United Airlines is going to retrofit its planes to cram in more seats
As if air travel wasn't fun enough already, imagine getting the middle seat with four or five strangers on either side of you. It's something to look forward to — United Airlines has confirmed plans to retrofit 19 of its 74 Boeing 777 "widebodies" into high-density sky buses that will utilize 10-abreast seating in economy, USA Today reports.
The 19 planes will all be flying domestic routes, often to and from Hawaii. You've been warned!
Several airlines already use 10-abreast seating, such as American, Emirates, Air New Zealand, and KLM. However, in order to make the expansion, the new United planes will be cramming in an extra 20 seats compared with their regularly configured 777s.
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There is this good news, at least: The 10-abreast seating in coach is going to use a 3-4-3 configuration, so at least you don't have to crawl over more than two strangers at a time when making your exit to the lavatory.
Correction: This article originally misstated where the newly reconfigured planes would be flying to. It has since been corrected. We regret the error.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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