American revises plan to move seats closer

American Airlines has revised its decision to reduce legroom in the economy-class cabin by two inches, after receiving complaints from the flying public.

Instead of reducing the 'pitch” - the front-to-back space between rows - by two inches on three rows on the new Boeing 737 Max jets, the airline said it has decided to reduce the pitch by only one inch, from 31 to 30 inches. The rest of the main cabin rows will be at 30 inches.

The new aircraft will still have 172 seats - 12 more than the 160 seats on the plane now - by using a thinner, lighter seat and a better design so that the distance between seats will 'feel more spacious, so a 30-inch pitch will feel more like today's 31 inches.” the airline said.

American has ordered 100 737 Max jets, a new version of the Boeing 737-800. The first four will arrive in the fall.

Frontier and Spirit Airlines' aircraft have the least amount of legroom, at 28 inches. Virgin America, JetBlue, and Alaska have the most in economy class, 31 to 32 inches, according to SeatGuru, a website that provides aircraft seat maps and seat reviews.

American's decision came after public hearings in Congress into the forced dragging of a United Airlines passenger, David Dao, off a plane by security officers in Chicago April 9.

'There are larger issues here,” U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said at a hearing last month before a Senate Transportation subcommittee. 'Passengers feel like they're being treated as self-loading cargo. We have all experienced firsthand or heard from our folks back home about an explosion of fees for services, airline IT systems failing and causing prolonged confusion and delay.

'And adding insult to injury,” Nelson said, 'American Airlines is slashing legroom in its new Boeing 737 jets to squeeze more passengers on its planes. While these are certainly not new complaints, they seem to be getting worse in the public's eye.”