The Too-Friendly Skies

This item from CNN.com is good news only for people who like to fly while their kneecaps are touching the pancreas of the person in front of them:
American Airlines (AAL) is planning to decrease the front-to-back space between some of its economy class seats by another two inches. The airline says it plans to add more seats on its coming Boeing (BA) 737 Max jetliners. To do that, it will shrink the distance between seats, also known as pitch, from 31 inches to 29 inches on three rows of the airplane, and down to 30-inches in the rest of its main economy cabin.

American isn't the only big airline heading in this direction. United Airlines (UAL) is considering a similar move, according to a person briefed on its evaluations. United declined to comment. The move signals a new step in the shrinking of U.S. airline cabins, and comes even as carriers are promising to improve overall customer service.

With the change, American will become the first large U.S. carrier to offer legroom with a pitch that's nearly on par with ultra-low cost carriers Spirit Airlines (SAVE) and Frontier Airlines. Those seats are an industry minimum 28-inches apart.

By comparison, economy class pitch on Delta Air Lines (DAL) and United ranges between 30 and 31 inches, while JetBlue Airways (JBLU), Southwest Airlines (LUV) and Alaska Airlines (ALK) have between 31 and 33 inches.
This completes today's report on Why I Won't Fly On American Or United Airlines.