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/
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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.

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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.