Delta's "Cozy Suite" seats 25 Apr 2008

Delta's new "Cozy Suite" seats promise to make travelling in economy class less of a back-breaking nightmare. The new seats' offer a number of benefits - most of them attributable to the design's staggered layout - including increased privacy, better access to the aisle (meaning that those in aisle seats no longer have to get up every ten seconds to let those sitting next to them go to the bathroom), more leg room (that's 31 inches folks, 2 inches more than the competition) and the ability to recline without disturbing the person behind them. The curved shape of the seats also means that every passenger has somewhere to rest his or her weary head.

This is great news - however, it's a risky business decision. Most airlines deliberately make travelling in economy class a hellish experience in order to convince the wealthier among us to continue paying the extra for business/upper class. So if coach class gets comfier, it's possible that many first class passengers will choose to downgrade. It's going to be interesting to see how Delta's act of mercy impacts its sales...