Q – We are going to be attending a conference in London next month and we’re trying to figure out whether we should be booking our air on American or United out of Chicago. The seating in Business Class is really important to us and we are wondering which of these has beds that will allow us to stretch out? It looks like we will be flying a 777 on United or a 767 on American. Are the beds all the same?
A – We were in a great mood here until you asked about airline seating. It is a rather upsetting topic because they are definitely not the same. There are no industry rules or even “norms”. Airlines buy a “shell aircraft” and then customize it with seating that meets their needs. Financial needs almost always come ahead of aesthetic needs. When flying, you can analyze exactly what your seating options are going to be. We keep a book on our desks that we constantly update with seating stats on every aircraft operated by every one of the world’s important airlines. It is currently 47 pages.
The American 767-300 offers a seat width of only 18.5 inches. We would expect that in coach – not Business Class. The aircraft does not have lie flat beds. American has equipped this aircraft with Angle Lie Flat beds. That is a big difference. On any flight over five hours, we think you should look for true, 360 degree horizontal, lie-flat seats. Frequent travelers report that angled beds that do not allow them to lie flat, as you would at home, are far less desirable than true “Lie flats”. Airline marketing lingo tries to confuse the consumer as each seat has “Lie Flat” in its nomenclature. The question you need to ask is “true lie flat or angled lie flat seat?”
The United 777 200 Series will give you true Lie-flat beds plus 20 inches of seat width. But beware, one version of the United 777, the V3 model, has Recliner Seats in Business and doesn’t even have beds. On your routing, however, you will have better seating on United in Business Class.
One caveat. If you are flying American overseas on a 777-300 ER Series aircraft, you will have true Lie-flat seats as well as 26 inches of seat width, clearly preferable to United’s configuration. So it all boils down to the exact type of aircraft you are flying.
One more – final caveat. Our experience tells us that airline reservation agents are not always a good source of accurate information about seating details. Do not try to get comparative seating statistics directly from the airlines.
