Over the years, airlines have given passengers in economy class less and less legroom. Nowadays, except for the likes of Southwest (and even with them, not for much longer), if you want a seat with a decent amount of legroom, you’ll have to pay for the privilege.
However, over in jolly ol’ England, Which? magazine just discovered something fascinating – there are some seats on Ryanair, EasyJet, and a few other airlines where you can get a little more legroom without necessarily having to shell out any extra dollars (well, pounds sterling).
Wait, what’s ‘Which?’?
Founded in 1957, Which? is a United Kingdom brand name that promotes informed consumer choice in the purchase of goods and services by testing products, highlighting inferior products or services, raising awareness of consumer rights, and offering independent advice (thanks, Wikipedia!). In many respects, it sounds similar to the U.S.-based Consumer Reports.
Anyway, according to Which?’s research, some airlines in the UK have removed some storage areas towards the front of the plane so they could squish in another row of seats (because of course they did). It resulted in the seating being asymmetrical – the seats on the right side of the plane, more towards the front, having more legroom than those on the left side, usually about a half inch to an inch.
The recommendation is to find out what plane you’re scheduled to be on (the easiest way is to type your destination and dates into Google Flights to find the model number), then use AeroLOPA to find your aircraft’s configuration.
Which? claims that many of the seats in question are standard seats, so if you wanted to choose your seat, it would be on the cheaper end (as opposed to, say, an exit row). Or if you decide to play Roulette and be assigned a seat, you may be assigned one with a slightly larger pitch.
The consumer group used AeroLOPA.
Which airlines/planes/seats?
Ryanair
Ryanair flies a lot of Boeing 737s. According to Which?’s research, the DEF seats on the plane’s right side in rows 3 through 15 gave you slightly more legroom.
EasyJet
Which? Suggests if you’re flying on one of EasyJet’s newer planes, the Airbus A321neo, choose the right-hand seats (D, E and F) near the front (rows 3-13) for a 29-inch seat pitch. The left-hand side, as well as row 14 and back, only offer a 28-inch pitch.
Norwegian
Norwegian apparently has some asymmetry as well. But you have to be careful. From Which?:
Its Boeing 737 has three different configurations, and on two of those layouts the front (rows 3-14) right (DEF) have an extra 0.6 inches of leg space.
But on the third configuration, the left-hand seats are bigger – so it really pays to check the plans before you select a seat.
British Airways
British Airways doesn’t have the “right side is bigger” thing. However, due to tail tapering, British Airways’ Airbus A320s only offer 28 inches of pitch in Row 30. So avoid that row if you can.
Feature Image (cropped): Ashley Buttle / flickr / CC BY 2.0
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