As I’ve hinted to and written on end, American Airlines have dropped the seatmaps of their new Boeing 777-300ER’s.
And in the same breath, confirms the airline doesn’t like its Economy class passengers.
The configuration has been confirmed as follows:
- First will be 1-2-1
- Business will be 1-2-1
- Main Cabin Extra will 3-3-3
- Main Cabin (coach) will be the predicted bone-crushing 3-4-3
The Wandering Aramean has the full scoop on the setup, but I’ll weigh in on the numbers:
- The 777 cross section has a cabin width of 19ft 3in (or 5.87 meters).
- 3 – 3 – 3 seating config allows for 18.5″ inches (46.99) seats to be installed.
- 3- 4 – 3 decimates this to 17.0″ inches (43.18cm) seats, before trolley space is allowed for.
Even allowing for slimline seats and the odd vagrancy, size matters. And if you’re on that AA 777-300ER and you’re sitting in the back, expect a whole new world of pain that Air New Zealand, Air France, KLM and Emirates passengers have implemented. Whilst it may make some commercial sense to operate these planes, passenger comfort is going to suffer. Badly.
And even as a newly minted BA Gold, if an AA 777-300ER turns up in one of my itineraries, I’ll be looking elsewhere.
(Product names updated)
I remember reading that Main Cabin Select will be open to ow elites, not sure what level you have to be to get it for free though.
Main Cabin Select is … rather small though. I can imagine once the flying public see it, there will be a bunfight for it…
I had been thinking of switching from UA to AA, but this is making me think again. To go from Economy Plus on United to the smallest seats of any US carrier is a deal-breaker.
I agree. There is a speck of light however – that this being applied to 777-300ER flights only, not the 777-200 fleet.
Still enough to make me think twice personally.