halls120

I remember mine. In Y, with the seat next to me open, which made the flight far more enjoyable.

minnyfly

Likely because you're conscious of it and will look to confirm your bias. A minute fraction of the flying public will be in the same boat. No logical airline will chase that customer.

notquiteaff

I remember my first 787 flight in Y. Rubbed shoulders with a stranger all flight long. No fun. Neither of us was particularly large.

It was a really disappointing experience.

worldtrav

Says who? Do you have inside information?

Kacee

I remember mine in J. Tiny little footwell and the FAs chattering loudly in the galley from gate to gate on an SFO-IAH redeye. Not a good experience.

sbm12

And, as I noted, the follow up tweet clarifies the point.

I don't think anyone here is arguing that E+ is a Premium Economy product.
Of the things you listed here seat material, cabin pressure/humidity & lav locations generally are considered less important than width in passenger surveys. Pitch v width is a toss-up in many cases, where a little extra width can compensate for a larger change in pitch (i.e. 1" wider matters more than 2" shorter). But that's just the research the aircraft manufacturers release based on putting people in seats, not some random opinions on FlyerTalk. :-:

spin88

or random people on Seat Guru who posted these as the most recent posts on the 773 in Gulag Class:

"Every seat in economy and economy plus on this aircraft should be red. The seat width is too narrow for people over age 12, and the flight attendant call button in the armrest is too easy to hit."

and

"United tries to sell this plane as "new and improved", but anyone in either Economy or Economy Plus suffers horribly. The new 3-4-3 layout is terrible, both because the seats are simply too narrow (you are constantly bumping into and pushing against your neighbor) and because the aisle is too narrow...which means anyone sitting in an aisle seat should expect to be bumped into by fellow passengers and loaded food carts nearly constantly. To add insult to injury, UA has cut too toilets, so you now have nearly the same number of passengers (306) using two fewer toilets (6 total). Finally, they have cut two crew members, so the crew is stressed and overworked, with insufficient break time. On a 12-hour flight (HKG-SFO), it really is brutal for everyone on this "new and improved" 777."

and on the 777HD sardine-liner the recent posts are:

"Terrible seats! I've sat on other airlines' 10 abreast 777's and they are awful too, but this one was by far the worst. Thankfully it was only on a 2.5 hour flight! I haven't sat in a seat that narrow before, and the arm rests were a joke - an inch wide at best."

and

"United uses these aircrafts for heavy domestic routes from its hubs. I agree with all of the other previous comments that the seats in this aircraft are way too narrow. 10 across in a 777-200 is completely unheard of. The slimline seats are also uncomfortable, and after about 4 hours into the 6 hour flight from BOS-SFO, the seat started to feel uncomfortable. Originally when we booked the flight, it showed a 2-5-2 configuration. But, when we checked in, it had changed to a 3-4-3 configuration. I would recommend avoiding 777-200's on United domestic routes at all costs, unless it shows a comfortable 3-3-3 configuration."

I'll just wait for the glowing reviews of the new tighter UA configurations to be posted by the OP.

BBSHOPSINGER

I sat in the 3-4-3 configuration on Air Canada. I was miserable not because the seat was narrow (it felt like any 737), but because there was so little legroom I had difficulty getting my backpack under the seat in front of me. I had to squeeze it down between the seats. A little more legroom, and I would have been fine. I also learned to make sure I get an aisle seat next time I'm on a long-haul like this.

I've never experienced this little legroom on United, even in E-.

ironmanjt

"Millions of others" have no idea what kind of plane they're getting on when they buy a ticket - they're focused on two things: schedule and price

DA201

For everyone here saying it is a bad decision to go 3-4-3 and they will lost customers: 95% of people flying in those seats only care about price (even if their grumbling and complaining says otherwise) and the other 4% care only about flight times. The final 1% is the very few people who will search for a specific aircraft and only fly based on that. Those lost customers will be offset by the increase in business travelers from the Polaris marketing campaign.

N104UA

They are only focused on one thing, price. This is why people take a 3 hour red-eye on F9 from DEN-TPA/MIA vs taking the evening flights on UA and AA, people dont care about schedule only price. Schedule only matters when two flights are priced the same

spin88

well United's president Kirby respectfully disagrees. As he made clear, at both AA and UA about 1/2 of the revenue comes from business travelers who are mostly less price sensitive. Some are, but many are not. And as Kirby made clear, things like equipment do matter to many of them.

notquiteaff

And Stroopwaffels. And drinkable coffee.

N104UA

I agree, I was quoting an earlier comment that was talking on people who don't know or look at the aircraft they are on (the infrequent flyers)

spin88

I agree 100%, probably 90+% of buyers have no idea. But as Kirby himself noted on the 1Q 2017 call, when UA was flying RJs vs DL/AA mainline, UA elites in large numbers defected to flying OALs on the RJ routes to avoid them, and then "they were carrying arround 2-3 FF cards, and did not make GS/1K, and we lost them as customers"

The seating on the 77W and it appears the 772 are also going 3-4-3 in E+ as well, is just god awful. Elites will remember that, and they - the people paying more to travel - are the most likely to defect and avoid the airplane. It is that bad.

The a350-1000 is not a peach in Y (it does, e.g. not allow for as wide of seats as the a330 does in x8) but it is a much better plane from a passenger comfort standpoint. And as the word gets around about how bad the UA 77W is, people will avoid it.