American Airlines Backtracks On Plan To Take Away Even More Legroom

Image courtesy of Andrew W. Sieber

American Airlines recently unveiled plans to give economy-class passengers even less legroom with its next wave of new planes. Following backlash to this news, the carrier has decided to scrap that idea.

The Los Angeles Times reports that American ditched its plan to reduce legroom in order to cram another row of seats onto its Boeing 737 Max aircraft after receiving feedback from both customers and team members.

Under the now-defunct plan, American’s new planes would have included three rows — or 18 seats — of economy seats with just 29” of pitch; the space between the back of the passenger seat and the back of the seat in front of it. The remaining economy seats would have 30” of pitch.

“It is clear that today, airline customers feel increasingly frustrated by their experiences and less valued when they fly,” the airline told the L.A. Times Tuesday.

Instead of reducing legroom, American says that it will simply replace one row of Main Cabin Extra seats — which generally have more legroom — with standard seats.

“This is the right call for customers and the right call for our team members who take care of them.” said American Airlines President Robert Isom.

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