seats Archives - usatoday24

economy class seats

March 27, 2026 by usatoday24

No, it’s not your thing. If you think that when you travel by plane you have less space than a few decades ago, it is because (effectively) the airlines they take time rethinking the internal configuration of its aircraft in the interest of greater profitability. That is something known. The curious thing is that the latest studies on the subject show that companies they keep working in that direction, giving more weight to the premium seats in their grids compared to the tourist class. This effort helps to understand some decisions of the sector. Question of ‘classes’. The models may change, but all airplanes share the same characteristic: they force the airlines that manage them to adapt to a reduced space. A passenger cabin measures what it measures. And that is the limited margin that companies have when seeking maximum profitability, distributing travelers by category and designing rates. Recently Visual Approach Analytics he wondered how the airlines are performing in this endeavor and came to a curious conclusion. Between 2020 and 2026 the number of nationally scheduled ‘economy’ class seats in the US grew by 10%. The ‘premium’ places did almost three times as much, 27%. The study focuses on a very specific niche (American national market) but is interesting both for the photo it shows and for the trend it draws. The first time Visual published an analysis on the topic, in 2024the ‘premium’ class believed at 14% and the ‘economic’ class at 4%. Why’s that? In an article On the subject Courtney Miller, founder of Visual Approach Analytics, acknowledges that “the shift towards premium seats in the US market since the pandemic has been constant.” It also confirms that this trend, far from moderating, has strengthened in recent years. Higher category seats (with more space, comforts or services) are sold at higher prices, so it is not difficult to imagine what leads companies to bet on them. The question is another: How are they making this change? For Miller, the key is not so much a “reconfiguration” of the aircraft that already exist as the transformation of the market itself. Expanding. “The increase in premium class seats versus economy class seats is largely due to the type of airlines that are increasing their capacity in the market,” reflects Millerwhich focuses its analysis on the US. “Growth has shifted away from the ultra-airline sector low cost (ULCC) towards the so-called network airlines, where class seats are also found business. In fact, when analyzing the growth at the beginning of the year we observed that it came mainly from traditional companies and very little from low-cost airlines (LCC) or ultra-type airlines. low cost“. Changes in the market. Miller is not the only one who has noticed the changes the sector is experiencing. On Sunday Dean Seal published another analysis in The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in which it confirms that, in their continuous search for higher revenue per seat, companies are modernizing their aircraft or directly purchasing others with a higher proportion of premium seats. Seal points out an increase in these seats with extra comforts both in US airlines that have been exploiting them for some time (Delta Air Lines or United Airlines) and in rivals that have grown by focusing on other market niches, such as Southwest Airlines, Spirit either Frontierin profile more low cost. Not all economy class is the same. It is not always about offering preferential or class places businessbut seats with certain advantages, like a few extra centimeters to stretch your legs. The Global Tourism Forum difference for example between “Premium Economy” and plain economy class. In exchange for a little more space or (on longer journeys) better meals, the airline sells the former at double or triple the price of Economy. “Given that the cost increase is moderate but the price increase is significant, Premium Economy class can offer very high profit margins,” the agency notes. Recent data of Cirium published by WSJ show that, overall, the percentage of premium seats has increased in the last decade on Delta, United, American and Alaska airlines. Business decisions. The studies are not the only ones that reveal the change. It is also seen in the advertisements of the airlines. United Airlines poses for example, gain more first-class seats and more spacious seats, even on its smaller planes, and Delta has ordered about thirty of Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner models with larger premium cabins. “It is a financially excellent aircraft,” stood out the company’s commercial director during a conference at the beginning of the year. “It represents a very significant change and a substantial improvement in profit margins.” Is it something new? Not quite. not long ago we told you as the space that airlines dedicate to each seat has been reducing in recent decades: from the average 90 cm between seats in the 80s it has gone to an average of 80 cm in regular companies and 70 cm in low cost airlines. The result: a significant percentage of passengers who fly no longer fit comfortably in standard seats. That has not prevented new ideas from emerging in the sector, such as installing rows of double height seats. Image | Chris Brignola (Unsplash) In Xataka | We have been tying ribbons to suitcases for years to identify them at the airport. Your employees warn that it is a bad idea

Sleeping in tourist class has been an impossible mission. Some airlines are testing three seats that convert into beds

March 26, 2026 by usatoday24

Traveling in economy class on a long-haul flight usually means accepting a fairly clear toll: sleeping poorly or, at all, not sleeping at all. We have all experienced it, narrow seats, little space to stretch our legs and a posture that rarely invites rest. That discomfort is not a minor detail, it is part of the experience of flying in this segment. And yet, it is precisely there, in this very everyday problem, where some airlines are beginning to explore solutions within the economy cabin itself. If we go to the opposite extreme, we have seen the reference to what it would be like to fly in absolute comfort many times in airline campaigns. The Emirates ad with Jennifer Aniston illustrates this wellgoing from a cabin without notable services to a private suite with a completely flat bed, that is, to the premium end of the experience. The proposal is not limited to improving comfort, it completely redefines life on board. An attempt to make tourist class habitable And at that point is where we begin to see concrete movements. United just announced a proposal of this type with its call Relax Rowan option within its own economic class that seeks precisely to alleviate that problem. The company presents it as a specific row that, once in flight, can be adapted to stretch out or rest with a little more space. The airline plans to launch it in 2027, place it between United Economy and United Premium Plus and progressively deploy it on more than 200 Boeing 787s and Boeing 777 from now to 2030. But the truth is that this idea is not completely new. Air New Zealand has been exploring this concept for some time with his well-known Skycoucha proposal that also starts with a row of seats in economy class. In its case, the system allows the legrests to be raised until they form a continuous surface on which we can stretch. It is not equivalent to a premium cabin bed, but it does offer more versatile space than the conventional seat and the airline itself presents it as a way to gain comfort without paying for a superior cabin. If we go down to detail, the interesting thing is not so much the configuration itself, but what it allows once we are in flight. Both proposals seek to expand the available surface so that we can really stretch out, something that is not usually common for tourists. Air New Zealand specifies that area in about 1.55 meters long and 74 centimeters wideaccompanied by additional bedding, a seat cover and specific belts or restraint systems to use it safely. United, for its part, adds an adapted mattress, blankets, extra pillows and kits designed to make rest more bearable. With all this, the logical question is who is really compensated by this type of option. United’s promotional video gives us an idea. If we travel alone, having all that space gives us a much more usable surface to stretch out. In the case of couples, the idea is to share it in a more flexible way, alternating positions or using it to rest better during the flight. And if we think about families, especially with small children, Air New Zealand considers different configurations. Now, before imagining a perfect rest, it is worth taking into account some conditions. In the case of Air New Zealand, as we have seen, availability depends on the aircraftroute and operational or regulatory factors, and not all configurations are always accessible. In addition, the price is not fixed, since each passenger’s ticket is paid plus an additional cost for this option, while United has not yet detailed prices, although it has indicated that its deployment will be progressive. Taken together, these proposals don’t completely change what it means to fly economy class, but they do introduce an interesting nuance. The idea is not to replicate a first-class suite, but to offer a little more room to rest within the usual limitations. That balance between cost and convenience is what seems to be guiding these developments. Images | United Airlines In Xataka | Luxury superyachts have a new enemy in Monaco: a “low emissions zone” that will penalize those who pollute the most

A Canadian low-cost airline is already experimenting with ultra-narrow seats for its passengers

February 8, 2026 by usatoday24

“Basically, it’s inhumane to make someone travel like that.” The words are from Amanda Schmidt, an ordinary citizen living (or surviving) another day in the experience of flying. Their complaints could have gone unnoticed, they could have fallen on deaf ears. But he uploaded a video to TikTok. The video went viral and now an airline has had to back down. The video. A man, a woman and a daughter recording. “It should be illegal.” “What happens in case of an accident?” “I’m getting claustrophobic just watching this.” “Don’t worry, they haven’t made you pay to recline the seat yet.” These are comments that accompany the video uploaded by Schmidt to TikTok and one of them points in the right direction as we will see later. In the video you can see two elderly people with serious problems traveling comfortably in their seats. Although the feeling is that the video is recorded with the wide angle of the camera, the image itself already produces a certain amount of stress, with the man putting his legs under the front seat. Click on the image to go to the original video “It’s inhuman”. Once the video went viral, the company has had to give explanations. In statements by the author to C.B.S. He argued a truism that WestJet, the Canadian company on which the people in the video travel, seems to have forgotten: “if they are selling a seat for a human, a human should be able to enter.” The video records what WestJet called “densified seating” (something like “densified” seats in a literal translation into Spanish). The company has tried to increase the number of seats on its planes by reducing legroom and front seatback. Now they confirm that they will reverse what they have called “ultra slim line” seats. “It’s in our DNA”. That is the response from Alexis von Hoensbroech, CEO of the company, who assured that it is essential for them to test new products in a statement made public by the company. These products were, in this case, increasing the seats available in the cabin at the expense of greater passenger comfort. WestJet has assured that it had a program open to reconfigure its cabins and increase the number of passengers but that the final implementation was pending the rejection or support it received from passengers. They assure that in December the possibility of canceling the project was already studied and that with the feedback received, the final decision was going to be made in mid-February. Now they confirm that they will return to the initial configuration. Recliners. Among the comments on the video, one of the TikTok users pointed out that WestJet still “did not charge for reclining the seat.” The mention was not accidental and this possibility had been talked about for a few months. In October We learned the company had a plan: If you want a reclining seat, pay more. To announce this measure, the company noted that it had created a new class of ticket called “extended comfort”, a category immediately above the basic fare that would allow the seat to be reclined. Passengers who did not opt for it or one of the premium services would travel the entire time with their backs completely straight. The decision raised eyebrows among users and experts such as John Gradek, professor of aeronautical management at McGill University in Montreal, who pointed out CBC that “the imagination of airline marketing managers never ceases to amaze me,” making it clear that the measure was nothing more than a new attempt to raise more money. More and more passengers. For years, the only certainty is that low-cost airlines have been working to put more passengers on their planes. In his usual controversial tone, Michael O’Leary, CEO of Ryanair, He claimed he could deploy planes to travel standing up in a week. And if it was profitable They would not hesitate to find a way to achieve it. Beyond O’Leary’s bravado, the truth is that there are companies that have been working on solutions that aim for this very thing for years, presenting at aeronautical fairs “seats” to travel completely vertical and barely supported on a kind of stools. An idea that fortunately has not finished curdling very good reviews they have received from the airlines low cost. Photo | Dillon Wolf and Kiya Golara In Xataka | Ryanair and the rest of the low-cost airlines have been charging for your carry-on suitcase for years. The European Union is tired of it

end reclining seats

October 23, 2025 by usatoday24

Canadian airline WestJet has announced that will eliminate the ability to recline standard economy seats on 43 aircraft in its fleet. In this way, passengers who want to put the backrest back they will have to pay an extra to access premium cabins or “extended comfort” seats. What exactly changes. The measure affects less than a third of WestJet’s narrowbody fleet, specifically the Boeing 737-8 MAX and 737-800 from the defunct airlines Swoop, Lynx and Sunwing. On these planes, basic economy seats will have a “fixed recline,” meaning they will not be able to move. The first reconfigured aircraft will enter service at the end of this month, and the remaining 42 will be ready in early 2026. The airline’s justification. WestJet defend the change arguing that half of the passengers who participated in its user tests prefer a fixed backrest to “avoid feeling invaded by other passengers,” according to declared to ABC News. The company maintains that this reconfiguration seeks to “create a cohesive look and feel” in its aircraft, with a renewed design that promises a “bright and spacious environment”, although with less space between seats. What if you want to recline the seat?. Travelers who prefer to maintain the ability to recline their seat will have two payment options. The first is the premium cabin, which will incorporate 12 new seats of the same model as those of the company’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. The second is the “extended comfort” section, with 36 seats that offer additional legroom, ergonomically designed cushions and reclining capabilities. Criticisms of the model. The decision has generated some controversy among experts in the sector. John Gradek, professor of aviation management at McGill University in Montreal, qualified the measure of “strategy to raise more money”, according to statements collected by CBC. “The imagination of airline marketers never ceases to amaze me,” said Gradek, who believes WestJet is trying to “create another tier of service that allows them to charge more” for something that has traditionally been standard in the Canadian market. In Europe it is not surprising. On the continent, this practice is quite common among cheap airlines. The main European low-cost airlines such as Ryanair, Easyjet or Wizz Air They have been operating for years with seats that do not recline at all, while WestJet is removing a feature that its passengers took for granted and making it an exclusive feature of premium fares. low-cost Canadian. WestJet, a pioneer in offering affordable fares to Canadian travelers, operates flights to 19 US states, including Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Washington DC The airline justifies these changes as part of its strategy to keep costs down: “We need to be willing to try new products and see how they work for Canadians,” their spokespersons explained. Cover image | Suhyeon Choi In Xataka | “You can’t predict if there will be interference”: why airlines continue to force us to put airplane mode on in 2025

The LowCost airline business is in the accessory. That is why this idea of vertical seats is one of his old dreams

May 23, 2025 by usatoday24

Would you be willing to travel on a practically standing plane? How long? It is, without a doubt, the first two questions that one assists when he attends, not without some stupefaction, to the invention of Aviointeriors, an Italian company that has been in a drawer for years a new seat concept for low -cost airlines. Skyrider. Perhaps because if you put an English name the precariousness and discomfort sounds a little better. Like when we describe the UPCyCling Or we call Coliving To share floor. Anyway, Skyrider It is the name with which Aviointeriors I tried to place their seats in low -cost companies years ago The company specializes in creating all kinds of environments inside a plane, with seats of all kinds and prices. From the most premium to the cheapest, typical of the tourist class. But years ago he tried to reinvent the tourist class with a seat … that perhaps we couldn’t call him a seat. 20%. Those are your accounts. 20% more occupation if travelers, instead of being completely sitting, simply rely on a completely straight back and yield their weight on an inclined lower surface. Something like traveling by bus with your back resting on the glass or body. The objective, of course, is to sell this format at some point in low -cost airlines. The short duration flights in which there are those who would be willing to go … One or two hours standing? Because it seems clear that we can say that these passengers travel “standing. An old dream. In recent days we have seen the proposition of using these seats be “new” in some media. The truth is that it is something we already knew and that Aviointeriors has maintained in its portfolio for more than a decade. In fact, they weren’t even the first to put it on the table. In 2003, Airbus first proposed a system of seats very similar to that of Aviointerior. Travelers barely sat on a cylinder that crossed the width of three seats and maintained a slight support. Something like a stool. In 2014 they gave him the patent. Three years later, the low -cost company Vivacolombia confirmed that he wanted to get on the dream of what we could call APERUUTOBÚS. It was, for his CEO, an attraction for “working class and vacationers with low budget”. Is it safe? The other big doubt that assails us when we see the image of these Skyrider or Airbus’s proposal. And it seems that. In 2019 the Italian company presented the third version of these vertical support with leg hole. The avant -garde He collected his appearance in Hamburg, at one of the most famous aviation fairs in the world. According to the medium, the minimum security measures required but not with the passenger regulations were complied with. According to this, they must have a space of 28 inches (71.12 centimeters) and the proposition of Aviointeriors was 23 inches (58.42 centimeters). Click on the image to go to the original post Better than not. Following the echo he has had in the media in recent days, the company itself He has published a post on Instagram in which they point to an obvious change of strategy. With a text in which it reads Provocative by Design (Designed to provoke, in English), the company talks about the seat in the following terms: “The Skyridider, often confused with a plane seat finished and ready to take be the air trip someday “ The truth is that Aviointeriors puts the focus in 2012 but throughout the decade the concept was evolving. Now, however, they point out in their communication that it is a company “very aware of the current demands of the market, gathering quality, comfort and the unmistakable touch of the Made in Italy in each product that creates. For now, the Skyrider is not part of the official line. “ A yearning. Although clearly Aviointerior is trying to separate itself from this concept that seems to be part of its past, low -cost airlines have shown their interest in several occasions for this type of solutions. We talk about the case of Vivacolombia but Michael O’Leary, CEO of Ryanair, has expressed himself in these terms on some occasions. Already in 2012 he pointed out that if this concept of traveling was approved could display them in a week. In one television interviewit pointed out that if the price of these seats were low enough they would fill out the space to travel erect than traditional seats. It’s not just the seat. Although the focus has been put in vertical seats, it is likely that the true intentions of low -cost companies do not point to how many more people can strain on a plane by journey. The real business is what revolves around that seat. The own O’Leary said to want to go to the bathroom Because that allowed him to put more seats but, not to mention it, allowed him to generate a new income route. It is what the Ryanair business model has based: put very cheap seats and charge each extra small at a high price. He has segmented the plane in small areas with different prices, charges for carry a suitcase in the cabin and has proposed a subscription. Photo | Wolfgang Weiser and Aviointeriors In Xataka | Ryanair has spent a year selling so cheap that now his passengers will suffer the consequences: expensive tickets in 2025

end reclining seats

January 24, 2025 by usatoday24

We have a love hate relationship with reclining airplane seats. They are great if you want to nap more comfortably, but if you don’t and the passenger in front of you does, that can be quite annoying. The airlines know this, and are considering their disappearance forever. These seats also impose other problems on airlines. They are more likely to break down, but they also add weight to the seats, something that does not help final fuel consumption. Some airlines don’t even offer that button on coach seats, while seats began to appear in the late 2000s.”pre-reclined“, lighter and that fixed the backrest at an intermediate angle: neither completely upright nor completely reclined. British low-cost airline Jet2 was one of the first to use them in 2009, and British Airways also began using them later for flights lasting less than four hours. Ryanair he charged them directly in 2004 as a measure to make better use of space. The airline then commented how this would allow it to save about two million euros a year. And when it doesn’t try to save for it, it tries to make its users pay more with debatable ideas. Like for example, travel standing. There are many other cases: in 2019 Delta reduced the degree of inclination of its seats from four inches to just two inches for economy class, and from 5.4 inches to 3.5 inches for first class. American Airlines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines They also limited reclining to two inches on domestic flights There are a couple of clear additional factors in the partial or complete disappearance of that option. The first, that airlines can eliminate the possibility of choosing reclining seats in economy class and charge those seats as an interesting extra to raise the price of tickets. After all, the future seems prone to the appearance of “premium” middle class seats. Reimagining the airplane seat The other, of course, is space savings. According to CNNif an airline can save 2.5 cm of space per row, that will be equivalent to about 76 cm on a Boeing 737 or Airbus A320. Or what is the same: a whole extra row of seats. There are several attempts to revolutionize the seating arrangement. For example, with double height seats like those devised by the young Spanish entrepreneur Alejandro Núñez Vicente. There are also curious designs that they reposition the middle seatusually the worst rated when traveling by plane or unique ideas —or maybe terrible— like that of the inverted seats. For now, yes, airlines are betting on pre-reclined seats. This is indicated in the aforementioned CNN article, which gives the example of the manufacturer Recaro, one of the firms that is taking advantage of the trend to equip airline planes with their seats. To find out the degree of inclination – in Recaro it is light and ranges between 15 and 18 degrees – the concept “max pax” is used used by industry. That is, the maximum count of passengers that each plane is certified to be able to transport. In an Airbus 321neo, for example, it is up to 244 passengers if everyone traveled in economy class, but when the front part is used for the traditional first and business class seats, the seats are considerably reduced and drop below 150 passengers. . Even so, traditional seats are “slimming” in parallel with the rest of the techniques. It changes the structure and becomes thinner right in the part where travelers have their knees to allow them to be more comfortable. That extra space for the knees, of course, is usually another argument to raise the price of the ticket. The advantages of eliminating reclining seats are obvious on short-haul flightsbut things change with longer flights. Meanwhile, if you are going to travel by plane, it may not be a bad idea to let the passenger behind you know if we are going to recline the seat. Image | Aleksei Zaitzev In Xataka | Obesity is a growing problem, so airlines have opted for a drastic measure: weighing travelers In Xataka | First class seats are a thing of the past. Airlines now want absurdly luxurious business class *An earlier version of this article was published in January 2024

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