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JetBlue Rips Out Seats

By Dan Schlossberg
ConsumerAffairs.com

December 26, 2006

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As airlines try to squeeze passengers into planes with all the delicacy of a giant using a shoehorn, one discounter has decided it's better to win friends than fares.

Six-year-old JetBlue, known for its innovative approach to air travel, is actually expanding the room between seats.

Come again?

The airline, based at New York's John F. Kennedy International, has announced that it will remove a row of six seats, thus allowing four more inches between seats in Rows 1-9. The two emergency rows, 10 and 11, will have 37-38 inches between seats, while the remaining rows, 12-25, will have 34 inches, the same as its present configuration.

Removal of the six-seat row will reduce capacity aboard a JetBlue A320 from 156 seats to 150 but will save money through fuel costs (since lighter planes burn less fuel) and staffing costs (three flight attendants instead of four).

With the row of seats removed, JetBlue anticipates its planes will weigh an average of 900 pounds less. In addition, it can meet federal guidelines of one flight attendant per 50 seats by posting three on planes with a 150-passenger capacity. Without the removal of the row, four attendants were required.

As a direct result of the seating arrangements, JetBlue projects a savings of $30 million over the next five years -- even though it will have fewer seats to sell.

The changes are certain to be applauded by customers, whose complaints about lack of leg room are legendary. Those complaints should dissipate on JetBlue after the interior redesign of its planes is completed in March.

The industry average for room between seats is 31-32 inches.

Whether other carriers follow JetBlue's lead is subject to conjecture. A similar move by American failed six years ago, when the carrier was unable to coax enough additional passengers to compensate for the changes. Unlike American, however, JetBlue does not separate passengers into first-class, business, and coach. There's only one class of service aboard JetBlue.

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