Personal Finance News Friday 10/26

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7 ways to snag the best airline seat

By Kelli B. Grant/MarketWatch

Flying isn’t getting any cheaper, and travelers who don’t book carefully may find that they’re paying more for a less comfortable experience.

Airlines have been adjusting their cabin configurations in recent months to fit more passengers, often resulting in a tighter squeeze for those in coach.

Earlier this month, JetBlue announced it had expanded legroom in new premium rows on some Embraer E190 aircraft—at the expense of an inch lost in the rearmost 11 rows. In January, Southwest began adding six seats to each plane, a change that also reduced legroom by an inch.

Industrywide, the average seat offers 31 inches of legroom, down from 32 inches just a few years ago, says Rick Seaney, chief executive of fare-tracking site FareCompare.com. “There’s no doubt: If you’re tall, you’re paying more and you’re feeling less comfortable for it,” he says.

But comfort may be compromised by more than just reduced legroom, says Jami Counter, a senior director for seat-rating site SeatGuru.com.

Airlines have also been replacing seats with thinner, lighter models. (Earlier this week, United announced it would use such seats to add an extra row of seats to planes next year, saying the thinner design wouldn’t reduce legroom.) Some of the new seats aren’t as comfortably padded as others.

“There are some that are incredibly thin—not quite like a mesh office chair, but you’re getting pretty close to that,” he says.

If there’s good news for travelers, it’s that the changes will be slow to appear. Most of the changes are coming in with new aircraft over the course of a few years, says George Hobica, founder of AirfareWatchdog.com.

Reconfiguring existing planes takes time, too, since it’s not simply a matter of adding a row of seats—airlines must also add extra oxygen masks, lights and air vents. “It’s not something they could do overnight,” he says.

Even as airlines play musical chairs, experts say there are plenty of things travelers can do to end up in a great seat by takeoff:

To read the entire article by Kelli B. Grant/MarketWatch:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/7-ways-to-snag-the-best-airline-seat-2012-08-23

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