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Answers (12)

Staggered seating

Staggered seating

  1. Mikewarren1000 Member

    I was just trying to better understand the terminology and was wondering is there an airplane lingo to describe the different staggered options? For example, i see the Delta Suites would be called Forward Facing but whats the “lingo” for what United has done with Polaris? Its like odd rows are forward facing and even rows ridiculously are Herringbone? Does that have a generic name or is that something that United has a patent on only for Polaris? Was just curious. Outside of being able to accommodate the Honey Moon seats in the middle on odd rows what is the point of setting it up this way. It makes the non window seats even less attractive than they already are on staggered lay out no? Who wants to face inward to the aisle?

  2. OCTinPHL Diamond

    [QUOTE=”Mikewarren1000, post: 66016, member: 5445″] […] Its like odd rows are forward facing and even rows ridiculously are Herringbone? Does that have a generic name or is that something that United has a patent on only for Polaris? Was just curious. Outside of being able to accommodate the Honey Moon seats in the middle on odd rows [B]what is the point of setting it up this way.[/B] It makes the non window seats even less attractive than they already are on staggered lay out no? Who wants to face inward to the aisle?[/QUOTE]

    One word: space.
    Longer answer: more space, more seats, more $.

    [URL]https://asklucky.onemileatatime.com/threads/staggered-seating.36664/[/URL]
    [I]”I’d also note that this is an extremely efficient layout for the airline. They fit 28 seats between doors 1 & 2, and manage to even squeeze a galley into the rear portion of that section. In [URL=’https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Air_Canada/Air_Canada_Boeing_777-300ER_Three_Class_v4.php’]a standard reverse herringbone configuration[/URL] you can squeeze 28 seats between doors 1 & 2 without any sort of a galley at the back of the cabin.”[/I]

  3. OCTinPHL Diamond

    [QUOTE=”OCTinPHL, post: 66018, member: 4556″]One word: space.
    Longer answer: more space, more seats, more $. [/QUOTE]

    Update: I compared the number of seats on a UA 77W and an AA 77W because I was curious. It may not be apples to apples, but probably close enough (pitch in coach may vary, galleys differ in size perhaps, but all in all its a fair comparison).

    AA seats 304. 60 premium (8 F, 52 J).
    UA seats 350. 60 J.

  4. Mikewarren1000 Member

    [QUOTE=”OCTinPHL, post: 66018, member: 4556″]One word: space.
    Longer answer: more space, more seats, more $.

    [URL]https://asklucky.onemileatatime.com/threads/staggered-seating.36664/[/URL]
    [I]”I’d also note that this is an extremely efficient layout for the airline. They fit 28 seats between doors 1 & 2, and manage to even squeeze a galley into the rear portion of that section. In [URL=’https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Air_Canada/Air_Canada_Boeing_777-300ER_Three_Class_v4.php’]a standard reverse herringbone configuration[/URL] you can squeeze 28 seats between doors 1 & 2 without any sort of a galley at the back of the cabin.”[/I][/QUOTE]

    Interesting. Thansk. More space, more money, got it. However i still would think the preferred staggered set up would be all forward facing. I dont quite get why every other row essentially being old school Herringbone is nice. I would never want to sit in an Even row in polaris

  5. David W Community Ambassador

    Well, forward facing staggered seats are set up in a way that your footwell is basically in between the two seats in front of you. That limits the size of the footwell. When you take into consideration that the same seat has to be adjusted to fit various aircrafts with different cabin widths, you end up with more space on some planes and less space on others.

    All the different seat types have various pros and cons, not to mention that you may prefer a certain seat type when traveling alone compared to when you have a travel companion.

  6. Mikewarren1000 Member

    [QUOTE=”Mikewarren1000, post: 66030, member: 5445″]Interesting. Thansk. More space, more money, got it. However i still would think the preferred staggered set up would be all forward facing. I dont quite get why every other row essentially being old school Herringbone is nice. I would never want to sit in an Even row in polaris[/QUOTE]

    Just saw your 2nd reply i missed that earlier. Its interesting those numbers. Both have 60 in premium but a huge diff in Coach..

    I still dont see the appeal of how polaris does the EVen rows. Why not make every row forward facing like most all staggered set ups are

  7. OCTinPHL Diamond

    [QUOTE=”Mikewarren1000, post: 66045, member: 5445″]Just saw your 2nd reply i missed that earlier. Its interesting those numbers. Both have 60 in premium but a huge diff in Coach..

    [B]I still dont see the appeal[/B] of how polaris does the EVen rows. Why not make every row forward facing like most all staggered set ups are[/QUOTE]

    As said above – United gets [B]45 more seats[/B]. The room for all those extra coach seats (at least most, at the very least some?) comes from space saved in the premium cabin. UA (Kirby?) has run the numbers and decided your puzzlement is outweighed by the extra revenue. You don’t see the appeal; but most business travelers (despite all these blogs) don’t spend as much time obsessing over these issues.

  8. Mikewarren1000 Member

    I see the numbers but you are comparing AA to UA and clearly have established that Staggered allows more seats through the rest of the plane.

    My point most recently above was if you are going to do Staggered why have every other row face inward to the aisle. It feels so much less private. I guess what would be interesting to compare is the capacity of UA polaris Vs. Delta One Suites to see the diff. between alternating rows of forward/herringbone vs every row being forward facing. However Delta doesnt have a 777-3 or 787. I guess we could compare 772’s..

    Also, i wasnt totally bagging on staggered just curious why United did it the way they did. As long as I get an “A” on Polaris in an odd row its all good. Same with Delta although its an even row A on 777. Clearly Just a lot more undesirable seats on Staggered than on Reverse herringbone

  9. David W Community Ambassador

    UA’s Polaris seat seems to be a good compromise between capacity and comfort, compared to other staggered seats. Every seat gets direct aisle access. It looks like UA also has 32 seats between doors 1 and 2 on the 772, compared to Delta’s 28 seats.

    Yeah you can be more exposed to the aisle but maybe some people prefer that or find those seats easier to get in and out of. for DL1 Suites, some are pretty close to the aisle. Sure theres a door but then youre literally right next to a door.

    You should check out Apex Suites or Qatar’s QSuites. Those are some of the best business class seats out there

  10. OCTinPHL Diamond

    [QUOTE=”Mikewarren1000, post: 66058, member: 5445″]I see the numbers but you are comparing AA to UA and clearly have established that Staggered allows more seats through the rest of the plane.

    My point most recently above was if you are going to do Staggered [B]why have every other row face inward to the aisle. [/B][/QUOTE]

    Because if they didn’t, they wouldn’t have the extra space. I have friends who design layouts to maximize cubicals for office layouts. They are well-compensated. I guarantee you that UA or its seat provider did the same thing. Yes, you can do reverse herringbone. Fewer seats. Yes, you can do pure stagger (like Delta). Fewer seats. [As David posted above: [I]It looks like UA also has 32 seats between doors 1 and 2 on the 772, compared to Delta’s 28 seats.[/I]] UA decided it wants more premium seats even at the cost of having some of those premium seats be less desirable to some people. But that is why every other row faces inward.

  11. Mikewarren1000 Member

    Well an extra 4 seats so that is indeed the Proof right there. Thanks for the help researching & explaining on this one :). Guess United is smart and pulling in some extra bank… Fine by me, just have to make sure I get 3A, 5A or 7A

  12. OCTinPHL Diamond

    [QUOTE=”Mikewarren1000, post: 66065, member: 5445″]Thanks for the help researching & explaining on this one :). [/QUOTE]

    Clearly way too many of the conference calls I’ve been on this week have been pointless…. or maybe I should start paying attention?

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