The woeful state of economy class in airplane travel
If you are one of those folks who do not look forward to their economy air travel, this post is for you.
I traveled to Hawaii earlier this year, which meant an 11.5 hours flight one way to Honolulu from NYC. 3 weeks after that amazing vacation, I flew to Arizona for a conference, which meant I was in air for 5 hours one way. Both times I was traveling economy, and since a few years, I absolutely hate traveling in economy, especially for longer flights. First of all, you don’t get a seat of your choice (almost everything is blocked during seat selection), and good luck getting that aisle seat! You also board the last, which means good luck finding space in those overhead bins for your carry on. But all this is still bearable. My main problem is with airplane seats, which unless you are flying premium economy or business or first class, is worse than the most basic chair you have at home.
There are 2 main reasons I hate them.
1. Width and leg space
I am a petite person so I cannot complain much, though when I look at how uncomfortable my husband who is almost 6 feet gets in his economy seat, I feel really bad for him. Imagine the state of even taller folks!
Was the seat width and leg space situation always so bad? Don’t take my word for it. Wikipedia says “Seat pitch and width in economy class have also been decreasing, In 1985 none of the main four US carriers offered a seat less than 19 inches wide. Since the beginning of the 21st Century until 2018 average seat width decreased from 18.5 to 17 inches, and sometimes as low as 16.1 inches.” And according to BBC, humans are getting taller over the years! “The average human height has gone up in industrialised countries ranging from the United Kingdom to the United States to Japan, with gains of up to 10 centimetres.”
Are airlines looking at this data and these trends?
To be fair, I have also been reading a number of articles which mention that airline prices have been going down steadily since 1960s (also because airlines aim to have a fully booked flight), except in the last 25 years where the average cost has stayed pretty much flat. It feels as though we are almost at the tipping point of cost vs comfort, even for the economy cabin, where the comfort level seems to have dropped to a terrible low, in my opinion.
Some of you may say, upgrade! And I try to, when I can. But is it wrong to expect a comfortable experience in economy?
2. Zero support for sleeping
This I have a major issue with. I absolutely dread sleeping in an economy cabin seat. It comes close to feeling tortured, as if somebody purposefully wants you to have terrible neck and back aches if you try to catch some sleep. I know some people sleep super comfortably in economy, and bless them, but unfortunately, I am not one of them. The only respite I can get is when I aggressively grab my husband’s arm and try to sleep on his shoulder!
I do believe there is a solution here. There is only one real thing anyone needs for sleeping while sitting, and that is, drum roll please, neck support! I feel the airplane seat can do much of the heavy lifting in this department, so that we don’t have to carry silly neck pillows which hurt anyway (for me), if we don’t want to.
At the head of the seat, I have often noticed a headrest that can fold a bit on either side and helps to keep your head steady when you sleep. But alas, being a petite person, I cannot even reach there! Really, if the airplane seat had more places where such a headrest was positioned, petite people like me and children can benefit a great deal! All you need in that case is some extra fabric on the seat and that’s all! Fold the one at the level which is most comfortable for you!
If you have reached here, this is the end of my rant (almost!). Thank you so much for reading through it. I really do believe airlines can use a little imagination and innovation, without ballooning costs, to make sure all of their passengers have a safe and comfortable flight experience, no matter what class of ticket you book.
References
Airline seat wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_seat#:~:text=Seat%20pitch%20and%20width%20in,as%20low%20as%2016.1%20inches.
Increasing human height over the years, BBC https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20150513-will-humans-keep-getting-taller
