I flew to Phoenix a couple weeks ago on a 737, which has two rows of three seats. Legroom was okay, but shoulder room was quite cramped. I took some casual measurements, and decided that if the seats were six inches wider we would be pretty comfy, especially those in middle seats. I even talked to my fellow passengers, and they agreed that even a little less would be great. The way it is now, all three can’t sit back at the same time. Someone needs to shift a shoulder forward to fit.
Mt question is, why can’t the builders make the planes just three feet wider, and the seats each six inches wider. It can’t cost that much more to build.
Fuel? Would the extra weight increase fuel consumption that much?
This is an actual question, not a search for opinion. I’m not picking on Boeing or their ilk. I’m hoping an aircraft engineer or the like will know.
Peace,
mangeorge
If they built the planes a little wider then the airlines would put in one more seat per row. People buy airline tickets based almost totally on price.
Some airlines allow you to pay extra for more room. If you want more room you have to vote with your wallet.
That is what I was going to say. The airlines simply pack the most people into the tightest space they can get away with and still have people buy their tickets. It isn’t really their fault. Airline travel has become such a commodity that people simply sort by price online and click to buy maybe looking at other things like connections and travel time but rarely from the sheer ambiance of the airline. There are some exceptions. Midwest Express has been known for better than average accommodations but that isn’t the standard model.
It’s not so much that the planes are to narrow, it’s that people have gotten a lot wider in the last 20 years. That’s only partly a joke, btw.
That is true as well. For weight and balance purposes, the airlines had to redefine their “average” person in the last couple of years. IIRC it had to be increased to 180 pounds which includes men, women, and children.
Then why so narrow? How do they come up with the dimensions? My hips are about average for a man, but touch both sides of the seat. It doesn’t allow me to discreetly adjust my “parts”. Even a couple inches would help. People need to squirm a little.
How on earth does one vote with one’s wallet in something like this? Not flying isn’t a real option. If I give the attendant a few bucks, will she/he push a magic button to widen my seat? 
< means “just kidding”.
At the end of a two-hour flight most passengers are a little testy. I ask questions. The woman next to me admitted that her “parts” get uncomfortable too. People are just not designed to have their legs together for so long.
Part of my problem is, I think, that I got upgraded once to first class. What a revelation. But I don’t expect that much, just some wiggle room.
Buy first class or business class.
mangeorge what do you think are the average measurements for a man? Because you sound like a big guy to me or you are flying an airline with smaller seats than the ones I fly.
As said upthread, because they can then fit more people onto the same plane, and thus earn more money, which is why they exist.
Also, a wider plane is a heavier plane with more air resistance and thus a more expensive plane to run.
I am not suggesting you are overweight or anything but you can buy two coach class seats for yourself for much less than a business class or coach class ticket. More reasonably, you can ask to move to a non-full aisle as soon as the cabi9n doors close. I do that a lot or just get up and move myself. It is easier to ask forgiveness than permission after all.
Bulkhead and exit row seats don’t technically get you more width but it still feels that way when you can stretch your legs out. You can book bulkhead seats yourself but you have to ask for exit row seats at check-in because they need to verify that you can do your duty in case the unthinkable happens. Other strategies include researching which flights are not typically full and take those. They will usually be during off hours or unpopular days of the week.
The plane designers have not widened the seats to accomodate the wider people over the past 20 years. And you could conceivably wind up with all the fat people on one side of the aircraft, and all the scrawny people on the other side.
Yes, most people on a plane are able to sit three across with adults without too much imposition on the person to the side. I wouldn’t call it comfortable, though; usually the trouble is what to do with your arms.
The width of the fuselage is the minimum the manufacturer can make it to accommodate the amount of seats across that is the intended, natural configuration. You don’t want any added width because that equals extra weight, and extra weight means more fuel to fly, and that equals higher fuel cost, which means increased ticket prices or reduced profits. Boeing and the other manufacturers work carefully with the airlines to produce the proper size plane.
Wikipedia notes that, “The 757 retains the same upper-fuselage diameter as the previous Boeing 707, 727, and 737.” So, basically, if it seats six across, this is the cross section needed to do that. That hasn’t changed since the 60s.
That’s not voting, it’s rewarding! It would do nothing to express one’s opinion on coach seating.
The 737 was designed in the late 60’s.
Also while adding 3 feet of cabin width may not seem like a big deal it actually is. The interior cabin width of a 737 is 11’7". Adding 3 feet of width is a roughly 25% increase. IANAAeronautic Engineer but I suspect that would have a considerable impact on flight characteristics and plane weight (hence engines needed to move it and fuel cost).
As others mentioned I would guess a plane made to your specifications would be cost prohibitive to run unless the extra room was used for another row of seats.
Boeing 737.
All my “excess” hangs over my belt buckle. The seat’s not a tight fit, but there’s no extra.
I was on a small airplane once that had about 50 seats. The attendants had people move to specific seats until the pilot was satisfied about the balance of the plane (I guess he had some sort of readout on his instrument panel).
I don’t think you are getting it. You have these planes which may be in development for decades and cost anywhere from $30 million for a small passenger jet to $300 million for the newest jumbo jets. Everything in them including the seats is tested to exhaustion so they can’t just throw in new seats and cabin configurations on a whim. It would take a while for Boeing or Airbus to delivery the first “Wide Load” jet even if the airlines were begging for them. Average weight gain has simply outstripped the typical airliner development cycle.
The major point was made early on however. Even a lowly 737 could be configured so that even 350 pound customers have plenty of room to scratch their balls at length. However, people will still buy tickets if they pack us all in and that is really all that matters and there is no way around it. Anyone could buy a bigger seat yet few individuals do it for personal travel. I am rather tall with long legs and I have had my knees painfully crunched more times than I can could even by a slight recliner ahead of me. I have no idea how people taller than me stand it yet somehow we still tell ourselves that it is better to go cross-country for $300 in pain and misery than $1000 in style. That suggests that the going rate for personal misery is lower than $100 an hour give or take for most people (me included).
Well, I “voted” by getting my own pilot’s license…
Then again, although my seat is always better than coach, even in coach no one hands you a brush and says “It’s your turn to de-ice the airplane”
mangeorge what is so hard to understand about this. You have the option to buy seats with more room. Yet for some reason you do not. You care more about price than comfort. The airlines are accommodating you choice.
How does one use a brush to de-ice the airplane? I can see why you shouldn’t use scrapers since damage to the airfoils would be a Bad Thing[sup]TM[/sup], but how effective would even a push brush be?