There is little that annoys airline travelers more these days than the diminishing amount of legroom they get.
In recent years, most airlines have devoted lots of resources to increasing the space provided to business-class and first-class passengers, giving each one from four to almost seven feet of room from one seat to the one in front of it. At the same time, the carriers have reduced legroom for coach passengers.
In their coach cabins, most airlines have trimmed what they call seat pitch, or the distance from one seat to the one in front of it, from an average of 33 or 34 inches to 30 to 32 inches. Some carriers have as little as 28 inches of legroom in their coach cabins.
The width of seats on many planes also has shrunk over the years, to about 17 inches, although some airlines recently have ordered jets made by Airbus Industrie that provide an extra inch of lateral space.
When combined with the fact that airlines are selling a greater percentage of seats than ever before, carriers have a growing number of disgruntled customers jammed onto most flights. Most airlines sell an average of 75 percent of their available space these days, compared with about 65 percent a few years ago.
On short flights, most passengers don’t complain much about the fact that they are so crowded that they do not have enough room to use laptop computers when they fold down their tray tables — especially if the person in front of them reclines his or her seat. Trying to eat a meal on the tray table in such a confined space is not usually an issue, because airlines don’t serve meals on short flights anymore.
But when it comes to longer flights, complaints to the airlines and the U.S. Department of Transportation are growing, the carriers and the government agency say. Customers are even yelling in protest about the newest long-haul planes, including the Boeing 777, which was touted when it debuted in the mid-1990s as a more spacious and comfortable alternative to older jets.
A Delta Air Lines passenger, Roger L. Nutt of Ormand Beach, Fla., recently sent newspaper editors around the country a copy of a letter of complaint that he wrote to Delta chairman Leo Mullin. Nutt, who is 5-foot-10, said the seats on a Delta 777 used on his May 16 flight between Atlanta and London had so little legroom that he could not get his legs under the seat in front.
Trying to sleep on the seven-hour overnight flight was impossible, Nutt said. Space was so tight that “two male passengers in the cabin behind mine almost came to blows over the situation,” he wrote. Attached to the letter was a petition to Mullin signed by 61 other coach-class passengers on his flight who backed Nutt’s assertions.
Nutt received a reply from an assistant to Mullin, who defended Delta by saying “our aircraft configurations are competitive with other carriers in the industry. Our goal is to offer reasonable fares while maintaining acceptable revenue.”
A Delta spokeswoman said legroom on its 777 jets varied from 31 to 33 inches, but that most seats had 32 inches.
United Airlines’ announcement recently that it will create a roomier area at the front of the coach section of its jets for frequent travelers and those paying full fare for their tickets is one response to complaints about crowded conditions.
Seats in the new Economy Plus cabin will have 35 to 36 inches of legroom, compared with about 31 in the rest of the coach section. From 27 percent to 48 percent of each coach cabin will be converted to Economy Plus seating.
United spokesman Joe Hopkins said the airline extensively surveyed frequent business travelers, “and the thing that came through loud and clear is that what they want most is more legroom. Whatever was second was so far back, you couldn’t even see it.”
Frequent business travelers, and those who pay full fare, are less than 10 percent of United’s customers, but provide the airline with more than a third of its revenue, Hopkins said.
