772 3-4-3 seats vs 3-3-3 seats
#16
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Denver, Colorado, USA
Programs: AS MVP 100K, UA PremEx-MM
Posts: 3,335
I have only flown Y in the 3-4-3 configuration on shorter flights, LAX-DEN and DEN-IAH (both "island" configuration 777-200s with the old business class cabins reused as first class seating). It's the shoulder space that really suffers. Once I had a middle empty next to me, the second time the adjacent passenger was very petite. I would dread facing something like SFO-HKG (on the 777-300, also 3-4-3) in this configuration.
#17
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2019
Posts: 21
I have only flown Y in the 3-4-3 configuration on shorter flights, LAX-DEN and DEN-IAH (both "island" configuration 777-200s with the old business class cabins reused as first class seating). It's the shoulder space that really suffers. Once I had a middle empty next to me, the second time the adjacent passenger was very petite. I would dread facing something like SFO-HKG (on the 777-300, also 3-4-3) in this configuration.
my family are all pretty slim an the toddler will be sitting between my wife and me so it's not so much the width that is concerning. it's more the the firmness of the seat bottom cushion. i need firm cushions because of my back. i have suffered several times due to the domestic seats on carriers such as old south west or american having seats that sunk in at the bottom as soon as you sit in them.
#18
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Join Date: Jan 2009
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I recently did a return trip, outbound in the new 3-4-3 and return in the old 3-3-3. Both seats seemed equally hard, at least as compared with the old 2-5-2. As I had the middle seat empty between Mrs LHRSFO and me on the new sardine can, it was better but only for that reason.
#19
Join Date: Nov 2012
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Posts: 3,477
my family are all pretty slim an the toddler will be sitting between my wife and me so it's not so much the width that is concerning. it's more the the firmness of the seat bottom cushion. i need firm cushions because of my back. i have suffered several times due to the domestic seats on carriers such as old south west or american having seats that sunk in at the bottom as soon as you sit in them.
#20
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2019
Posts: 21
I recently did a return trip, outbound in the new 3-4-3 and return in the old 3-3-3. Both seats seemed equally hard, at least as compared with the old 2-5-2. As I had the middle seat empty between Mrs LHRSFO and me on the new sardine can, it was better but only for that reason.
Thanks. that helps!
#21
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: UA 1K 1MM, AA, DL
Posts: 7,418
It also depends on the shoulder width of your seat-neighbor. I think most people have wider shoulders than hips/butt, so squeezing into a narrower seat is more easily accomplished than leaning out to accommodate a wide-shouldered person in the middle seat (of which there are 33% more on the 3-4-3).
#22
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
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my family are all pretty slim an the toddler will be sitting between my wife and me so it's not so much the width that is concerning. it's more the the firmness of the seat bottom cushion. i need firm cushions because of my back. i have suffered several times due to the domestic seats on carriers such as old south west or american having seats that sunk in at the bottom as soon as you sit in them.
When not inflated, they take up very little space
#23
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Join Date: Aug 2003
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Posts: 60,155
Instead of being at the mercy of the seat, try
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07253GPZS...pa_dk_detail_2
https://www.amazon.com/Therm-a-Rest-...9FY/ref=sr_1_5
When not inflated, they take up very little space
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07253GPZS...pa_dk_detail_2
https://www.amazon.com/Therm-a-Rest-...9FY/ref=sr_1_5
When not inflated, they take up very little space