none of us has ever sat in, I think it's a bit early to complain about it.

I'm not sure whether I've sat in the LH version or not, but I've flown in plenty of slim-line seats and they're definitely the way of the future for a good reason. Assuming they also take the opportunity to install a vaguely modern AVOD system, I look forward to travelling in the refurbished A320 fleet.
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Old Aug 20, 2012, 11:24 am
  #58  
 
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Originally Posted by Jorgen
That's not a seat pitch increase, it's the same seat pitch but with improved legroom.

Look, I think a lot of people are excessively down on this decision (for many people Jeff Smisek at this point could personally come to their house and give them a pony and they'd complain about the colour) but given that this is a particular version of a particular seat which none of us has ever sat in, I think it's a bit early to complain about it.

I'm not sure whether I've sat in the LH version or not, but I've flown in plenty of slim-line seats and they're definitely the way of the future for a good reason. Assuming they also take the opportunity to install a vaguely modern AVOD system, I look forward to travelling in the refurbished A320 fleet.
If they add a row then the pitch will decrease and the legroom will be somewhat the same.

Ditto on the ponies.
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Old Aug 20, 2012, 11:29 am
  #59  
 
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Originally Posted by Jorgen
I'm not sure whether I've sat in the LH version or not, but I've flown in plenty of slim-line seats and they're definitely the way of the future for a good reason. Assuming they also take the opportunity to install a vaguely modern AVOD system, I look forward to travelling in the refurbished A320 fleet.
Trust me, you would be sure. There is slimline and there are instruments of torture. And UA's 320s operate much longer flits than the NEK.
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Old Aug 20, 2012, 12:05 pm
  #60  
 
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Originally Posted by Passmethesickbag
Trust me, you would be sure. There is slimline and there are instruments of torture. And UA's 320s operate much longer flits than the NEK.
Actually you motivated me to go look it up, and it looks like I took a LH 735 from PMO to FRA last year. Seatguru seems to imply that these are all NEK-based... though maybe they weren't last summer, I don't know.
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