777, 747 or airbus in coach?
 

Hi all,<BR>Which of the above aircraft do you think is the most comfortable in coach when flying to Europe? <BR>Thanks.

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that the airplane manufacturers -- Boeing & Airbus -- do not determine the comfort (e.g. seat spacing, pitch, etc.) on airplanes. All they do is what each individual airline requests.

Having worked for Boeing for 25 yrs I can assure you the last poster is correct. The airlines themselves decide the seating configuration, the manufacturer just follows their instructions. As for comfort in coach, it is not which airline offers the most comfort, it is which airlines offers the least amount of misery in coach.

The space between seats is called pitch. The least pitch in coach is 31" which is very tight. Continental, UA in its coach seats for nobodies is 31". 32" is typical for most airlines. AA is notable for a pitch of 34" which is quite comfortable when no one is sitting in the middle seat.<BR><BR>UA has the most generous pitch at 36" in what they call E+. Compared with others, its like been in a limo. The catch is, it's restricted to very frequent flyers and those who pay full coach fare. So if you don't, you'll be faced with 31" pitch.<BR><BR>So AA is the best by far for the ordinary passenger.<BR><BR>All this is generalizations. Pitch varies by aircraft, exit rows, and bulkhead rows.

I believe a 777 is the most comfortable for coach.

Thanks for the confirmation, Linda.<BR><BR>Vic, thanks also. When I said "seat spacing", I guess I was thinking of the width of the seats. <BR><BR>

You have been given some very correct info here.<BR>The amount of room(comfort) you will have depends on the airline, not the airplane.<BR>American is known to have a lot of room and I personally noted a big difference from other airlines (it helped a lot with a toddler).<BR>I have heard the other airlines say they are trying to compete, so I hope things will get better.<BR>Sometimes you can luck out, when an airline changes scheduled planes at the last moment and you could get a plane that is configured much better that usual.<BR>Though the 777 is now the "hot" airplane, most carriers have configured it to carry to most possible.<BR>I have also heard others here mention that there is an airline that has economy seats with individual tv screens. I would very much like to know which airline if anyone knows.<BR>

You have been given some very correct info here.<BR>The amount of room(comfort) you will have depends on the airline, not the airplane.<BR>American is known to have a lot of room and I personally noted a big difference from other airlines (it helped a lot with a toddler).<BR>I have heard the other airlines say they are trying to compete, so I hope things will get better.<BR>Sometimes you can luck out, when an airline changes scheduled planes at the last moment and you could get a plane that is configured much better that usual.<BR>Though the 777 is now the "hot" airplane, most carriers have configured it to carry the most possible.<BR>I have also heard others here mention that there is an airline that has economy seats with individual tv screens. I would very much like to know which airline if anyone knows.<BR>

sorry all, fodors has been playing all kinds of games with me lately.

So everyone thinks susie is wrong?

Micia, the airline with individual screens in Economy is USAirways. We flew from the US to London last summer on an Airbus 330 with individual screens with a vast individual selection of movies (including several for kids), tv shows, etc. The seats might not be more comfortable (I'm short enough so pitch doesn't matter, lucky me) but at least you'll have distractions.<BR><BR>They were programmed like little individual VCRs -- choose your movie/show/music and start whenever you like (no schedule at all), pause, rewind, etc. The screens in economy are smallish and built into the seat in front, but were prefectly serviceable.

In answer to the above question about individual TV screens, I can tell you that the United 777 and the USAir Airbus 330 have individual screens.

British Airways also has individual TV screens.<BR><BR>j

Virgin also has seat back videos - in fact they were the first to have them in most of their fleet. <BR><BR>And it is definitely up to the Airline how much room and the configuration of each plane.

Some Virgin Atlantic also have individual screens as well. It just goes again that you're far batter off picking individual airlines than a plane.<BR><BR>That said I do have one thing that you can judge from the particular plane. Boeing and Airbus have differnet style hulls, which does affect your ride - not the seat spacing. Boeing is an older traditional style of keeping the body rigid so as not to break while Airbus has a more modern style of flexibility that bends but does not break. To me during turbulence, Airbus tend to creek and rattle and shake while Boeing tends to be smoother. (but if you bit a big pocket, the Boeing tends to go down further) Both are totally safe mind you, it's just a different method of construction.<BR><BR>X - Susie is probably correct in her experience with the individual planes she's flown. She probably just doesn't know every airlines has their planes configured to spec.<BR><BR>

Like all other posters it is up to the airline what the seat pitch will be.<BR><BR>In general in coach/economy, the exit rows ( if you are lucky enough to grab them ) will have more leg room as there is not a seat in front of you just the exit gangway.<BR>I personally like Virgin over BA not only for the generally better quality of Inflight entertainment (games on Vigin whereas BA does not) but also there are individual air vents above your head togive a little flow of air where as BA does not.<BR><BR>As to seating configuration <BR>B747: 10 abreast ( in 3-4-3 configuration generally)<BR>A330/340 2-4-2 8 abreast<BR>B777 9 abreast 2-5-2 or 3-3-3 ( my worst nightmare as a single traveler would be to get the middle of those seats in a block of five<BR>B767: 7 abreast 2-3-2<BR><BR>Hope this helps

The Consumer Reports travel letter of July 2001 has an extensive report on airline seating. The report is quite good and goes over all types of aircraft on all of the major domestic and international airlines. Specifics discussed include total seats/craft, configuration, % middle seats, seat width, pitch, recline, video monitors etc.

All of Continental's 777 and 767 aircraft have individual TV monitors in economy class. Headsets are given out free to keep for use on future flights.

We flew an American 777 to Europe recently and found it much better than other flights we had experienced. The individual screens and extra room were both very nice.

There's a useful table at http://www.cheapflights.com/misc/legroom_report.html Based on this, it looks like American is the general leader in both pitch and width. Note Air France isn't listed - someone a couple of years ago pointed out that you have more legroom on the IRT subway than you have on an AF 747.<BR><BR>Seat pitch is important, but so is width - you can sometimes shift a little in a slightly wider seat in order to change leg position, an important consideration in avoiding "economy class syndrome."