EVA Air's 777 Economy Seats Are Getting Tighter

You have a pic of an EK A380 instead of an EK B777

We spend a lot of time talking about who has the best economy class product internationally, but I think that it's kind of a waste of time. No amount of food, drink, TV shows, etc. can make a 17 or 18 inch wide seat that much better. At the end of the day, I think price is at least 90% of what someone takes into consideration when booking an international economy ticket. The ceiling in international economy is way lower than it is in business or first class.

I agree that the timing of the announcement is suspicious. However, I am not surprised that EVA is trying to maximize profits based on my recent Royal Laurel business class Hello Kitty (IAH-TPE) roundtrip experience this weekend. I was disappointed in the deterioration of soft products and cutbacks in services.

Boo, increasing density after receiving the rating should lead to an automatic lowering of the score. How's 4.5 stars sound EVA?

"there’s simply no return on offering a more spacious configuration as a standard offering"

That is so true. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, AA increased the pitch on their economy seats, thinking it would give them a competitive edge over their rivals. Instead they found out that people would book the sardine seating airline if the tickets cost just a dollar less. AA's highly advertised "More Space In Economy" quietly went away as they went back to 'less space in Economy.'

While many of us might know the difference from flight reports, even perhaps check with Seat Guru before booking a flight, most people only check the price. And they won't pay even a few cents more for a much better experience on board.

Oh, sure, they will complain about it, but they are getting the pathetic hard and soft products they refuse to pay more for... ;(

And I take card recommendations here with a sack of salt. Talk about conflict of interest 🙂

Interesting. With the 20 extra seats in EY, I wonder if the flights to say TPE-JFK will be payload restricted? Sure, you're adding more seats, but you're also giving up the ability to fly further with a heavier payload.

I think there is a big difference between leisure and business travel in Economy.

For business travel, routing, schedule and even loyalty program will justify higher prices. I have my doubts though if a flight with a better hard product would be preferred over a flight with a better schedule even if not more expensive.

For me same criteria apply in business class. If it is leisure I consider product and pricing more. On business trips it comes down to schedule

Big disappointment. This comes right after the 5 star announcement. My mom just flew TPE-IAH in Y and was blown away by their product. Guess she spoke too soon.

With that said, I do hope they do something similar to what ANA did when they went 10 abreast. Keep the 10 abreast planes on the West Coast and Chicago flights and continue with 9 abreast to East Coast and Houston. I've taken NH 10 abreast between SFO/LAX-NRT and for a 10 hour flight, it was very manageable. Then again, they do have 34" pitch in Y.

@Colin, these planes will only fly YVR, SEA, CGK, and HKG. IAH will still have the 9 abreast

That is a shame. Can the 5th star be taken away? However, with the other Taiwanese carrier China Airlines deploying 3-4-3 on its 777-300ER, the move is not completely surprising. My hope is that the new "high density" EVA 777 will be used primarily for the shorter intra-Asia routes. Prior to this move to 3-4-3, EVA actually has been quietly shrinking the seat pitch and increasing the number of seats in Y. The original 777 configuration (77N) carries 313 total; while the newer configuration (77A) caries 333 total and seat pitch went down from 33 inch to "32/31" inch according EVA's own published spec (although the lack of the under-seat IFE box is helpful to create more room). Currently EVA is also reconfiguring some of the 77Ns to carry 323 total (by installing new seats at Y and Y+) and designating it as 77M.

What most concerns me is when you purchase a seat with an expected width and then end up on an aircraft with narrower seats. This happened to me on ANA 787 when I had specifically purchased ANA due to the wider seats and then new aircraft came out with the narrower seats and I got stuck with that. What happened to getting the product you paid for? If you pay for "economy" you only get whatever "economy" is at time of flight, not time of purchase.

"I don’t place much value on Skytrax ratings, since the system seems questionable at best. Skytrax makes money doing consulting for airlines, so you have to wonder what the correlation is between airlines with a 5-star rating and airlines that have paid Skytrax for consulting."

Even though I appreciate the information provided, that quote should strike a familiar note to those who tout credit cards for a living.

@Credit - LOL!

Strange, I didn't know that 9-abreast was becoming so rare. I guess that all of the 777's ive flown in the past few years (United, Asiana, and Singapore) just all happened to have 9-abreast.

@Ben I'd like to see you write more about the questionable Skytrax ratings process. Until you mentioned it, I was unaware that they made money for consulting from the very airlines they are rating and I don't think most people are aware of that. I always thought the ratings were based on passenger surveys, but it turns out that those only determine the airline awards and are unrelated to the ratings. Perhaps you can report further and get a reply from them.

Local Taiwanese media is reporting the ten abreast will be trialed on TPE-SEA 3x weekly before going onto SE Asia routes like CGK. Existing configurations will remain for the time being

When will Eva be deploying the new 3-4-3 configurations on its LAX-TPE flights? This is most disappointing as EVA has always had the upper hand over China Airline's economy

The first commenter says you have a pic of an A380. He is simply incorrect. But it is sad news that EVA is going 10 abreast. Avoiding them here on out. In time, Boeing will be synonymous with low-end travel, and Airbus with the higher end.

Just booked SFO-TPE in Y on the new 3-4-3 configuration for May 2017. Disappointed as I paid a premium for EVA. However, my return flight TPE-LAX is still the 3-3-3.

Just flew on Eva's 777 M, from Bkk to Tpe. Comfortable economy seat, quite impressed. The next leg was Tpe to Sfo and it was a 777 B (the newest modal?), and I was very disappointed. Very tight seats, rubbing shoulders and knees for 11 hours. The new Boeing added 30+ seats in Economy. I should have saved $300 and flown a more budget airline. Shame on you Eva. 5 star? NOT!

I used to love flying EVA between Vancouver and Tapei until they replaced the old 747 with a new 10 seat abreast 777. I'm flying with China Airlines (CI) in their new 350 with wider seat from now on, and I'm willing to pay more if I have to. I did use to pay more for EVA over CI for the same route. Sad to see EVA adopting such poor business practice. Sad to see good airlines heading down to budget quality.