[Anonymous]

[AMcWhirter]

Think again if you thought it couldn’t get any tighter.

Today IAG Group airline Vueling became the first carrier to take delivery of what Airbus calls a new “enhanced comfort” A320 which accommodates 186 passengers or an increase of six seats.

The larger capacity is achieved both by using slimline seats but also with what Airbus calls a “Space-Flex” module at the rear of the aircraft.

With European carriers cutting back on onboard catering etc one wonders if and when BA will be adopting this layout to boost seat count.

More information and photos of the “Space-Flex” module:

http://www.airbus.com/presscentre/pressreleases/press-release-detail/detail/vueling-takes-delivery-of-its-first-enhanced-comfort-a320-cabin-featuring-the-airbus-space-flex-c/

http://www.adsadvance.co.uk/vueling-receives-its-first-enhanced-a320-cabin-using-airbus-space-flex-concept.html

[openfly]

Oh wow…24″ seat pitch in Club Europe!

[AnthonyDunn]

Alec,

In the November 2014 Capital Markets Day presentation, IAG made explicit its intention to standardise across the Airbus fleet thereby enabling aircraft switching across operating companies within a matter of days. We can indeed expect to see this configuration across IB and BA; the seats look remarkably like the slimline Pinnacle seat currently being rolled out across BA’s Airbus fleet.

[sparkyflier]

and AD most likely Vueling!

[Irons80]

It looks like they have simply moved the toilets at the back and reconfigured the galley so that it’s no longer enclosed in order to get the extra seats / rows.

The pitch would likely be the same as now (in the reconfigured birds)

[AMcWhirter]

Thanks for your comments. According to ba.com BA’s A320s can accommodate a maximum of 174 passengers so, if the airline were to take delivery of this plane in time to come, one could imagine the seat pitch would be tighter.

[StephenLondon]

The seat pitch is already tight, especially in Club Europe! I lucked-out with 2A on a simple flight from Italy back to London, and including ground delays due to reduced flow rate, and the usual “another aircraft is still at our gate” delay, I was in the seat for just over three hours. It was painful.

I’ve recently taken another Euro carrier in business class on just a short hop and was able to cross my legs in business class sitting in row 2.

Any guesses where my business will go in the future?

[passionateflyer]

@StephenLondon

which euro carrier?

[Tim2soza]

On an upcoming BA flight to Lyon front row was not available in CE so I have upgraded to emergency row in ET.

[KarlMarx]

I took one look at the new CE and then used my employer’s helpful travel policy to change to Swiss. Not only are the seats better, but the service (after a number of round trips) is much more consistent and I won’t be going back to what effectively amounts to Ryanair wearing a fur coat and pretending to be upmarket.

[StephenLondon]

@passionateflyer…it was a KLM 737-800 (with winglets, as they helpfully say on the OLCI). My return was on an Embraer E190, and even that had impressive leg room up front.

[openfly]

@Alex

The newly acquired (from eBay?!) fleet of rather old A320s at LGW are in 174 config. These aircraft seem to have more legroom in the rear 10 rows than the rest of the aircraft incl CE.

[JordanD]

@KarlMarx – I suppose Swiss is consistent: consistently poor. At least that’s my experience of them in Y on six LON-ZRH flights in the last 8 months … and their LCY departures are very cramped vis-à-vis the E-jets operating for BA Cityflyer

[KarlMarx]

JordanD – 17/03/2015 15:43 GMT

I can’t comment on steerage out of City, but business on the A320 out of Heathrow is consistently excellent and far better than BA CE and I fly slightly more than twice your frequency, so I think inconsistency would have been noticeable by now (over 6 months since I changed.)

Why do you keep flying Swiss if it doesn’t work for you?

[Author]

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