I'm always a little amused by discussions about modern cabin comfort, That's because I grew up riding around in Constellations in the 50's when they only had 50 or so seats per aircraft. The seats were wide, comfortable, fully reclining, and had lots of legroom. Not to mention that real meals were served on real china and with real utensils, no plastic at all to be seen. One of the glories of propliners was that the slower speeds allowed plenty of time for full meal service, even on relatively short legs. If the same Connies were flying today they would likely have 100 seats or so per aircraft.
In the 60's when the first generation of jets came into service the seating was still pretty good for the first half of the decade. I think what really changed the whole airline attitude about seat pitch was the US Army. Beginning in the mid-60s the Army began chartering major carriers to fly soldiers to Saigon, Vietnam. The army specified all cabin class and a much closer seat pitch than had been common. A number of big US carriers converted aircraft to suit the Army demands. As the war wound down a lot of these planes were kept at the more cramped seat pitch, with only a First Class section being put back as it had been previously. When passengers didn't scream about the tighter seating the airlines saw big profits in putting all their planes in that configuration. Of course some business travelers did complain and that's why Business class evolved. It was basically just the same seating that cabin class used to have.
As the wide-bodies came into service at the end of the 60's we should have seen an increase in passenger room. Sadly they came online at the same time the airline beancounters had become enamored with the whole idea of tighter seating equating to greater profits. In the end I don't think it has anything to do with passenger demand as some have posited.
In the 60's when the first generation of jets came into service the seating was still pretty good for the first half of the decade. I think what really changed the whole airline attitude about seat pitch was the US Army. Beginning in the mid-60s the Army began chartering major carriers to fly soldiers to Saigon, Vietnam. The army specified all cabin class and a much closer seat pitch than had been common. A number of big US carriers converted aircraft to suit the Army demands. As the war wound down a lot of these planes were kept at the more cramped seat pitch, with only a First Class section being put back as it had been previously. When passengers didn't scream about the tighter seating the airlines saw big profits in putting all their planes in that configuration. Of course some business travelers did complain and that's why Business class evolved. It was basically just the same seating that cabin class used to have.
As the wide-bodies came into service at the end of the 60's we should have seen an increase in passenger room. Sadly they came online at the same time the airline beancounters had become enamored with the whole idea of tighter seating equating to greater profits. In the end I don't think it has anything to do with passenger demand as some have posited.
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