Great news for travellers!!


American Airlines Cuts Coach Capacity 6.4 Pct

NEW YORK (Reuters) - American Airlines, the world's second-largest airline, said Thursday it would strip 7,200 coach-class seats from its current fleet in a
move to cut capacity and make its resulting coach class roomier.

The seats to be removed represent 6.4 percent of coach capacity on its fleet of more than 700 jets. More than 75,000 coach seats on the fleet will see an increase
in the amount of room between seats, said American, a unit of Fort Worth, Texas-based AMR Corp. (NYSE:AMR - news).
The move will create more coach passenger space on a major carrier that at any time since the deregulation of the airline industry 20 years ago, American said.

Is this an ADVERTISEMENT posing as a news release?

I don't think so--at least I hope not, because I saw the same item and was thinking of posting it.

No, this is not an advertisement. I have read several threads on this board complaining about the size of airline seats. I thought folks might be interested in this news. I read it on the Yahoo news site, and figured I'd share it here, since it is so topical. It is an actual Reuters press release.

Well, I for one sure think this is good news! I've said for a while I would pay more for more room, but with first class at 3x times more that's a bit more than I was thinking. But $100.00 more or so I'd spring for. And now that American (who I fly the most anyhow) will have more room, I can vote with my wallet and maybe some more airlines will catch on!

This is good news, & my legs & other various body parts will appreciate it. But also need to remember there are a lesser number of seats, when trying to book a flight & might be told the flight is full, or in the case of overbooking, or if your flight is canceled & you try to get on another flight on the standby list, you could be looking out the airport window at the flight that you could have been on, if there would have been more seats available

This was on the Today Show this morning. They showed the difference in am't of room between the two configurations and it will be significant. According to this report, although fares won't be raised, there will be fewer discounted seats.

They (today show) said they expect other major carriers such as Delta, would follow suit to stay competitive.

I'm only 5'8" and the lack of leg room bothers me, so this should be a real boon to the majority of travelers.

Does anyone know when they will make the changes? We are traveling American this summer, and this sure would be a nice treat!!!

Leah - The article also includes the following info.:

The seat work will cost about $70 million, American said. The carrier began the work last week, and expects to have half of its 609 domestic two-class jet fleet
completed by summer, and the rest by November. Work on its 98 three-class aircraft will begin this fall and finish next year.

I usually travel on TWA or USAir but when this gets implemented, I'm sure I'll switch to American. Other airlines could take a lesson from American.

Tom,

What great news! Thanks for posting it! I've always liked American, just wished coach was roomier. Did you know that American has the best reputation for allowing frequent flyers to fly when they want to; they're twice as good as Delta, for instance, it being the worst! This is especially music to my ears, because I just applied for the American Advantage Citibank card, and got 10,000 bonus miles!

Thanks again, Tom, for alerting us in to this great news!

Thanks for posting this Tom.

John:

Do you really think a major business like AA would post an Ad. to a forum like this under the name 'Tom'? Come on!

American is my new favorite airline!

American will NEVER see me on one of their planes again, but I agree that this is good news. Maybe the other carriers will follow suit!

Tom:
My aplogies for misreading your intentions.

None necessary - I'm just as cynical as you when it comes to companies sneaking in advertising in every possible aspect of our lives. It wouldn't be the first time I saw advertisers posting messages disguised as personal opinions in this forum.

Noah,

We could really do without your playing the "nun with a ruler" on this forum! Some of your comments are beyond uncalled for!

John, I, too, was a little cynical when I read Tom's posting because businesses get so sneaky on here, you have to be! But, Tom, you've done us a real service. Thanks a lot!

Cheers!

Tara

I have been one of the vocal ones about tight seating on airlines. This is indeed good news. Too bad American is not more popular in Atlanta!!

I'm with John on this one. American could give me a whole living room and I wouldn't fly with them again. But I too hope the roomier seating becomes a trend.

I too was glad to hear about the extra room on AA, but I also remember when TWA did the same thing about seven years ago. They made all sorts of announcements and noise about increasing the room, but over the years I believe they took it all away with no fanfare at all. Let's hope AA doesn't try the same game. Does anyone else remember this TWA ploy??