Funny how every time a punter raises this really important point about shrinking legroom in Economy, all we get is stupid, trite, ill though out answers along the lines of "don't fly then" or "go first class then"
The point made earlier is very valid. If a regulatory minimum seat pitch of say 34" was introduced. the playing field would be levelled, and competition for economy pricing would no longer be based on providing teeny weeny seats, but on other competitive elements.
For the record, the notion that all economy class passengers pay just a few quid for their flight is nonsense. On say LHR to JFK, comparing different airlines, the cheapest ticket in economy could be £300, whereas some people would pay over £500 for the same cramped conditions. In discussions on legroom, people with their own agendas (or stupidity) regularly trot out nonsense about "paying your money and making your choice", but this just is NOT the case. Yes, i can go Premium economy with BA, but say I don't want a seat pitch of 38", just maybe a semi civilised 33-34", i can't get that. So in most scenarios, i either pay a helluva lot more, or go economy. In my case I just choose not to travel.
Gradually little by little legroom is still being whittled away. For example, just a couple of years ago, BA advertised there economy pitch as 31", but they told us it will seem like 32"as their new style seats are thinner. Now they claim on the BA website, you get 'a comfortable (ha ha) 30-31" of legroom'. So now even BA is down to 30", and that is a proverbial f****** joke for anyone over 5'8" on even a medium flight.
Flybe were recently highlighting there advantages on their website, amongst which was 32" of legroom, but this has now been changed to 31" of legroom.
For the record, one move that should be welcomed, is First choice airlines, as the seat pitch is now 34" and 36" in premier - and that's a charter airline!
As regards AA, and the more room in coach thing, it really only worked in the USA, as by the time they had finished re-fitting all the planes that fly from the UK, they decided to reverse it.
I just don't get all this price guff anyway, i mean Jet blue do 34" seat pitch, which is 3" more than BA. If only we had a Jet Blue equivalent in Europe, that might just help.
One final point, there seems to be a notion that airlines make no money from economy class passengers so such passengers deserve to be treated like sh***, well if that's the case why do people like BA, Virgin, Lufthansa, KLM and so on all offer economy class? Are you seriously telling me the airlines of the world carry millions in economy class every year, even though they make no profit from them?? Maybe someone should let the bean counters know then.