Have plane seats really shrunk?

Airlines are boosting profits by squeezing as many passengers on to their planes as possible, writes Oliver Smith

It has become a key question when booking your flight. Just how much legroom will you get? And then there’s the follow-up: where did all that space you remember from decades ago disappear to? Surely you haven’t got that much taller – or indeed wider – in the interim?

Sadly, exact specifications for older aircraft are hard to come by. Only after passengers started feeling the squeeze did publications such as The Telegraph start keeping track of legroom and seat width. But economy class “pitch” on early jet airliners – the distance between two rows of seats – generally ranged from 34 to 36 inches. The Boeing 707, for example, which entered service in 1958 and is widely credited with ushering in the “Jet

Age”, offered 34 inches. So, too, did the first 747s, operated by the likes of Pan Am and TWA.

This all started to change in the Eighties. In 1981, The New York Times reported that manufacturers were, for the first time, starting to cut seat pitch in economy from the “industry standard” of between 34 and 35 inches to just 32. A McDonnell Douglas executive tried to justify the changes: “With newer, less bulky seats, you might get as much legroom with the 32 inches pitch as you would with the 34 inches,” he claimed. So began the ongoing trend for increasing profits by squeezing in as many passengers as physically possible.

The Consumers Union, a US watchdog, began keeping tabs on seat pitch in 1985. Its records clearly demonstrate how America’s four biggest airlines (American, Delta, United and Southwest) have cut legroom over the past three decades. In 1985, Southwest offered as much as 35 inches, while United’s upper limit in economy was 36. None of the four went below 31. Fast forward to 2018 and none of the four go above 33, while three (American, Delta and United) go as low as 30.

In 1990, The Telegraph compared seat pitch on a handful of airlines, including BA and Virgin. For long-haul flights, Lufthansa, Qantas and Virgin offered 34 inches in economy, while BA offered between 31 and 34, depending on the aircraft. Now only Qantas offers more than 31 inches (its Boeing 787s offer 32), while Virgin goes as low as 29.

How plane seats have shrunk

PITCH BATTLE Adding seats to planes often means less space for passengers