Claustraphobic, so an unusual seat pitch question???
 

I am trying to choose between an Air France Airbus 343 flight from Atlanta to CDG or an American flight on a Boeing 763. As a FF on AA, I was able to reserve row 21, an exit row. However, last year I flew with American from CDG, on an old 763 and nothing worked on the flight, including the flight attendants. I like the newer Airbuses, but am concerned about the seat pitch, which I've read were somewhere around 30". I called AF and the only comment they could make was the pitch was between 30 to 32". Being 6'1" and slightly claustrphobic, I am trying to choose between the ability to stretch on an exit row versus the bright calming comfort of newer equipment - but there's the problem of the pitch.
My question is - has anyone flown this AF equipment from Atlanta to CDG and is the pitch a problem - perceived or otherwise. Sorry that this post is as long as my legs.

Hi al,

We flew this trip on AF in an airbus 340 a few weeks ago.

The arrngement is 3-3-3.

The only comfortable place to sit is an aisle seat.

When the person in front of me leaned all the way back, I couldn't get out of my seat.

I am 5' 8".

Hope this helps.

AF's 340 should be 2-4-2. Their new 777 is 3-3-3. Pitch should be about 31-32". You'll have more legroom with AA than AF, that's for sure.

Recently did the 3-3-3 arrangement on an AF 777, and found that fully reclined seats in front of me made for a very tight fit (I'm 5'6"). I'm also a bit claustrophobic, so this was a bit of an issue for me. On the way to France I was seated in front of a non-reclining row, so certainly didn't want to recline into that space---I explained this to the gentleman in front of me and he nicely drew his seat up into half-reclined position.

On the way back the U.S. I was seated in the row directly behind bulkhead. The thoroughly obnoxious couple in front of me not only reclined fully, but pushed back against the bulkhead so that their seats dipped even further back. Fortunately I had one of the very few empty seats on the plane beside me (because the video screen didn't work, I think). I didn't address the issue directly with them, as their response to gentle pressure from behind did not elicit the usual "oh, I'm sorry, am I too far back?" response. Vieux cons.

Hi all,

Sorry. I was on a 777, not an airbus.

I also found the seat pitch on AF to be very claustrophobic last January, and I'm 5'4". I don't know how my 6'3" husband stood it. No chance of sleeping, but the seatback video screens were a nice distraction.

On the plus side- on the return from Paris, they served everyone huge slabs of delicious pate de fois gras (in coach!)

Lucky you, Blue.

I've flown on many Air France flights on a very of planes -- Airbus and 777s. They do have a small seat pitch, like most flights in coach. What they told you is correct, it is about 31". So, if that's the deciding factor, I guess you should go with AA. I flew them once from CDG to IAD and the extra leg room (maybe 2") was nice, but I would never choose them again as I don't care for their service nor attitude, and they don't have nonstops from my home city. I don't really care that much about being on a new plane -- everything has always worked on all the Air France flights I've been on. I do prefer Airhus to Boeing, in general, though.

Any pitch between 30-32 would be a problem, as far as I'm concerned. There are also some seat width differences that matter to me, also.

Thanks for all of the comments.
I'll going to stay with the older AA equipment and more leg room. However, it is scary that some of these airplanes are older than the pilots.;)

Don't count on great food on AF, though anything's bound to be better than Delta, my usual.

My AF meal out of JFK was great by U.S. standards (all U.S. purveyed as per the brands), but my meal on the return verged on disgusting. The best thing about the meal was the yogurt (plain, so you can sweeten it with sugar if you like). No foie gras to be found.

The butthead in front of me had a little discussion with the steward (in French) re the bread---AF passes out little mini-baguettes at meal service, and the steward laughingly pointed out that this would be the last decent bread my co-passenger would be getting for a while. At which point I really wanted to point out that the bread sort of sucked, but I didn't, because I'm just not that sort of person. And the steward was otherwise quite nice with me as well.

Big_Al,
I am small Al (mike), but fly first on AA and Business on BA to Europe from DFW. Only 777's!
Best wishes!
M

Have you checked the plane at seatguru.com?

Big Al,

Why do you assume that all AA 767's are old? Just few weeks ago, I flew on a brand new model, it was so new it still had the "new plane smell" :-)