going places extra legroom

[Katys Grandad]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Snapper
Are American still flying with more legroom in economy?

I'm sure I heard somewhere that they were ditching the scheme at the end of last year; which would be a real shame. Every time I've flown American since they introduced the extra legroom the flights have always been full, so I figure it works!
[/quote]

Unfortunately, American found that they were losing money because of the fewer seats on each aircraft. They have been putting the seats back over the past 18 months or so and have nearly completed the entire fleet. Even so, they still have more seat pitch that BA so a claim by another carrier to have more legroom that BA doesn't necessarily amount to much.

[Robert5988]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Are American still flying with more legroom in economy?

I'm sure I heard somewhere that they were ditching the scheme at the end of last year; which would be a real shame. Every time I've flown American since they introduced the extra legroom the flights have always been full, so I figure it works![/quote]

As Katy's Grandad states their More Room Throughout Coach was dropped because it was a commercial failure.

We all bleat about lack of legroom in cattle class and yet a brilliant initiative(to my mind) giving more leg-room than any of the major carriers did not attract sufficient custom.

There has been conjecture that there is another reason why all airlines(including AA) do not offer more legroom in coach.

It is well documented that the major profits for an airline come from those(mainly businessmen) travelling ‘up front’ in the First/Business class seats(where fares are several times higher)

The incentive for the majority of those who travel ‘up front’ is the extra legroom rather than the better meals and champagne. (look how many are prepared to pay £hundreds more to travel in the BA/Virgin cabins that offer a few inches more legroom but not better service)

The theory is that if you give a lot more legroom in coach, all you will achieve is to get potential First/Business class passengers to ‘downgrade’ to coach.

[Snapper]

Call my a cynic Robert but I completely believe your second theory.

I might only have a limited view of a few flights in and out of Manchester but that view was that the flights were all full. Full to capacity in most cases. I'm sure one could debate about busy routes vs. less busy routes but my own experience suggests that at least on the Manchester routes the planes were full, so these at least would be busy/profitable routes. I find it very difficult to believe that AA didn't do all the sums before they started ripping seats out of their aircraft. I find it much easier to believe that they were victims of their own success and, as you theorise, started to cannibalise their own higher margin fare classes. Still, they're in business to make money (allegedly!! [msnwink]) so while I might not like it I can at least respect it.

Shame really!

Hopefully one day an airline will hit on a happy medium and clean-up. Maybe the folks like First Choice who typically don't have the volume of high-margin business deals that the flag carriers do might be the ones who re-invent this space in the market.

[Katys Grandad]

Steve

I think that we need to bear in mind that AA isn't primarily an international airline. It is the biggest airline in the world solely due to its operation within the US. Yes, it does have a good few international routes but compared to say, BA, it is tiny in international terms. Its business strategy is driven by domestic issues and the international routes fall into line.

The 'More Room Through Coach' strategy simply failed in the US because passengers were happy to sacrifice a couple of inches of legroom on shorter domestic flights for the cheaper fares offered by other legacy carriers and low-cost airlines. In fact the MRTC approach was only fully in place for a couple of years.

My frequent flyer account tells me that I flew on 37 AA flights in the last 12 months. Virtually all the domestic flights had been returned to the old seating configuration and were more or less full.

[Steve and Dawn]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by mizzy
i got a price comparison for first choice for flights this october (not half term)

and for 2 adults and 2 children we are looking at
economy £1,800 flight only 14 nights from manchester
and £3,290 for these extra legroom premuim seats
i think its called star class and premier class plus its an extra £20 each way to sit together if you are a family

Mizzy
[/quote]

That seems expensive for a charter flight. Especially as you say it wasn't Half Term.

[julieanne]

I may be in the minority but I am happy to pay a little extra for more legroom and comfort - but there is a limit to that amount....