In an age when "legroom" in Coach Class is becoming an extinct concept, American Airlines has provided a heroic counterexample. Starting in 2000, their "More Room in Coach" strategy gave travelers a little space to stretch out -- and the biggest seats of any of the major airlines. For that reason, I told travelers to fly American in my book Fly Safe, Fly Smart.
(United offers a "Premium Economy" area with more legroom, but you couldn't get those seats with the cheapest fares. American offered more legroom for all travelers.)
American was betting that more room in coach would mean travelers -- especially business travelers -- would choose comfort over the absolute lowest fares. Alas, that hasn't been the case, and now American is rolling back its more-room plan on about 20 percent of its daily departures. Seats will be shrunk from a formerly roomy 33-35 inch pitch to a more cramped 31-32, about the same pitch as the other major airlines.
The planes that will be affected are Boeing 757s -- which fly a wide range of domestic routes, including cross-country -- and Airbus A300s, which mostly fly on routes that end up in the Caribbean (for instance, an A300 may fly from Boston to Miami and then on to a Caribbean destination.) These aren't American's most common planes, but the changes will be focused on leisure and vacation routes.
"In the leisure and vacation markets we understand that price is the driving factor for our customers," American spokesman Todd Burke says.
American Lowers Fares to California
With this stick comes a carrot -- a new commitment to low fares, they say. American is lowering its walk-up, one-way fare on three transcontinental routes to $299 -- so business travelers heading from New York's JFK airport to Long Beach, Orange County and San Jose, California, will pay no more than $598 roundtrip. First-class fares will be $599 or less each way.
That's an understandable competitive move in the brutal NY-LA market. JetBlue serves Long Beach with a maximum $299 fare, and American has been sparring with the discount carrier for a few years now. But the $299 limit is a welcome surprise on the San Jose route, as American is the largest carrier at San Jose.
(Most leisure travelers will still pay much less than $299 each way -- that's a maximum fare for the hurried business traveler buying at the last minute.)
To book the new fares, head to www.aa.com, ask your travel agent or just walk up to the ticket counter before your flight and demand your $299 trip.
So Where Are The Good Seats?
With American reducing some of their seats to "industry-standard" pitch, it becomes a little harder to find the best seats on any given route. Travelers interested in coach-class comfort should head immediately to SeatGuru.com (www.seatguru.com), a one-man labor of love that tracks the pitch, width, and convenience of seats on American, Continental, Delta, Northwest, United, and US Airways planes.
For instance, if you're flying on an American Airlines MD-80, SeatGuru reveals that seat 19F doesn't recline, that you get a little more legroom in Row 21, and that Rows 27-30 are pretty noisy.
For international trips, airline consultancy Skytrax tracks the seat pitch and offers tips on the best seats on more than two dozen international airlines. Head to www.airlinequality.com/Product/seat_intro.htm to discover that a haul from Los Angeles to London on Air New Zealand may land you with 34 inches of legroom, while British Airways only offers 31. At www.airlinequality.com/Spcl/seat_tip.htm you get more specific tips -- for instance, that if you manage to snag seat 15J on an Air New Zealand Boeing 767-300ER, you'll get as much legroom as a Business Class traveler.
