Tag Archives for seats.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby was asked about a ‘vaccinated-only’ seating section. Kirby endorsed the concept saying it “sounds like a great idea,” and confirms that United has thought about it.
I shared this month that American Airlines is still planning new cabins for Boeing 787-9s they take delivery of, and Airbus A321XLRs. There will be full mockups of the cabins for testing this time.
Just before the pandemic American Airlines was previewing potential seat choices.
Air Serbia is replacing its lone 13 year old long haul Airbus A330 aircraft with a new one – a twelve year old ex-Aeroflot A330-200 in new livery featuring Nikola Tesla on the tail.
The airline uses this aircraft to fly to New York JFK, and plans to increase its frequency from 2 to 3 times weekly and then 5 times a week over the summer. And it’s getting a new business class product.
JetBlue just introduced its new Mint (business class) seat, which will roll out on Airbus A321LRs that will begin flying to London this summer. Some A321neos will get the product, too, so it will eventually be available on certain domestic flights as well.
They’ve selected the Thompson Aero’s VantageSolo seat for their new business class Mint Suite. In addition there will be a row of two seats at the front of the plane they call the Mint Studio (reminiscent of Etihad’s Business Studio) featuring a larger screen, extra side table, and a guest seat so that passengers can dine together. JetBlue claims it will offer more space than any other US airline premium product, and the largest lie flat bed offered by a US airline.
Frontier Airlines announced today that their 156 Airbus planes on order, which begin delivering in March, will receive Recaro’s slimline SL3710 seats. Slimline seats are known for passenger discomfort. They have less padding, and therefore take up less space. That lets airlines squeeze more passengers into the same amount of space. Frontier claims the sufferiing, though, is good for you because it’s good for the planet. Is that true?
The new Boeing 787-8s American is receiving don’t have exactly the same interiors as the planes that they began taking delivery of in 2015.
Reviewing a sneak peak at the interiors two things stand out to me.
At the beginning of October American Airlines quietly took away access to extra legroom seating from partner airline elite members.
The airline has partially reversed course for some – but not all – of its joint venture partners, leading to some hope that the seating benefit could become available to Alaska and JetBlue elites as well.
Last month we learned details of the new British Airways first class seat, which will have a door for privacy.
They’ve taken delivery of their first plane with these seats, and photos have leaked.
Over the next month 7 airlines are launching the ability to buy multiple seats for yourself online as part of buying a ticket, and pick those seats off the seat map to guarantee you as much space as you wish.
The reason that air travel in coach isn’t as luxurious as it was 50 years ago is because of deregulation. Air travel is much less expensive. Planes are full – and the number one determinant of a pleasant flight in back is whether you have an empty seat next to you. Airlines don’t operate with the high margins they did when government prevented them from competing with each other on price. As a result they don’t invest in luxurious food to lure travelers away from competitors, since they weren’t allowed us use low prices.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
