Riding coach can be an excruciating, constricting experience, as airlines have for years worked to shrink the space for basic flyers in hopes of jamming more people into a plane. So the Wall Street Journal thought to ask the CEOs of every major airline what they think about flying coach today—while they were sitting in one of the cramped seats. One exec declined: United CEO Oscar Munoz. Nice.
Maybe United simply wanted to avoid another public bashing, after spending months dealing with the backlash over its shitty, inhumane treatment of passengers and animals. But the funny thing is, we have no idea what stopped Munoz from sitting coach for the interview.
From the WSJ:
Asked why, United declined to comment.
Messrs. Bastian and Parker fit, although knees were kissing distance from the seat in front. Neither had to contend with a middle-seat neighbor to rub shoulders and sides or a passenger reclining in front of them.
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But Bastian and Parker aren’t in line for any accolades for their offerings:
Neither apologize for packing in more, skinnier seats. Their message: If you want more space, buy it.
U.S. airlines in recent years have improved on many fronts, from reducing lost baggage to consistently earning profits. The biggest backslide, at least from the reader emails I receive constantly, is standard coach accommodations.
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Both Bastian and Parker say they fly standard coach, with the WSJ getting Parker to admit it definitely sucks to deal with the ever-so-common occurrence of a passenger reclining into your space.
But it’s all good, because it brings in the extra cash:
“I feel what our customers experience,” he says. “Without a doubt, this is, by design, less space than you have in cabins for our customers who desire a different product.”
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The seats won’t get any smaller, the CEOs told the newspaper, but who can say if that’s the case for United. I’m dying to know why Munoz wouldn’t just nestle into a middle seat and chill, but United hasn’t responded to a request for comment on what happened, either. We’ll update the post if we hear back.
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