Airlines are always looking for ways to squeeze more seats onto planes. Seating manufacturer RECARO has recently introduced its newest seating option, which could be popular with airlines, but less popular with passengers.
In this post:
RECARO’s new folding exit row seat
Most people who are eligible love to sit in exit row seats. Now, I’m guessing the reason most people like these seats isn’t because they’re super excited to assist in an emergency, but rather because they appreciate the extra legroom. The reason exit row seats have extra legroom is because both the FAA and EASA require at least a 13-inch space that passengers can pass through to evacuate a plane.
Well, the extra legroom associated with exit row seating could soon be changing, thanks to a new product unveiled by RECARO. The new “X-Tend Seat” is an exit row seat solution intended to increase cabin efficiency on narrow body Airbus aircraft operating short and medium haul flights.
How can you reduce legroom while still having sufficient space for people to evacuate? With this seating concept, exit row seats would essentially have part of the cushion “flip” up or down. So when you sit in the seat, you can simply lift a panel to get a seat the same size as your typical one. Then when you stand up, part of the seat flips over, to create more space to exit.
Below you can see a video that @AirlineFlyer posted on Twitter, showing how the seat works (ignore the nice first class suite). 😉
This seat was created in partnership with Airbus, and it’s stated that this could increase the capacity of an A320 from 190 to 194 seats. I’m not sure I totally get where the four seats come from. Is this because some exit rows have two pairs of seats, or what? Because you usually see that on the A321, and not the A320.
Will airlines actually install this product?
The good news is that this seat is intended exclusively for Airbus narrow body aircraft operating short and medium haul flights. So don’t expect to find the product on any Boeing aircraft, on Airbus wide body aircraft, or on Airbus narrow body aircraft operating long haul flights (like the A321XLR).
Airlines of course love squeezing more seats onto planes (in order to achieve their environmental goals, of course), and will do so at almost any cost. What makes this unique, though, is that airlines can also monetize extra legroom exit row seats.
If an airline introduces folding seats like this, I have to imagine it will be harder to monetize these kinds of seats, since the actual legroom won’t be materially better than in other rows. And keep in mind the downsides to sitting in an exit row seat, like the tray table being in the armrest, the potential lack of an armrest by the window, etc.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some ultra low cost carriers introduce this, but I don’t think this will become the norm across the industry any time soon. At least I hope not…
Bottom line
RECARO has a new seating product intended to increase the seating efficiency of Airbus narrow body aircraft. Airlines need more space at exit rows so that passengers can evacuate safely, and usually that results in more legroom.
With a new seating option, exit row seats would essentially fold over to reduce in size when people aren’t seated in them. That way there would be enough room to evacuate, without giving passengers as much legroom.
What do you make of this concept, and do you think we’ll see airlines adopt it?
This is insane. Flying today is the worst nightmare for a claustrophobic person like me. We are treated like sardines in a can. And still want to keep adding seats? OMG
These will definitely break pretty quickly, leaving passengers to sit in half of a seat
I mean, surely the biggest hurdle is just getting this past the regulators. If the mechanism fails, for whatever reason, it could make evacuation more difficult and cause a panic and cause deaths. And it is questionable how much extra they can make over time, considering that only some percentage of flights are full. And if they do this to even just one row of emergency exit rows, that is 6 seats. For an extra...
I mean, surely the biggest hurdle is just getting this past the regulators. If the mechanism fails, for whatever reason, it could make evacuation more difficult and cause a panic and cause deaths. And it is questionable how much extra they can make over time, considering that only some percentage of flights are full. And if they do this to even just one row of emergency exit rows, that is 6 seats. For an extra 4. That is 6 seats they can get extra money for on every single flight versus 4 seats that will only make a difference on sold out flights. And when you actually look at how much of a ticket price is not taken up by taxes and airport fees, and consider the fact that those extra four people also burn more fuel, it seems like any airline that sells a decent percentage of the seats for extra legroom will not be gaining from this.
And 6 is just the minimum. As most that I am aware of have either 12 or 18 exit row seats that are sold for their extra legroom.
People want their $59 flight to Disney. So here you go, you get what you deserve and paid for.
man I miss those days when pre-flight seat selection was free (before OLCI) including emergency exits!!! and the seats were much more comfortable than what we experience today
Then they cannot create revenue from the exit seats anymore so I guess that will be a consideeration.
This is a terrible idea for passenger comfort so of course airlines will use it. A movie theater style seat would be better. Also, when this seat eventually comes out, I wonder how long it will take for someone to start selling a device (a la knee defender) that keeps the seat fully propped up...
Just pure evil.
So if the mechanism which raises or lowers that portion of the cushion when the person gets up fails, will the plane go out of service - or can this be deferred if cushion can be stowed manually?
Also, as many here, very curious what makes this design specific to Airbus..
Although shrinking the exit row to add another row might make them more money in the long run, add-ons and upsells are such an important part of business these days and people are willing to pay an increasing amount for premium seating and other enhancements, I'm not sure this will be beneficial or adopted by most airlines either.
Surely the seat row has to align with the exit hatch? Since the exit hatch is fixed you can't change the row pitch or it won't align with the exit I would have thought.
They will just reduce the pitch of the rows in front by say 30" / 12 rows.
Lucky, remember the 2019 issue where BA and LH ran into trouble with their densified A320neos? They often had (or still have?) to block the last row (LH) or last two rows (BA). Too much weight towards the back messing with the angle of attack.
Could something similar occur here? Typically, they densify towards the back of the aircraft as opposed to messing with the (typical) business class section.
Airlines need to seat one passenger per door in an exit row in the event of an emergency, and I’m sure ideally want to fill all the exit row seats on a full plane.
Make them less attractive/comfortable than a regular seat with this extension nonsense and passengers will refuse to move - you can’t offload someone for not being an able bodied passenger.
Looks mighty uncomfortable to me, but I actually don't like to sit in the exit row due to lack of recline, so fortunately I won't have to worry about this. LOL
It’s usually only the rows in front of exit rows that can’t recline I thought?
I guess it depends on how the airline labels "exit row" seating.
https://thepointsguy.com/guide/exit-row-seats/
It's been a real long time since I've sat in one, but I have definitely been on domestic aircraft where the "first" row of the exit row couldn't recline (overwing exit row). Now, I cannot recall if the aircraft had two actual exit doors over the wing nor not. Looks like possibly a CR aircraft (at least on the TPG site...
I guess it depends on how the airline labels "exit row" seating.
https://thepointsguy.com/guide/exit-row-seats/
It's been a real long time since I've sat in one, but I have definitely been on domestic aircraft where the "first" row of the exit row couldn't recline (overwing exit row). Now, I cannot recall if the aircraft had two actual exit doors over the wing nor not. Looks like possibly a CR aircraft (at least on the TPG site it mentions/shows a DL CRJ-900 or possibly the old 717?)
Don't link to TPG here, or anywhere. It's trash.
If there's a single exit row, it reclines.
If there are two exit rows behind each other, the back one reclines, just the front one does not.
From an airline perspective I understand the concept and to be honest the design is clever. I think however if this seat would be introduced on planes operating for a regional carrier making so many cycles per day there will be a point that the seat will not be operable. In combination with the loss of revenue for some airlines I’m not sure a lot of airlines will use this seat.
Another thing I’d...
From an airline perspective I understand the concept and to be honest the design is clever. I think however if this seat would be introduced on planes operating for a regional carrier making so many cycles per day there will be a point that the seat will not be operable. In combination with the loss of revenue for some airlines I’m not sure a lot of airlines will use this seat.
Another thing I’d like to point is the EASA regulation for able bodied passengers that have to be seat next to an emergency exit. There are slight variations in policies of different airlines in Europe (language barrier, length, pregnant passengers etc. etc.) this will put extra workload on flight attendants during boarding.
I am a flight attendent for a regional carrier in Europe myself and from my perspective anything in seat that have moveable parts in it will break eventually. There have a number of times I have had to use the spare CA seat during take-off and landing.
I wonder why they didn't design for the Boeing 737 as it seems to be the airplane of choice for the majority of the big low-cost airlines. On the Airbus side I can completely see Spirit adding these seats if they could pick up another row on board their A320-family jets. As for mainline carriers, I really doubt they would add these given it's a bit of an elite "perk" to be able to select exit row seats because of the additional leg-room.
Huh? Allegiant, Spirit, Frontier, easyJet, Volaris, Viva Aerobus, Play, etc. all narrowbody Airbus operators- not one Boeing in their fleets.
I am not seeing that this product has been approved (maybe it has) but it isn't happening until it is approved. There are legitimate questions such as what happens when a person in the exit row doesn't get up from their seat - such as because they are incapacitated.
It is also a given that Boeing will introduce a similar concept on its aircraft if Airbus gets an advantage; Recaro makes seats for both...
I am not seeing that this product has been approved (maybe it has) but it isn't happening until it is approved. There are legitimate questions such as what happens when a person in the exit row doesn't get up from their seat - such as because they are incapacitated.
It is also a given that Boeing will introduce a similar concept on its aircraft if Airbus gets an advantage; Recaro makes seats for both Airbus and Boeing aircraft.
And, finally, the exit row CAN be good but if it is a non-reclining exit row, the seats may become even less attractive depending on the flight. Many airline seats that are intended to be reclined are not comfortable if they are locked from reclining.
Surely, at least on the a320 with double overwing doors, this wouldn't work as you couldn't fit an extra row there?
@Lumma
You could make it work. No you don't put an extra row there, but make it tight enough you might be able to add another row somewhere else. ULCC leads the way.
But it's not going to be fluff about not happening until it's approved. Because of like almost everything on the plane, it needs approval first. Nor issues about incapacitated people in an exit row. Even with current settings an incapacitated person can...
@Lumma
You could make it work. No you don't put an extra row there, but make it tight enough you might be able to add another row somewhere else. ULCC leads the way.
But it's not going to be fluff about not happening until it's approved. Because of like almost everything on the plane, it needs approval first. Nor issues about incapacitated people in an exit row. Even with current settings an incapacitated person can always block an exit. Don't let too much fluff distract you.
Ouch!
A Wizzair A320 has 18 (?) extra legroom seats and, let's say does 2,000 flights per annum. If extra legroom costs €10, that's potentially €360,000 in lost ancillary revenue. PER ANNUM.
I really don't see a case for these new seats.
revenue is not margin
In this case, yes it is: the marginal cost is zero.
Not every seat is getting paid for.
Agreed. Which is why I set the ancillary revenue per seat at a very low €10. I also did say POTENTIAL revenue.
These extra seats often don't sell and get assigned for free (especially if you fly Wizz through lower-income countries).
4 extra seats are, potentially, more profitable, as LCCs in Europe generate roughly 80€ per seat (including ancillaries).
And (as for poster Goldman Sachs), of course, a fairly large chunk of revenues are contributing margin (due to high fixed costs in aviation).
This was my first thought—that the spacing, at least for the aft exit row, is pre-determined by the placement of the over-wing exits