Emirates cramped seating.

[Centaurus]

Just done Australia - England - Australia (refuel stops Singapore and Dubai) in Emirates B777 and A340 cattle class. The tightly jammed sardine tin seating arrangements made all stage lengths the most uncomfortable international legs I have ever experienced. Apart from that, the cabin service was efficient.

Discussions with other pax reveal that Qantas and Cathay seat pitch is just as uncomfortable as Emirates. Apart from going Business class (outside my meagre budget), are all international airlines following the policy of shorter pitch on Economy class seating? If not, what airline plying the Australia - UK - Australia routes has decent comfort down in cattle class? Anything could be better than Emirates.

[AerocatS2A]

Air New Zealand are introducing a new class called "Pacific Premium Economy". It is intended to be something between economy and business classes. Details here:

http://www.airnewzealand.com.au/travelinfo/ontheplane/premium_economy/default.htm

[EI-CFC]

Even Air NZ's economy class is 34" pitch which is more generous than most carriers! I believe Thai has 34" pitch too.

[BYMONEK]

The Emirates B777 is one of the few, if any, to fit a 10 across in economy. They have a 34" pitch as well so it may be the reduced width that makes the difference. Airbus is standard,however, unless you travel in something like BA's traveller plus ( 37"), most scheduled carriers are a much of a muchness. Just the hosties and scram to clinch the deal really.........and getting there on time!


Edited for correction.

Just found out it's only 33". You see, I knew the missus was right when she kept telling me that "an extra inch would make all the difference"!

[Voeni]

You get what you pay for! (i'm pretty sure you paid nothing...)

Anyway, World Traveller Plus at BA sounds like a good choice. Bit more expensive, but not business-like. And you do have legroom.

[cossack]

Malaysian is also 34" down the back. I'll be using them next week for EWR-ARN-KUL-BNE. Along with being CDN$1000 each cheaper than going via LAX, the extra pitch was the deciding factor over a shorter trip with AA/QANTAS and the 31" on offer. MAS 777s are 2-5-2.

[AerocatS2A]

ANZs premium economy is 38" to 40" for comparison

[HandyAndy]

One can always shop around. There are websites that indicate the seat pitch (among other things) for each airline cabin. I have just done HKG-FRA-HKG with CX and I knew their seatpitch was going to be 32" in Y. It is not as comfortable as J (and my trips are generally split between J and Y) so on this trip in Y I was under no illusions. If I can get a bulkhead row all the better. I can bear the risk babies and children as I have three youngsters of my own.

I am however pretty sure that there are many psychological points that influence one's comfort on a trip. During the trip above, I was addressed by name by each crew member throughout even in Y. The food was more than satisfactory and there were good movies on. Although I was aware of the tight space, it didn't bother me as much as if I had received poor service, the food was awful and my luggage went missing. Anyone else feel this?

Anyway, it is always good to hear of others experiences on other airlines and this one will be a note for me if I ever have to travel with EK. Thanks for the heads-up. 99% of my travel to wherever is with Cathay but one never knows!

[Globaliser]

The Emirates B777 is one of the few, if any, to fit a 10 across in economy. They have a 34" pitch as well so it may be the reduced width that makes the difference.I tried the 10-abreast in an EK 777 once. Never again. Pitch is definitely not the only variable that matters. Even if the pitch were 40", the narrow seat would not be OK for me.

Fortunately, I was able to organise that trip so that there was only one 777 sector out of four; the remainder were on 330s which were absolutely fine. And when I'd done the 777 (first out of the four) I was very glad that I'd taken the time and energy to find out about it so that I didn't have to go back to it.

[AIRWAY]

Talking about Emirates, i took these shots recently on a Gatwick-Dubai-Singapore-Brisbane flight.

Thanks to Emirates i was upgraded to Business (and i didn't ask for it!)

A330 Business
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/v1rotate/Picture003.jpg

And this is the B777 economy

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/v1rotate/Picture006_edited.jpg

It was cramped on the B777 but apart from that i have no complaints and i will definately fly with them again, just got a few miles credited to my account so next time i will try the Business class of the A330 again i loved it :O

[PAXboy]

With the 330 Biz, I suspect that it is the almost wide-angle of the phone camera that makes the seats look so narrow. For 777 Eco, it's interesting to see that they still have a projector and screen, albeit video rather than film.

[Centaurus]

Thanks for all the prompt replies. I'll avoid the 777 like a plague in future.

[gdiphil]

Last September I flew BA Lhr to Syd on BA via SIN. That was truely awful, the pitch in Y being the worse I have experienced other than charter. It felt incredibly cramped and I vowed never to do that again except in emergencies. I have travelled extensively throughout the last 40 years much of it on BA and I was genuinely shocked by how little room I had. I returned on QF which seemed altogether more comfortable although I suspect the pitch was the same as BA. So I thought I'd give QF another go in April on the same route.

[ManAtTheBack]

Centarus

I too find the 10 across B777 cramped.

Thai is 34" in economy, for me very welcome.

[1DC]

I can recommend Malaysian for service and comfort in economy. 34 inch pitch and in flight service that would shame business in some other airlines.

[FormerFlyer]

The Emirates B777 is one of the few, if any, to fit a 10 across in economy.

I recall flying to NAS with BA/AML many moons ago (7 or 8 years now) and they had 3-4-3 in their cripple 7s. Found it fine, but perhaps only coz the 2 of us had 3 seats to ourselves on the way there, and 4 each to lie down on the way back :ok:

cheers ;)
FF

[zklowrider]

Emirates is rubbish whatever seat you fly in!

Go for Singapore Airlines everytime! It is slightly more expensive, but you pay for what you get, and that includes greater seat pitch and of course the legendary Singapore Girls service!

[SkySista]

PAXboy, perhaps it's so one can play games AND watch the movie/s at the same time!!

(One guesses this would mainly be for the females, as we tend to be better at multi-tasking!! :p ;)) kidding.....

[BigGrecian]

I just flew LHR - DXB - RUH
RUH - DXB - JFK (All Emirates to this point)- PBI

The leg room on my flight from JFK - PBI with Song was far more than Emirates on the A340. I appreciate the new ICE system but it comes at a premium price - leg room for the Comms box.

[Tim_CPL]

The Emirates B777 is one of the few, if any, to fit a 10 across in economy. They have a 34" pitch as well so it may be the reduced width that makes the difference. Airbus is standard,however, unless you travel in something like BA's traveller plus ( 37"), most scheduled carriers are a much of a muchness. Just the hosties and scram to clinch the deal really.........and getting there on time!
Edited for correction.
Just found out it's only 33". You see, I knew the missus was right when she kept telling me that "an extra inch would make all the difference"!

BA do 10 across on their 777 economy (3-4-3) and the pitch is pretty crap as well.

[manintheback]

BA do 10 across on their 777 economy (3-4-3) and the pitch is pretty crap as well.

I'm pretty sure all BA 777 are 3-3-3 and always have been. There was I think a charter ops out of Gatwick (Thomas Cook?) that ran 777s in 3-4-3 in BA livery but didnt Eddington stop that?

[FormerFlyer]

BA do 10 across on their 777 economy (3-4-3) and the pitch is pretty crap as well.

Not any more - it's 3-3-3 now.

cheers ;)
FF

[FormerFlyer]

I'm pretty sure all BA 777 are 3-3-3 and always have been. There was I think a charter ops out of Gatwick (Thomas Cook?) that ran 777s in 3-4-3 in BA livery but didnt Eddington stop that?

That's what I was on about a few posts up - it was the AML contract.

cheers ;)
FF

[Tim_CPL]

That's what I was on about a few posts up - it was the AML contract.
cheers ;)
FF

Tha would be the reason then.... it was a Gatwick, Tobago, Grenada flight for our honeymoon 5 years ago. I was suprised it was 3-4-3 on that 777 as AA only do 2-5-2. Haven't been long haul on a BA 777 since. I did to WT+ JNB to LHR last year on a 744, OK, but not great!

- Tim

[Wandering]

See this website, http://www.airlinequality.com/Product/seats_global.htm to check the aircraft/airline seat pitch.

I review it regularly when I am about to travel and always use the better legroom carriers, especially when I am about to undergo many hours of torture being squeezed in cattle class.

Cheers.