Squeezy seating on the 777?

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Emkay

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A Thai Airlines employee recently told me about stress levels amongst her fellow cabin attendants caused by the volume and vehemence of customer complaints at the small size of economy seating in their 777s. She agrees that there really are grounds for complaint. Apparently it's not just pitch - they are significantly narrower than 'standard' (which is narrow enough!).

I gather many frequenters of these boards don't have a lot of recent experience at the back end of the bus, but wonder whether any can confirm that this really is a problem, and whether it's confined to Thai 777s or the same with Singapore Airlines large fleet?

Perhaps there is a webpage somewhere that provides comparative seating data between airlines and aircraft, for the benefit of us cattle?
 
SQ's 777 seating is better in economy than on 747, same width more pitch.

Every airline is different - there is no standard configuration and seat type that all airlines use (thankfully). There are plenty of sites where you can get info, here, FT, airline website, seatguru, etc.
 
TG fly 773s on BNE-BKK-BNE and they're nothing special. 31" in Economy and 49" in Business.

Perhaps the huge number of complaints about the 773 was one of the many reasons why TG will be sending their brand new 772E/Rs to Brisbane from early/mid-December 2006... I can imagine this aircraft will offer the new J seats and an improved Y-class (I'm hearing pitch will be 33-34" - although don't quote me).

Regards
 
It has been a couple of years since I last flew SQ, but found their Y seats on 777 reasonably comfortable.

Worst experience has been on IB where I could barely get my legs far enough apart so that they were not jammed into the seat in front. Being 6'4" has its disadvantages when flying economy.
 
When flying Melbourne to Singapore on SQ have always preferred the economy seating in the 777, in comparison to the 747.
 
Emkay said:
Perhaps there is a webpage somewhere that provides comparative seating data between airlines and aircraft, for the benefit of us cattle?


One of the Thai configurations for the 777 (the 772?) has ten abreast seating (3-4-3), whereas in my experience nine abreast (either 3-3-3 or 2-5-2) is more common in the 777's. Getting ten abreast would make the seats have to be narrower.
 
oz_mark said:
Getting ten abreast would make the seats have to be narrower.
Agreed. 10 abreast on a 777 really is taking the p!ss. Still, I guess you get what you pay for, and if the tight seating allows lower fares then it's up to the consumer whether they accept that or pay more for an airline with 9 abreast.
 
oz_mark said:
Interestingly, the nine abreast layout has 31" pitch, while ten abreast has 33" pitch.
Similar to EK's 773 config, where they claim 33" or 34" depending on the config. So for tall skinny people, its probably good news. EK claim their 777 seats are 17" wide, while most airlines with 9 across claim 17.5" wide seats. So it its truly only 1/2 inch narrower and has 2-3" more pitch, then its probably not as bad as it first appears.

However, with 10 seats being 1/2" narrower, that only reclaims 5 inches, so either there is some fudge in the numbers or the aisles are 6 inches narrower than on other carriers.
 
Avoid flying Economy on UA 777s - horror 2x5x2 configuration. Why any airline would do that to their customers is beyond me!
 
NYCguy said:
Avoid flying Economy on UA 777s - horror 2x5x2 configuration. Why any airline would do that to their customers is beyond me!
2x5x2 config is only 9 across. It also means that only 1/9th of the passengers is more than one seat from an aisle, and those people have a choise to go left or right to get to an aisle. With a 3x3x3 config, 2/9th of passengers are 2 seats from an aisle and they only have one way to get to the aisle. So the 2x5x2 is not all bad.
 
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NM said:
2x5x2 config is only 9 across. It also means that only 1/9th of the passengers is more than one seat from an aisle, and those people have a choise to go left or right to get to an aisle. With a 3x3x3 config, 2/9th of passengers are 2 seats from an aisle and they only have one way to get to the aisle. So the 2x5x2 is not all bad.

And if you get a flight with lots of couples, it is much easier to keep them together on with a 2x5x2 config than on a 3x3x3 config
 
NM said:
Similar to EK's 773 config, where they claim 33" or 34" depending on the config. So for tall skinny people, its probably good news. EK claim their 777 seats are 17" wide, while most airlines with 9 across claim 17.5" wide seats. So it its truly only 1/2 inch narrower and has 2-3" more pitch, then its probably not as bad as it first appears.

However, with 10 seats being 1/2" narrower, that only reclaims 5 inches, so either there is some fudge in the numbers or the aisles are 6 inches narrower than on other carriers.

Guess it means narrower aisles.

By the way Lauda (AKA Austrian) also has the 3-4-3 configuration (and it's quite uncomfortable, as I recall).
 
NYCguy said:
Avoid flying Economy on UA 777s - horror 2x5x2 configuration. Why any airline would do that to their customers is beyond me!
My first flight on an AA 777 had this config, but it worked out well for me. On the lightly loaded ORD-LHR flight I moved from my exit row seat to an empty row of 5! Longer bed than any airline's First Class offers.

But yes, I would hate to end up in the middle seat on a full flight.
 
NM said:
Similar to EK's 773 config, where they claim 33" or 34" depending on the config. So for tall skinny people, its probably good news. EK claim their 777 seats are 17" wide, while most airlines with 9 across claim 17.5" wide seats. So it its truly only 1/2 inch narrower and has 2-3" more pitch, then its probably not as bad as it first appears.

However, with 10 seats being 1/2" narrower, that only reclaims 5 inches, so either there is some fudge in the numbers or the aisles are 6 inches narrower than on other carriers.

I don't know if I could honestly say that the passageways in the Y cabin of an EK 777's are 6" narrower. However when I walked through to chat to a mate, I remember thinking that it was awfully narrow. I walked most of the way sideways as there were many legs protruding and made it impossible to walk straight.

Mal
 
Emkay said:
A Thai Airlines employee recently told me about stress levels amongst (snip) they are significantly narrower than 'standard' (which is narrow enough!).

I gather many frequenters of these boards don't have a lot of recent experience at the back end of the bus, but wonder whether any can confirm that this really is a problem, and whether it's confined to Thai 777s or the same with Singapore Airlines large fleet?

Perhaps there is a webpage somewhere that provides comparative seating data between airlines and aircraft, for the benefit of us cattle?

Just travelled SQ256 and SQ68 BNE-SIN and SIN-BKK both on 772 (Aug 25). I am 185cm tall and 46" waist. (ie brick outhouse specification) and was quite comfortable. The pitch (row 33) was great, had almost two clear inches from my knees to the seat, could put the tray down all the way. Width was fine, except I have to pull out the krisworld controller before I sit down. Almost needed a hand to get up though after all the s'slings :) Thank you SQ. Looking forward to return flights Saturday.
 
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