Economy class is FINALLY getting comfortable: BA plans to increase seat sizes to give passengers more wriggle room

  • The airline received complaints on TripAdvisor owned website SeatGuru
  • Seats on new Dreamliners will be half an inch wider than current ones
  • Airline will also change width of the 787-8 World Traveller seats

After complaints about poky conditions in economy class, British Airways is finally increasing the size of its seats. 

The seats on a new generation of Boeing 787 Dreamliners, to be introduced later this year, will be half an inch wider than the seats in current planes, and the airline will also giving passengers an extra inch of leg room.

A spokesperson for British Airways told Mail Online Travel: 'We've listened to our customers and are reacting to their feedback so in World Traveller on the 787-9 we are increasing the width of seats, which will go up to 17.3 inches, in response to customer feedback. 

The size of seats in economy class on the new British Airways Boeing 787-9 will increase by half an inch

The size of seats in economy class on the new British Airways Boeing 787-9 will increase by half an inch

'We are also planning to change the width of the 787-8 World Traveller seats in line with our new 787-9 Dreamliners.' 

Economy passengers have long complained about stingy seat sizes, with the belief that the Dreamliner aircrafts had tried to squeeze too many seats into economy class.

Complaints on the SeatGuru website, which is owned by TripAdvisor, included customers bemoaning the cramped seating, with one even stating that sleeping pills were no match for the uncomfortable seats on a long haul flight.

Economy passengers who have long complained about stingy seat sizes will be relieved at the extra space

Economy passengers who have long complained about stingy seat sizes will be relieved at the extra space

HOW OTHER AIRLINES COMPARE 

Airline / aircraft                                                       Seat width

Lufthansa 777-200

Air France / A321

Easyjet / A320

Ryanair 737-800

 KLM /737-700

 18.2

 18

 18 

 17

 17

The 154 exiting economy class seats, which are 16.8 inches wide, will become 17.3 wide in the new Dreamliner aircrafts, bring them inline to many other airline's Dreamliners. 

Across the board, seat widths vary from as small as 16 inches - on ANA Boeing 777-200ERs to 21 on Asiana Airbus A330-300s.Seats on Dreamliners usually range from 17 to 18.5 inches.

British Airways will get 22 new 787-9s by 2018, and the first one will be delivered next month.

  

 

 

 

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