It’s been rumored for some time that US Airways would be reducing the number of first class seats available on the A321. This aircraft is part of the old US Airways fleet (not America West) and primarily flies transcons (cross country flights) from Philly, Pittsburgh, and Charlotte to the West.
Yesterday, it was basically confirmed by US Airways when they ordered new ones. Instead of the current 26 in First and 143 in Coach, they’re ordering the new ones with 16 in First and 167 in Coach. It’s safe to assume that all of the A321s will be reconfigured like these.
Needless to say, the frequent fliers are spitting venom over this one. Head to FlyerTalk and it sounds like these people just lost their first born.
The reality is that all of these frequent fliers want as many F seats as they can so that they can upgrade for free. For US Airways, they just want to get more revenue on the plane and the way to do that is add more coach seating. Leaving those planes with 16 F seats is still plenty, but it’s never going to be enough for people who live for the free upgrades. Personally, I’d save my wrath for those 757s that have only 8 F seats. Now that’s definitely out of proportion with the rest of the fleet.
