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Skinnier Seats on More Crowded Planes

Skinny is all the rage on the runway right now. 

 Delta, United, American, Southwest and other airlines around the world have installed seats with trim metal frames and ultrathin cushions, squeezing rows closer together to pack more people on each flight. Three-quarters of Delta's domestic fleet and one-quarter of United's now have the new slim-line seating.

The lightweight seats-and even some new, skinnier bathrooms-improve airlines' bottom line, with less fuel burned per passenger and more tickets sold per flight. But passengers can feel the pinch: Some complain about stiff padding and knee-knocking issues, and liken flying in the new seat to squeezing next to strangers on a crowded park bench. 

 Putting the squeeze on seat pitch used to be only for ultracheap and charter operators. It's becoming more widespread now and getting worse. 

 Each row of coach seats used to have 32 or 33 inches of space front to back for a seated passenger between seat backs-a measurement the airline industry calls seat pitch. But now many big airlines are down to 31 inches of seat pitch. United goes as tight as 30 inches on some of its Boeing 737s.

And at some airlines, it's going to get worse. In September, Boeing announced the launch of new, denser seating on 737s called 737 MAX 200, aimed at low-cost airlines. The new MAX 200 version will be built with additional emergency exits and fitted with 200 seats. The current version of the same plane typically has 160 seats and is capped at a maximum 189 for safety reasons. Seat pitch on the new version will be as tight as 28 inches, the company says. 

 But with thinner materials, new seat designs are "giving passengers more leg room than the previous generation of seat designs'' and making high-density planes possible, a Boeing spokeswoman says. 

 Regulators deal with seat space in tests of safety, not comfort. When planes are certified, manufacturers set a seating limit and are required to demonstrate that the maximum number of people can make an emergency evacuation within time limits. That limits how tightly rows can be pushed together. In Europe, the European Aviation Safety Agency says the distance from the seat to the back of the seat in front has to be at least 66 centimeters, or about 26 inches, equal to a seat pitch of about 28 inches.

More rows result in more passengers competing for limited space in overhead bins. And tighter confines make the cabin feel more crowded or even more claustrophobic. Some passengers complain about sardine-can conditions in coach and opt to pay added fees for extra legroom or even first-class upgrades. One version of United's reconfigured 737-800 has 54 Economy Plus seats, available for an extra fee, and 96 regular economy seats. An older reconfiguration had 18 Economy Plus and 114 regular economy seats. 

 On a recent United flight from West Palm Beach, Fla., to Newark, N.J., frequent flier Steve Landes fidgeted nervously and even worried about the Ebola virus as the man seated next to him sneezed continuously. "Putting you closer to your neighbor does increase the threat of germs if the person does have a cold," Mr. Landes says. 

 A survey by TripAdvisor of 1,391 travelers who had tried the new seats found 83% said they were less comfortable than traditional seats. Even Sen. John McCain has complained, tweeting in January during a Phoenix-to-Washington trip, "Are you as frustrated as I am that the airlines keep moving the rows of seats closer and closer together?" 

 United began installing slim-line seats in 2013. Recent changes include slim-line lavatories in 737-900s and an extra row of those more-slender seats. A plane that began flying for Continental Airlines with 167 seats has steadily crept up in seat count and now has 179 seats.

 United uses different seat manufacturers for different types of aircraft, but a commonly used seat is the Recaro BL3520, a standard coach seat that has won industry design awards and is also used by Lufthansa , Alaska and many other airlines. Three seats together weigh just over 24 pounds per passenger, or 30% less than comparable traditional models, Recaro says. The seat also maximizes knee space by moving the seat-back pocket above the tray table. A newer version with an even-slimmer backrest is almost 2 pounds per passenger lighter and adds more knee room. 

 United has shrunk to 30 inches of seat pitch in economy with slim seats on Airbus A319 and A320 jets, in part with that seat-back pocket change. Along with the narrower backrest, that creates an additional 1.8 inches of knee room for passengers, United says. Even with rows reduced 1 inch, passengers get more space. "The frame of the seat is that much narrower," spokesman Rahsaan Johnson says.

 United customer surveys show lower scores for new slim seats in both Airbus and Boeing planes. But once the leather in the seats gets broken in and loosens up after 12 weeks or more, Mr. Johnson says, "the net satisfaction score is basically the same." 

 One seat that definitely scores lower: exit-row seats on Airbus A319 and A320 planes. Although the new Recaro seats United installed have a flexible diaphragm for the seat bottom, the Federal Aviation Administration requires hard seat-bottoms on exit-row seats that people could stand on in an emergency. 

 United, Delta and others say other coach improvements such as video on-demand and Wi-Fi help compensate for tighter seating. "Seats need to be comfortable. But other aspects are important, too, including entertainment, appearance and service," says Mike Henny, Delta's director of customer experience. 

 Delta, which has about three-quarters of its fleet equipped with skinny seats, says it is continuing to test passenger comfort with the new seats and found that ones with flexible seat bottoms are more comfortable. With future purchases, the airline may move to greater preference for flexible seat bottoms, Mr. Henny says. 

American, still working through its merger with US Airways, says it is "playing catch-up" on slim seating. The airline only recently began retrofitting 737-800s with 160 seats, up from 150. The new layouts will have 31 inches of space for each economy row, but seats will pivot on the bottom, articulating forward when a passenger reclines to provide slightly more knee space to the person behind.

Boeing 777-200s are already being expanded from 247 seats up to 289 seats. One big change on the 777: American is installing 10 seats across each coach row, up from nine. That shrinks the width of each seat to 17 inches, down from 18 and 18.5 inches. Emirates, Air France , Air Canada , Air New Zealand and others have all made that change; Delta and United so far have refused, deeming 17 inches too tight for very long trips overseas. 

 American has estimated that adding more seats to planes and better matching the size of the aircraft to each trip flown will create about $600 million for the merged airline by 2015. It says new seating will meet comfort standards. 

 "If people don't like it, they won't buy it," a spokesman says.

Corrections & Amplifications 

 One-quarter of United's domestic fleet now has the new slim-line seating. A previous version of this story incorrectly reported that a majority of United's domestic fleet has the seating.