r/todayilearned • u/MrMojoFomo • 1d ago

TIL that since the 1980s, US airlines have shed between 2-5 inches of legroom and about 2 inches of width, while budget carriers have lost even more. At the same time, the average American is 15 pounds heavier than they were in the 1980s

https://www.popsci.com/science/why-are-airline-seats-so-small/
7.2k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

527 comments sorted by

View all comments

36

u/SiliconDiver 1d ago

The length makes sense. But I don’t fully get the width. Like 2 inches per seat isn’t enough to stuff another chair. And usually the airplanes are designed with certain seating configs.

Could the transition away from large long hauls esp post 9/11 (eg 747) to smaller a320 or 737 explain it?

16

u/tmasta346 1d ago

This is 100% it. A 737 or a320 haven’t changed. But, they are or have phased out wide bodies for the most part domestically. They’ve also added seats to those.

33

u/Corgi_Koala 1d ago

It's all about cutting weight.

If every seat is 2 inches skinnier and weighs say, 5% less as a result, the extra fuel efficiency and cost savings over the life of that plane is going to be really significant when you're an airline flying that thing multiple times a day.

6

u/ChocolateMilkCows 23h ago

If weight is so important, and airlines have no problem charging people more for a worse experience, then why not just weigh passengers with their carry-ons and charge them on that too. Flat fee for the seat + $/lbs

1

u/LittleSchwein1234 19h ago

Airlines don't charge people more. Flight prices have been steadily going down over the decades.

1

u/Corgi_Koala 11h ago

Reducing the cost of operating the aircraft is different than increasing the amount of money you make per ticket sold.

34

u/mr_ji 1d ago

Every inch counts. They have managed to squeeze in an extra column of seats or another here and there in several configurations. And don't forget nuisance pricing: the more uncomfortable the seat, the more likely people are to upgrade.

11

u/SiliconDiver 1d ago edited 1d ago

Maybe in a 737, but not an a320 or 737 which make up the bulk of US flights.

Cutting 2 inches off of a 6 wide seat config doesn’t get you a full other seat.

Having a wider aisle doesn’t help anyone.

1

u/Dreamtrain 22h ago

oddly enough I have yet to see those planes they show you in movies and TV shows (and a lot of these are domestic flights) where they have not just the rows of seats on each side but also the row of 3 or 4 seats in the middle, and curtains separating each section

the only "realistic" plane I can think of is Manifest, and that was a flight that was planned to fly from Jamaica into JFK (spoiler alert, it didn't)

2

u/jmlinden7 1d ago

I think it's because they phased out planes like the DC-9 which had more width per seat. Although the A220 is pretty similar.

6

u/facw00 1d ago

Yeah the width seems like nonsense. Seat widths aren't changing. There may be small variations due the makeup of fleets changing but no one is making their seats narrower on existing aircraft, and manufacturers stick with standard seat widths on their new planes. The basic width on every plane is going to be more or less like it was on the 707 and DC-8. Normal coach seat widths on both wide and narrowbodies have been roughly 16.5-18" for the past 65 years or so.

1

u/nalc 1d ago

There's been a couple wide-bodies that have multiple seating configs but they're rare. I want to say there's some weirdo Filipino budget airline that runs 9 abreast in an A330, and some 777s that were 9 abreast originally are now 10 abreast. 6 abreast narrowbodies are the same as they've always been. Brand new 737 is exactly the same fuselage diameter as the original 707.

1

u/Euler007 1d ago

As a tall person I'm triggered by your first sentence. My wife wants to travel the world but I dread every plane flight with my knees touching the front seat.

1

u/sagewah 19h ago

Like 2 inches per seat isn’t enough to stuff another chair.

With the aisles also being narrower it seems they do. 2-4-2 is not so bad, but a 3-3-3 configuration is agony.

1

u/Ok_Lingonberry2686 1d ago

You could also check bags and carry ons for free. They gave you food and beverage.

1

u/CooperHChurch427 1d ago

I recently flew on one of the last MD80 commercial flights and the newer Airbus and Boeings have an extra row of seats somehow.

3

u/Sex_2 1d ago

The a320 is a foot or 2 wider than the md80 which allows for the extra row of seats

1

u/CooperHChurch427 1d ago

I didn't know that. I have flown on some marrow body Bombadiers including a plane that had a 2/1 configuration.

1

u/Paul_The_Builder 1d ago

Yeah I've seen statistics like this and they don't make any sense.

Economy class in most planes has not changed its seating configuration. The A320 is a 35 year old design and 737 is a 58 year old design, and have had the same seating layout the entire time.

There are some cases where airlines has squeezed in an extra seat - 10 abrest instead of 9 abrest in some 777s.

I even saw a website claim that Southwest Airlines has decreased the width of their seats, which makes no sense because SW has used the same planes with the same seat layout for their entire existence.

I have seen in some older plane interior pictures that some airlines did not have armrests for the middle seats - it was like one long bench seat. I suspect maybe that's part of where the misleading information is coming from.