# Amercan Adding Seats to Some Planes



## The Davy Crockett (Jun 13, 2013)

The AP is reporting here that American will add seats to some of its planes. From the article:



> The airline's parent company, AMR Corp., disclosed the move in a regulatory filing Wednesday.
> American's vice president of flight service, Lauri Curtis, said that the airline constantly examines its operations, including trying to match the number of seats with travel demand.
> 
> Curtis said airline officials expect to add seats on Boeing 737 and McDonnell Douglas MD-80 jets, "but we haven't yet determined the right number of seats, and as a result, the impact on revenue and cost."



I wonder where they will find the room...

Note to self - When flying coach on American don't forget my shoe and knee horn. And whatever I do, don't drop anything on the floor under me if I want it before the flight is over, or I get up to use the john.


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## GG-1 (Jun 13, 2013)

The Davy Crockett said:


> The AP is reporting here that American will add seats to some of its planes. From the article:
> 
> 
> > The airline's parent company, AMR Corp., disclosed the move in a regulatory filing Wednesday.
> ...


Hope they do not plan of flying convertible versions of the plane

Aloha


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## trainman74 (Jun 13, 2013)

Seems like it was only about 10 years ago that American had "more room throughout coach." I assume they _won't_ be using "less room throughout coach" as a slogan.


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## railiner (Jun 14, 2013)

True...American, as well as others, have periodically quietly added seats to aircraft, and other times removed seats for more legroom. In the ferocious competition in the airways, carrier's must 'right-size' their aircraft according to market demand. Sure....everyone loves extra legroom, but if the choice is for less legroom, but lower fares, the market has proven that customer's will 'vote with their wallets, more often than not.


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## Swadian Hardcore (Jun 17, 2013)

I don't think the added seats will lower prices. I think airlines will keep the same prices while packing more people into their planes. This a great time for Amtrak and Greyhound to expand. More and more people want out of the poor flying situation.


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## PRR 60 (Jun 17, 2013)

Swadian Hardcore said:


> I don't think the added seats will lower prices. I think airlines will keep the same prices while packing more people into their planes. This a great time for Amtrak and Greyhound to expand. More and more people want out of the poor flying situation.


Nobody is flying anymore. It's too crowded. (with apologies to Casey Stengel).


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## chakk (Jun 17, 2013)

Glad to hear that American is adding seats to some of their planes -- I was getting tired of having to travel standing up all the way across country on all of their planes with no seats.


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## railiner (Jun 17, 2013)

Indeed. Airlines have learned to 'right-size' their fleets and schedules. Load factors are I believe at an all time high across the board right now....


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## Swadian Hardcore (Jun 18, 2013)

Unfortunately, airline ridership is still rising on-par with population growth. When airline ridership gets flat or dropping, like the private autos, then these guys will need to rethink their strategy.


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## jis (Jun 18, 2013)

Swadian Hardcore said:


> Unfortunately, airline ridership is still rising on-par with population growth. When airline ridership gets flat or dropping, like the private autos, then these guys will need to rethink their strategy.


Actually it is the airlines themselves who have been cutting inventory to make sure that they become more energy efficient by forcing much much higher load factors successfully. So at least for now shrinkage in airline ridership, if any would be part of a calculated strategy, one which incidentally could be useful for Amtrak if it were in any position to take advantage of it, which it mostly is not.
So it os the airlines that have proactively changed their strategy to become more profitable, rather than ridership forcing them to rethink strategy as you seem to claim is going to happen.


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## railiner (Jun 18, 2013)

PRR 60 said:


> Swadian Hardcore said:
> 
> 
> > I don't think the added seats will lower prices. I think airlines will keep the same prices while packing more people into their planes. This a great time for Amtrak and Greyhound to expand. More and more people want out of the poor flying situation.
> ...


Right you are....just ask anyone who travels "Non Rev, Space Available".......


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## SarahZ (Jun 18, 2013)

I was really comfortable on Virgin America when we flew to SF this past week. It felt like I had a lot more leg room than usual, even with the seat in front of me reclined. They also cut the front of their tray tables in a curve so that it doesn't ram into your chest or stomach when the person reclines. Very smart. 

The seats are advertised as 19.7", but they're more like 18.5" since they measure between the center of each arm rest instead of the seat cushion itself. Still, that's a bit bigger than most airlines, which are 17". I plan to fly with them whenever possible. I hope they expand to more cities.


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## Swadian Hardcore (Jun 20, 2013)

jis said:


> Swadian Hardcore said:
> 
> 
> > Unfortunately, airline ridership is still rising on-par with population growth. When airline ridership gets flat or dropping, like the private autos, then these guys will need to rethink their strategy.
> ...


I think you misunderstood me. I'm just saying that the airlines think they can keep doing this (worsening service) and won't lose ridership, but when they do lose ridership they will have to improve service and/or drop prices.

If this happens, the problem is that Amtrak can't get money quickly enough to respond. Hopefully at least Greyhound can invest in added service. Grab an oppurtunity when it comes.


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