Following on the report yesterday of a new seat coming to United Airlines’ 737 fleet the carrier has released an announcement indicating that they are doing exactly that, though the impact is even broader than previously reported. The new seats, based on the B/E Aerospace Pinnacle line, will be installed on more than 500 aircraft in the carrier’s fleet representing more than 60,000 seats. The new seats will appear first on the CRJ-700 type and eventually on the 737s as well. Those two portions of the fleet account for approximately 360 aircraft, with United scheduled to receive approximately 10 more 737s in 2013. It is not clear which planes the other ~130 aircraft included in the announcement will be.
At first glance these seats appear a bit more comfortable than the Recaro slimline option which the carrier is installing in their Airbus fleet. One United official is describing them as from the “same family” as the seats currently installed on the 787-8 and the 2-cabin 767-300, both of which I’ve flown on. They were both reasonable, though they are different from each other. It is not clear just how similar these seats will be to those. Certainly a limited seat-back storage issue is evident from the photos United released.
Also still unanswered is the IFE situation. The CRJ-700 seats have no in-seat IFE which is no change from the status quo. There is no image of the 737 seats from behind so it is not possible to tell what that exact setup will be. A request for further clarification on this point has not yet been answered.
More photos available from United Airlines here.
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I don’t want to fly on these from coast to coast that’s for sure!
At the very least, the 737 image shows power outlets. My big hope is that any IFE installed on those would also not come with a massive box under the seats. Also, if there is a seatback monitor, where would the magazines/safety inserts go? Could they possibly be pushing folks toward BYOE (Bring your own entertainment) and/or toward inflight wifi?
are these slide-y seats a-la the 787 or non slide-y seats a la the 767