Airline CEOs Try Out Their Economy Seats

Above, ANA Premium Economy seating on display at a travel show. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

If you are planning to take an airline for a trip anytime soon, you may want to read an article on airline economy seating in the Wall Street Journal.

Three airline CEOs were asked to try out their economy seats.

According to the Wall Street Journal article:

Have you ever been vacuum-packed into a shrunken coach seat wishing the airline CEO had to endure the same discomfort? 

We did that for you, sort of. The Middle Seat asked the chief executives of the big three U.S. airlines to plop down in the back of one of their airplanes and explain why they think the skimpy confines of coach today are acceptable. 

Two agreed. Delta CEO Ed Bastian, 6-foot-3, arranged for an interview on his company’s most recently reconfigured Boeing 777-200 in Atlanta. American CEO Doug Parker, also 6-foot-3, snuggled into a coach seat on a reconfigured 777-200 in a Dallas-Fort Worth airport hangar.

One refused: United’s Oscar Munoz declined to be interviewed in a coach seat. Asked why, United declined to comment. 

Messrs. Bastian and Parker fit, although knees were kissing distance from the seat in front. Neither had to contend with a middle-seat neighbor to rub shoulders and sides or a passenger reclining in front of them.

There is also a chart of inches or legroom with the article that is also worth a long look.

To read more, go here.