Vacationer

Who do you think has the best or the worst coach airline seats? We flew from Aruba to Chicago last year on United and I've never sat on such a hard seat in my life...anyone have a similar experience???

-Bony Bootie

jayinla

The extra leg room on American Airlines that they advertise is definitely noticeable relative to other airlines I've flown.

travelisfun

I find United and Continental (depending on the type of plane) to be the most uncomfortable. American is great!

curious45669

I think it all depends on the type of airplane they use, not the airline. Seriously. A Boeing 767 is EXACTLY the same, whether it's wearing the colors of United or Delta. An Airbus320 is the same whether it's JetBlue or American. So, you might want to call ahead and ask what type of plane it is and what the seating set up is. If it's 3 and 3, it will be less legrom than something that is 3 and 2, or 2-3-2. That last one is a 767 and have some of best legroom. What you really want is row 19 on a 757 because it's bulkhead and exit row, so you have tons of excess legroom. Only bad part is you have to put up all your bags. To me it's a small price to pay to be able to stretch out. Good luck!

AAFrequentFlyer

Curious,
You are totally wrong. Different airlines have different seat pitch and even different seats on the same planes. AA has MRTC(More room throughout coach). They average 33-35" pitch regardless of the plane. Most other majors average 32-33" pitch in coach, again, regardless of the plane. That said, I really can't tell 'vacationer' which seats are the most comfy, as I usually fly AA, and about 90% of the time in F or B class. So I can't compare the comfy factor as far as the cushions are concerned.

AAFrequentFlyer

There is a great site: www.seatguru.com, that will tell you which are the best seats on the 5 majors as far as the room is concerned.

Big_Money_D

Well, not exactly. While it is true that the seat types are usually airplane-specific, each airline can still have different seat configurations in the same plane model.

In effect, the particular dimensions of a coach seat will be the same from airline to airline on a 767, but not the number of rows. You can verify this by looking at the "seat pitch" stats from airline to airline on their websites. You'll find that configurations can not only vary from airline to airline, but some airlines have different 767 configurations, for example, for transatlantic versus South American travel.

On the whole, I think the "old" Southwest airlines seats are the most comfortable... love that worn-in leather. As for space, definetly American.

retired_readytogo

I vote for American & Jet Blue.
I am 5 ft 11i. and really noticed being cramped in United...felt like my knees were under my chin!!!

Jon_Eric

Lets see, I've flown on several airlines and I tend to be a Delta fan, but I think American might've been one of my more comfortable airline experiences. The one time I flew Southwest I was pleasantly surprised that it was comfortable. Cathay Pacific was pretty nice too. Regarding individual planes I usually like the MD-80 a smaller plane that Delta uses often for flights from here (New Orleans). I'm almost 6'2 and from what I remember I fit well on the MD-80 and the L10-11 which are huge.

petlover

American Airlines give the most leg room which makes a huge difference in coast to coast flights! The cushions themself seem all the same to me. I always try for AA for the extra room otherwise I feel like a sardine!

curious45669

I WORKED FOR 3 MAJOR AIRLINES OVER THE COURSE OF 20 YRS........... TRUST ME............... ALL PLANES ARE BUILT THE SAME.............. ANYONE WHO TELLS YOU OTHERWISE IS PULLING YOUR LEG TO GET YOU TO BUY A TICKET.

giorgi

American Airlines by far has the most leg room in coach.

Flyboy

There may not be a LOT of difference in many coach seats, but the award for "best" definitely goes to Midwest Airlines (formerly Midwest Express) on their DC-9 and MD-80 aircraft. These aircraft offer 2-2 seating throughout coach in leather seats with a much better seat pitch situation than standard coach on any other major carrier. It is therefore essentially an "all business class" situation. Unfortunately, their route structure is far more limited than the major carriers and they face financial challenges just as many other airlines do these days.

rjw_lgb_ca

curious45669, I have to disagree-- The More Room Throughout Coach on American Airlines makes a BIG difference vis-à-vis legroom. The number of seats across (which I think you're thinking about) is a function of cabin width (set by the plane manufacturer) and seat width (set by the airline industry). But legroom is controllable (and controlled) by the individual airlines. And Coach seats on an American MD-80 have appreciably more legroom than those on a Delta MD-80 (AA loudly announced how they took out rows in Coach). Seat width is usually around 18 inches across-- comfortable for most people. You'd have to be pretty darned large to spill over a seat of that width.

JetBlue's A320s are new, and the seats are nice leather, but it's still a 3-3 single-aisle configuration with standard seat pitch-- meaning tight legroom, six-across.

And by the way, American doesn't fly Airbus A320-class planes (single-aisle)-- they only fly A300s (wide-bodies) on certain Caribbean routes, and the rest of their flights are on Boeing planes (and the durable MD-80s and a few Fokkers).

As to the original question: the worst seats I ever suffered on were Coach seats on an (old) America West 737, about 9 years ago. Even the seats on an old Northwest DC-9 were more comfortable (and in their defense, the plane itself was immaculately turned-out). American's Coach seats are quite comfy as well, in my opinion.

rjw_lgb_ca

Before anyone jumps on my case, I KNOW that American *Eagle* flies Embraer, Canadair, A�rospatiale and Saab regional airliners. I tend to think of comfort as secondary on those small planes, especially the puddle-jumpers.

MikeTravels

Curious45669 is mistaken. Although the aircraft are essentially the same, the interiors are customized to the specifications of the airlines. For instance, USAir (which has decent seat pitch generally) fits 182 seats in their 757-200s, while United only have 168. The plane is the exact same size, there are just fewer rows of seats in United. Basically all airlines use similar width seats (20-21" in first, 17-18" in coach), but the distance between rows varies from line to line. In the 757-200 USAir has the rows 32" apart and United sets them as far as 35" apart. The extra legroom is immediately obvious to anyone tall or long-legged.

As Big_Money_D pointed out, the airlines sometimes configure the same plane differently. For example, United flies the 777-200 in four configurations, ranging from 268 seats to 348 seats. You'd notice the difference, I'm sure.

MikeTravels

Just as another example of the differences, Curious suggests asking for row 19 on 757 because that will get you the bulkhead. Well, not exactly. 18/19 would be the bulkhead on Delta. On USAir, it is 7/8 and 25. On NW, it is 16 and maybe 33 depending on which flavor 757 you're on (A or B). On American the bulkhead is row 9. On United, the bulkhead is 8/9.

Don't get me started on exit rows...

patsy

American definitely because of the extra leg room. Flying from Chicago should be a piece of cake...it's one of their hubs.

soccr

Sorry, Curious, but I have to agree with others that you are off base, no matter what job you've held. The external dimensions, the shape of the airplane, and the number of engines define the "model" number, buteven then, the length can vary. Moreover, the airlines have many many options regarding where the seats go, how big they are, how big 1st class is relative to coach, etc.

If you don't believe it, consider what happened when United "retooled" their planes to accommodate their "Economy Plus" class at the front of coach -- they stretched out the leg room. And when American got tired of being called the worst sardine-can airline, they retooled the same equipment to stretch out seating in all of coach. Similarly, they can opt for how much padding goes under their "signature" upholstery on the seats, so some will be cushier than others.

Do check out seatguru -- a great test is what happens to 737s from airline to airline. The row of windows on a 737 are interrupted with one blank space just forward of the wing, but it's vastly variable which row has the blank wall -- not just from airline to airline but from configuration to configuration (737-300 vs. 737-200, etc.) Another good test case is the MD-80 with respect to seating in the tail area -- huge differences as to which is the last row for passengers vis-a-vis the galley.

OliveOyl

I was delighted, in view of past posts, to see some others have had the same positive experiences with Southwest as I have. I had more room on our SW Tampa-Vegas-Tampa flight than on any I've had in years of American and Delta, and I assume I've ridden the new AA configuration at least once as that's my normal carrier into or out of Big D. SW was truly a pleasant flight!

As to the others...try to get an exit row. Your seat might not be larger, but the row in front is further away and you *feel* like you've got far more space!