Screenshot: Southwest, YouTube
Six months after announcing a new economy seat coming to future Southwest jets, the company unveiled the goods this week at its annual Media Day event. Southwest is eager to point out that the new design, called Meridian Seats, is lighter and wider than the previous Evolve seats on existing jets.
The new variety won’t be retrofitted onto the airline’s jets already in service, but they will begin appearing on new orders in mid-2016. The seats are upholstered with an eco-friendly recycled leather, and the entire design will be made available to other airlines interested in outfitting their own jets with the sleeker seats.
But the width is the main talking point here. Southwest is excitedly touting that Meridians will be the widest economy seats in the industry. Excellent news! But how wide are we talking about here? Well, an extra .7 inches. Ah.
Already, there is some controversy about this new width, with some suggesting that the bottom seat width has not changed at all when compared to its predecessor. Instead, Southwest appears to be pulling this new wider claim from another feature of the Meridian seats – a significantly thinner arm rest.
Finally spotted the new @SouthwestAir seats! #SWAMediaDay #paxex @thatjohn @RunwayGirl @AirlineFlyer pic.twitter.com/4cHtp95cp0
— Seth Miller (@WandrMe) October 8, 2015
Southwest on the other hand insists that it isn’t being fuzzy on the math here, and that the new width does not come at the expense of the armrest. In a statement to Road Warrior Voices, Southwest spokesperson Thais Hanson said:
“Working with B/E Aerospace, we created more personal space with the combination of a wider seat frame and by lowering the profile of the armrests. This combination also offers benefits to the passenger such as increased back and seat bottom width, available space under the seat, and increased shin and knee clearance.”
Whether the new Meridian seats feel like a spacious upgrade, or an arena for passive aggressive elbow jockeying remains to be seen. I guess we’ll have to wait until mid 2016 to find out!