Airplane Seat Recline Measurement... in units of length inches?
Perhaps this is conspiracy, but what is the meaning of seat recline measurement in unit of length inches? How is it measured? Does industry standard exist? What is the interpretation in relation to reported recline angle? I try using google search engine but only results related to ethics of reclining a seat or definition of seat pitch.
To be clear, this question is not about seat pitch, seat width, or the person sitting behind me.
I understand that airline marketing team try to obscure this because of ethics or consumer realizing that reported recline actually poor in reality, so please make comment on comparability between airlines with seat recline length or angle (in context of measurement methodology; e.g., if both Airline A and B report 8" recline then is recline equal in reality, or if both report 120° degrees is recline equal in reality)?
For example, Singapore Airline SQ reporting premium economy recline as 8" (I assume double quote meaning inch). Cathay Pacific CX also reporting 8 inch recline. US-based airliner not even attempting to advertise seat recline.
I have heard this recline length is related to maximum horizontal movement of seat during recline action, so I suppose seat height cheating could affect the interpretation.
A picture would be great!
Here is a website compiling seat recline; some have recline in units of length, while others are angle in degrees. I assume that 90 degrees is vertical, but I cannot trust the airline marketing team.
Best Answer
The recline in inches is the distance the head-rest moves towards the back of the plane. In mathematical terms, it's the height of the seat-back in inches times the difference between the cosine of the original seat angle and the cosine of the final seat angle.
For example if seat is 30" high and declines from 100° to 118°, that is
30 * (cos(100°) - cos(118°)) =
30 * (-0.1736482 - -0.469472) =
8.8747"
Pictures about "Airplane Seat Recline Measurement... in units of length inches?"
How many inches does an airplane seat recline?
In fact, The Big Three carriers all offer around 31 inches of seat pitch. Budget airline Frontier goes as low as 28 inches, while beloved airline JetBlue offers a generous 32 to 33 inches on its A320s and 33 inches on its A321s.How many inches is an airplane seat?
About Seat Size Advocacy group Flyer Rights has noted that the average width of airplane seats has been reduced from 18.5 inches to 17 inches. The average pitch (legroom) between seats has decreased from 35 inches to 31 inches, and in some aircraft, the pitch is as little as 28 inches.How is an airplane seat measured?
Measuring the seats Front-to-rear space is measured by \u201cpitch,\u201d defined as the distance between any given point on a seat to the identical point on the seat in the next row forward or to the rear. Side-to-side space is generally measured by the width of the seat cushion.What angle are airplane seats?
Most airlines allow about 5 degrees of recline in economy class, with an uncivilized 30 to 31 inches of "pitch" (a rough way to measure legroom). This is about 2 inches less space than a decade ago.How Airline Seats Have Shrunk Over The Years
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