Is American Airlines about to add another row of seats to its planes?

It seems like just yesterday that American Airlines scrapped its More Room Throughout Coach program, which made flying in the back of the plane a more civil experience by adding a few extra inches of legroom. But that program was announced a decade ago and killed five years later.

Today, American apparently wants to know: What another row of seats between friends?

Paul Hoch noticed that the Boeing 737 he flies had quietly made some seating configuration changes.

I’m a road warrior and fly every week from Dallas to Orange County for work. I’ve been doing this trip for about 6 months so I know the drill. Every week I book my ticket for about three weeks out to get the best fares and to get the seats that I like.

My preference has been to sit in row 14 as that is the second exit row and the seats can recline.

Here’s what it looks like:

He continues,

This week I went to book my ticket for the week of June 14th and I noticed that on my outbound flight (to SNA) 14 was the 2nd exit row, however on my return flight which is June 17th row 15 is the 2nd exit row.

I figured it must be a mistake or something and checked around. It looks like American is adding in two rows to the 737 on or about June 15th.

Previously there were only 28 rows on a 737 but now there will be 30. As someone who flies on the plane every week, I can tell you, it isn’t very roomy in coach as it is. When they add two more rows it will definitely suck.

No kidding.

If that’s true, it would not be good for American’s customers. By my calculations, that would give passengers no more than 30 inches of pitch — the distance between seats — on these relatively long flights. Ouch!

Now, I realize my reporting on the issue of airline seats has been a little emotional, and not always completely accurate. As someone who is over six feet tall, I definitely have a horse in this race. So I wanted to be extra sure that this Hoch was correct. Even though he showed me screen shots, I asked American Airlines for a comment and gave it ample time to respond.

It didn’t.

So are we about to see a press release for “Far Less Room Throughout Coach”? Don’t hold your breath.

Instead, if American is doing this fleet-wide (and that’s still a big “if”) I’d brace myself for more complaints from the unhappy sardines in the back of the plane.

Stay tuned.

Update (10 a.m.): American Airlines has responded.

The 737 seat that we are putting on is a new type of seat that doesn’t “flop” back in your lap. It is called an articulated seat and it glides back (like a rocker kind of) and it allows for room because the seat in front is not in your lap.

That sounds like an improvement. But do we get more legroom — or less?

  • Liz

    According to seatguru, AA flies 2 different configurations on the 737-800. One has 30 rows and 31″ of pitch in economy and one has 28 rows and 31-32″ of pitch.

    No need to panic.

  • Liz

    I should add that the 30 row config has the new seats that slide forward and back instead of just the normal upright recline.

  • http://richi.co.uk/ Richi Jennings

    Chris, you of all people should know that seat pitch isn’t “the distance between seats” but the distance between the same point on two seats. If American is installing seats that were (say) an inch thinner, the company could reduce the pitch by an inch while retaining the same amount of legroom.

    Anyway, if we can trust the seat map, it looks like that second configuration simply has a smaller first class section. Row numbers between first and coach are rarely consecutive.

  • Logan

    As one who also exceeds six feet in height, I must say that I’m probably going to avoid AA because of this, considering the similar pitch found in the aircraft of Spirit Airlines. Flying LAS-FLL was one of the most painful experiences of my life. I’ll stay on Southwest or JetBlue, thank you kindly.

  • Aaron

    The new seats in the 30-row 737s are the type that slide forward when they recline. That’s great for tall people who might avoid getting their knees bashed, but it doesn’t help those of us who want to work on a laptop. When the person in front reclines, we can’t open our computers.

    Note to flyers: Please, please, please don’t just slam your seat back as soon as we’re airborne. Look behind you, recline slowly, and only recline as much as you need to be comfortable.

    Note to American: Every week you move one step closer to losing me as a customer.

  • Robert Skovholt

    AA is also flying 757s on some flights from Boston to London replacing the 767s they used to fly — which is crazy. The 757 is a total cattle car packed with seats around a single aisle. It was the most uncomfortable flight I have had since flying Easyjet in Europe.

    They ran into trouble during the volcanic ash crisis when these 757s didn’t have enough range to deal with reroutes around the ash.

  • Joe Farrell

    @Richi – Where do you get that there are fewer F class seats? They both start at Row 7, the relative length and position of the rows and length of displayed coach cabin is the same and AA still has 24 F class sests in both versions of the aircraft.

    AA will tell us that ‘in order to provide more comfort to our passengers we are reducing seat pitch from 31″ to 30″ and leg room to whatever.”

    Anytime anyone takes anything away, its always for our benefit; like the surgeon who lops off a foot.

  • Ed Kummel

    It seems that someone in AA thinks that the “800″ in “737-800″ means how many passengers the plane can hold!

  • thomas white

    I’d really be interested in a picture of these new seats and how they work. I haven’t seen them yet. Does anyone know where to find one?

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    IMHO, it looks like AA is trying to get more seats on their planes (in this case of a 737-800…12 seats – two rows of 6 seats) at the expense of comfort. Hope that I am wrong but I have doubts on these ‘sliding’ seats. Unless you are sitting in the exit row, it is nearly impossible to use your laptop while sitting in coach. Since these ‘new’ seats slide forward, I don’t know how someone is going to use his\her laptop.

    IMHO, the ‘worst’ configured plane in the US is the US Airways A319. The exit rows on the A319 has no extra leg room unless if you are sitting in 10A or 10F. In the event that the emergency, I think that it will be difficult for some passengers to access this row as well as to clog the emergency exit departure.

    I am willing to pay for extra legroom. Sometimes, I don’t get upgraded to FC on US Airways or is able to get an exit row seat in coach. Sometimes, I have to fly on United. I love E+ seats on United. I think that there is a possibility that the E+ seats on United will go away after the merger of CO.

  • Liz
  • http://www.cockam.com ajaynejr

    An open question:

    Should airlines be permitted to add an extra row of seats over and above the number of rows/seats that a given number of flight crew can serve?

    The extra seats would not be booked but would be used only for seating problems such as one person taking up more than one seat.

  • http://noaddedsalt.blogspot.com Elisa

    I’ve sat in the rocker-type seats on a different airline, for a 13-hour flight, and while they’re a little awkward to recline, there were no arguments over taking someone’s space. The ones I sat on also happened to be *extremely* comfortable. Apparently the secret to a more comfy seat is to make it thinner and firmer but better-shaped. No more butt going to sleep!

  • http://noaddedsalt.blogspot.com Elisa

    Oh and to the person who asked – the seat part slides forward. The very top of the backrest stays in virtually the same place.

  • Phoenix Justice

    @thomas white

    I agree.

    @Chris Elliot

    Think you could get us an interior shot of these new seats and maybe a simple shot of these new seats? Are they the type that they are putting on the 787s?

  • Sean

    @ArizonRoadWarrior – I doubt the E+ seats will go away after the merger, but rather CO will start to add them. CO announced and since started charging for exit row and bulk head row seats aka additional leg room seats, and I interpreted that to mean they’d also look at following UA’s lead of REMOVING a row of seats so they could add rows with additional leg room in the “elite” section of the airplane.

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  • MeanMeosh

    Chris – to answer your question, from what I understand of the “sliding” seats, you’re not going to see a material change in legroom either way, though some people say you get more knee room since the seat cushion slides down and forward. I’ve never actually sat in one of the seats, so I couldn’t say. The reviews also seem to be decidedly mixed on whether the sliding seats are more comfortable than traditional reclining ones. It seems to be a matter of personal preference. Personally, I look forward to them, as someone who frequently uses a laptop while flying – not having the seatback in front of you scrunch your screen will be a big improvement.

    And FYI – this isn’t exactly something new. American announced the rollout of their new seats last summer.

  • Jay

    I also sat in one of these seat on Cathay Pacific for 13 hours. I disagree with Elisa about the comfort. One problem is if you are short (I’m 5’5) my head hit the very bottom of the headrest when I moved my seat forward. But the WORST was that when you move the bottom forward, your back is in a terrible awkward position with no lumbar support. I ended out having to sit up right for 12 hours. I was not the only one on the flight who hated these seats. We will see if AA’s are just as bad.

  • Simon

    I got stuck on one of the “new” 737s. I was in pain the whole trip. The seat moves forward as you recline, giving even LESS leg room. It should be illegal.

  • http://richi.co.uk/ Richi Jennings

    @Joe: I count six or seven rows between the emergency exit row and the bulkhead, depending on the config. Assuming these are the same variant of 73, that must mean the bulkhead is further forward. So I’d assume F is smaller. But I don’t have access to the full seatmap — been a *long* time since I flew AA frequently.

    However, if the second config is actually a stretched variant, then my assumption is out the window.

  • bobj1s

    I have flown lots of Asian carriers who use the slide forward seat. Very nice.

  • Tom

    The whole world is geared toward tall men. They get picked first for sports teams, get more dates, marrying better looking women, get paid more, are more likely to get promoted etc. On this one thing, airplane seats, being tall works against them. Payback.

  • http://sickmomma.blogspot.com Aviva

    I have to say that if the new seats make reclining painful (less leg room, as someone said) for the person doing it instead of the person behind them suffering, I’m good with that. I think it’s totally unfair (and rather rude) when someone reclines and uses up my teensy bit of leg room. I’m only 5’8″, and yet my knees touch the seat in front of me when the person reclines — horribly uncomfortable!

  • Scott

    I just traveled in what I assume what this same type of seat on Cathay Pacific on a 4-hour flight. I did not find it especially comfortable and my rear was in a great deal of pain by the last half-hour to hour of the flight.

  • Mark K

    From SeatGuru.com:

    “This version of AA’s 737-800 has 12 additional economy seats, reduced seat pitch, thinner seats, a smaller bulkhead divider between the two cabins, and two less service-cart storage cabinets behind the last row. The one inch seat pitch loss is mitigated by seat bottoms that slide forward and back, so that when a passenger reclines, the seat gives more knee room to the person seated directly behind.”

    The pitch is shown as 31″ for all coach seats while the other configuration shows pitch of 31″ – 32″. Also, these 737 models are replacing all of the MD-80 models AA is retiring.

    So, they didn’t just cram in 2 more rows, they at least removed some other non seat areas to make a little more room.

    And CO is working on doing a similar retrofit to its 737- 800 planes. But I hope the UA expanded legroom section is what they end up with instead.

  • Michael

    Has anyone noticed that the seats on the new 737s seems to be NARROWER (not talking about pitch here–referring to the actual width of the seat). I can’t explain it, but there seems to be a narrowing of the seat…even as compared to the first version of the 737-800 American bought. I sat in the exit row (15D) today SJCORD and it was really painful. I thought I was dreaming until I mentioned it to a flight attendant and she said she thought the seats were narrower, too. I’m not sure what this accomplished other than making passengers less comfortable–are they trying to widen the aisle? I thought six-abreast was six-abreast, but I think my backside believes otherwise. I have not had problems sitting in these seats on other 737-800 equipment before. This was my first trip on the “new” 737s. My connecting flight was on a ERJ and that seat was luxuriously wide by comparison. I was longing for my usual exit-row seat on an MD-80. I really hate this plane!

  • Janet

    On the MD-80, seat width is 18″. The 737 is 17.2. Are people getting thinner? Smaller in the shoulder? I’d like to know where American is finding the people that these seats are modeled around. The last time I flew one of these flights cross country I had my shoulder totally squashed by the man next to me…and he was just average size. Even getting the exit row doesn’t help with this. You get the leg room, but if you get a bigger person or someone who works out, you are going to be very uncomfortable. Not to mention summer is coming, and it’s just great to have a sweaty person pressed up against you…ewww!

  • Red

    If you check the Weber website, promoting their seating, you will see that one of the benefits of the new seating is that it allows a 28 inch pitch. Yes, you read that correctly, 28 inch.

    That is not to say that American is installing these at 28 inches…but it’s a good bet that the pitch will be the same as before, or less.

    Since the seat slides forward but the seat back does not recline, any recline must come out of your legroom. So effectively less “pitch”, as measured from the point where the back meets the seat bottom. Same pitch measured from the top of the seat back.

    And if they install according to Weber’s specs, could be less actual pitch too.

    Not good news.

  • Ted

    I’ve had it with American. Just had to suffer through a round trip to London in coach. The config is so tight it’s a safety issue. When one row of people recline, the people in the row behind cannot get out of their seats without stepping onto the seats next to them. I’m sending a scathing letter to Arpey (not that that will do any good—Ill just feel better) but I’m also filing a complaint with the FAA and my friend Chris Dodd. He’s on his way out, but maybe he can lob in one last salvo/
    Someone has to stop these bastards. This is insane.

  • Luke

    AA has absolutely NO room for anyone who is just as tall as 6 feet! (or above, of course)
    Adding more seats? Whether rocking forward or whatever, I don’t care, when it’s impossible to fit in my seat unless my kneecaps are pressing against the seat in front of me…
    AA, are you kidding me? This is not about comfort, this is about discomfort to the point of pain.
    I flew with them only on a couple long flights from Seattle to Chicago and I swore to never repeat this painful experience..
    Ridiculous.. I am glad that there are many other options MUCH better. I will gladly pay 20- 50 $ more with airlines that save me this unforgettable experience.

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