British Airways Expands Economy Class Seats, But Lags Behind Rivals

Passengers packed into economy class on British Airways flights will enjoy slightly more legroom and wider seats, but the airline still lags behind budget airlines like EasyJet, Thomas Cook, and Thomson in terms of seat spaciousness. The move to bump up the seat size by half an inch is a response to customer complaints about cramped conditions on BA's Dreamliner fleet. Despite this, budget airlines continue to offer significantly more room for passengers.

Key Takeaways:

• British Airways has increased the width of its economy class seats on the new Dreamliner fleet from 16.8ins to 17.3ins.
• Thomas Cook's Airbus A330-200 already has a spacious 18.2 inch wide seat.
• EasyJet's A320 airbus and Thomson's Boeing 767-300ER also offer 18 inch wide seats, outpacing BA's new seats.
• No-frills Ryanair gives passengers 17 inch wide seats, 0.2 ins bigger than BA's current Boeing 787-8 planes.
• Lufthansa offers a generous 18.2 inch seat width on its 777-200 fleet, while Air France offers 18 inch seats on its A321 airbus.
• BA customers had previously complained about cramped seats on TripAdvisor's SeatGuru website, citing issues with legroom and seat space.
• The airline has responded to customer feedback and re-designed the seats for "customer comfort" on the new Boeing 787-9 jets.

Statistics:

• 22 new Boeing 787-9 jets will feature the expanded economy class seats.
• The first of these planes will take to the skies later this year.
• The aisles on these planes will be narrower to accommodate the bigger seats.
• The move is a response to a raft of complaints from BA customers who said they "felt a bit tight" in the old seats.

Sources:

• British Airways (no date) - [Source not explicitly dated in the original text]
• SeatGuru website - [Source not explicitly dated in the original text]
• TripAdvisor website - [Source not explicitly dated in the original text]
• BA statement - "[Source not explicitly dated in the original text]"