Is Air France/KLM on to something with roomier seat plan?
The parsing of airline seats continues with Air France/KLM announcing the start of a new seating arrangement. Their approach is to provide better seating (closer to business class) and less services (can we say coach?). It might work. I’ve never flown for the gourmet meals.
ATW Daily News’ Cathy Buyck reported,
France KLM will launch a new cabin class in winter 2009-10 catering to SMEs, the elderly and leisure travelers seeking more comfort. The still-unnamed class will be introduced on long-haul aircraft of both AF and KLM, Executive VP-Marketing, Revenue Management & Network Bruno Matheu told ATWOnline, stressing it will not “really be a premium economy. In comfort it’s closer to business class with a 38-in. seat pitch and eight seats abreast instead of 10 [in economy] on our 777s. But regarding service levels it will be closer to economy. We do not want to add complexity to the service levels we offer.”
My first reaction is that Air France/KLM are onto something — better seats and minimal service. Seats are a fixed, one-time cost and in the scheme of things inexpensive. Service is much more problematical and from an operational point of view far more expensive. Flight attendants (inconveniently) cost money month. Stocking the galleys costs money flight after flight. Free alcohol and fancy glasses cost money flight after flight.
After all is said and done, the seat is the single most important thing we pay for when we purchase our ticket from here to there. Northwest and US Airways understand this as they roll out extra costs for better seats like up-front aisle and window seats and exit rows. United and BA have had an in-between class for years, however it was only the normal coach seat with a bit more pitch.
Entire Web sites are dedicated to getting the best possible seat. The site may become even more important to coach passengers as they get squeezed a bit more. FirstClassFlyer.com for the last 10 years has been helping thousands of passengers beat the system and get moved to first class and business class.
Hopefully, coach passengers will begin to see some relief as court cases work their way through the system about deep vein thrombosis. If dedication to service and passenger comfort isn’t high on an airline’s list of priorities, avoiding fines and long court cases certainly is.
If nothing changes, we may be faced with the worst of all situations in coach class, paying by weight.
After all, if the airlines keep treating us like baggage, soon they may have us pay as freight.
Are you with me? Do you consider the seat the most important part of the flight? If not, what do you feel is most important?
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Comments
2 Responses to “Is Air France/KLM on to something with roomier seat plan?”
Please share your thoughts...
Yes, when I upgrade I am mostly wanting a wider seat with a bigger tray table so I can do some work and not feel squished for x hours. However, I do enjoy being fed in those rare cases where a meal is still offered.
I definitely think that the seat is the most important part of the flight. I like the (usually) more pleasant service in first, the food’s better than nothing, and I don’t feel like I’m imposing if I ask for an extra bottle of water. But what I really want is not to sit in my seatmate’s lap, even if it is my wife. That being said, it’s not like they can just pull 2 seats out of every row, put in nice new seats, and just charge the same economy fare. 20% fewer seats probably means a 20% increase in fares.