Was surprised at the results from this brief study, after expecting to see more difference between carriers on seat size. The numbers speak for themselves. They include the avg based off of the number of aircraft in the fleet, the most common aircraft configuration, and the averages of pitch/width in a given cabin on an aircraft type.
AA definitely had the most seats and easily the most upgraded economy seats. Delta had the greatest number of first class seats and highest percentage of basic economy seats, which was a bit of a surprise to me. United certainly lagged in narrow-body mainline seats, but they had the highest percentage of upgraded economy.
As far as seat pitch and width went, they were all very close. Delta had a slightly bigger economy seat, but was middle of the pack in upgraded economy and slightly trailed in the premium cabin.
United and AA were very close on Econ and Upgrade Economy seats, but their pitch differed with AA having more room in Economy Basic while UA had slightly more room in Upgraded Economy.
In the end, it was interesting to see at least from a seats standpoint what the data really says.
| American | Aircraft # | Main Cabin | Cabin Extra | First | Seats | Main Cabin | Cabin Extra | First | |
| A319 | 133 | 96 | 24 | 8 | 12768 | 3192 | 1064 | ||
| A320 | 48 | 120 | 18 | 12 | 5760 | 864 | 576 | ||
| A321 | 228 | 129 | 36 | 16 | 29412 | 8208 | 3648 | ||
| E190 | 18 | 80 | 8 | 11 | 1440 | 144 | 198 | ||
| 737-8NG | 328 | 126 | 30 | 16 | 41328 | 9840 | 5248 | ||
| 757 | 34 | 138 | 38 | 12 | 4692 | 1292 | 408 | ||
| 95,400 | 23,540 | 11,142 | |||||||
| Delta | |||||||||
| A319 | 57 | 102 | 18 | 12 | 5814 | 1026 | 684 | ||
| A320 | 62 | 126 | 18 | 16 | 7812 | 1116 | 992 | ||
| A321 | 95 | 143 | 29 | 20 | 13585 | 2755 | 1900 | ||
| C100 | 28 | 82 | 15 | 12 | 2296 | 420 | 336 | ||
| 737-7 | 10 | 94 | 18 | 12 | 940 | 180 | 120 | ||
| 737-8 | 77 | 108 | 36 | 16 | 8316 | 2772 | 1232 | ||
| 737-9 | 130 | 139 | 21 | 20 | 18070 | 2730 | 2600 | ||
| 757-2 | 111 | 135 | 21 | 24 | 14985 | 2331 | 2664 | ||
| 757-3 | 16 | 178 | 32 | 24 | 2848 | 512 | 384 | ||
| MD88 | 55 | 108 | 25 | 16 | 5940 | 1375 | 880 | ||
| MD90 | 28 | 117 | 25 | 16 | 3276 | 700 | 448 | ||
| B717 | 88 | 78 | 20 | 12 | 6864 | 1760 | 1056 | ||
| 90,746 | 17,677 | 13,296 | |||||||
| United | |||||||||
| A319 | 68 | 78 | 42 | 8 | 5304 | 2856 | 544 | ||
| A320 | 97 | 96 | 42 | 12 | 9312 | 4074 | 1164 | ||
| 737-7 | 40 | 66 | 40 | 12 | 2640 | 1600 | 480 | ||
| 737-8 | 141 | 102 | 48 | 16 | 14382 | 6768 | 2256 | ||
| 737-9 | 162 | 120 | 39 | 20 | 19440 | 6318 | 3240 | ||
| 757 | 53 | 108 | 45 | 16 | 5724 | 2385 | 848 | ||
| 757-300 | 21 | 158 | 50 | 24 | 3318 | 1050 | 504 | ||
| 60,120 | 25,051 | 9,036 |
| % of Total | |||
| Economy | Economy Extra | First | |
| American | 73% | 18% | 9% |
| Delta | 75% | 15% | 11% |
| United | 64% | 27% | 10% |
| AVG Pitch | |||
| Econ | Econ + | Premium | |
| American | 30.64 | 33.69 | 36.75 |
| Delta | 30.82 | 34.00 | 36.80 |
| United | 30.33 | 34.66 | 41.03 |
| AVG Width | |||
| Econ | Econ + | Premium | |
| American | 17.38 | 17.40 | 20.93 |
| Delta | 17.56 | 17.56 | 20.75 |
| United | 17.39 | 17.40 | 20.87 |
