More Legroom Throughout Coach?

Or a way to cram more people in? Depends on what row of coach hell you're in, as always.

A row of seats broke loose and slid into the row behind during takeoff on a United flight in Seattle, bound for San Francisco, Sunday night. The local newspaper report is way too sketchy for something reported a day after the event -- what kind of plane? A single "loose bolt" lets loose an entire row?

I looked it up (ahem) and see that the flight, United 1139, is operated with a 737-300 configured with two 2x2 rows in first class and the rest are 3x3 rows in coach. So the row that broke loose was the first row in coach.

The usual entities are said to be investigating. But let's say this: Delays, schmelays. Maintenance and safety issues are the new horror story genre developing in air travel this fall. And there can simply be no excuse for a row of seats coming unmoored on an airplane.

###