Travel Right! The Best Coach Cabins in the Sky

I travel a fair amount. Planes, trains, and automobiles. Mostly by air for the last three years, my travels have exposed me to many coach class cabins. Now seems to be a good time to rate the coach cabins of the top U.S. based airlines in the industry.

Note: this is not a ranking of the airline as a whole including frequent flyer programs, travel routes, customer service (no airline has good customer service), first class, prices, etc. Just coach.

Coach Cabin Rankings

4. Delta
This is not to be confused with Northwest. We’ll get to them soon enough (As an aside, I will miss the big ‘NWA’ on the side of their aircraft. Always made me chuckle.). Delta emerged from bankruptcy with newer planes, leather seats in coach, and a decent entertainment system. Their food choices, if you want to call them that, are pretty good if not reasonably priced. The flight attendants have been friendly for all of the 160,000 miles I’ve flown with them over the past two years. They lost a lot of my business discontinuing their nonstop service from LAX to Boston, though.




3. Southwest
Long known for their fun culture and service, Southwest coach is great. Still like the ‘sit where you want’ option (their ‘pilot’ test of assigned seating was nothing short of a traveshamockery). And now they offer travelers willing to pay a bit more the ability to get on the plane first in front of the fabled Group A. I’ve taken advantage of that a few times and haven’t decided if it’s worth it. Just check in early and you’ll get your aisle or window. Oh yeah, and in case you haven’t seen the ubiquitous commercials, Bags Fly Free.

2. JetBlue
If you ever question the value of crisis management consulting as a profession, talk to JetBlue. After they famously left people stranded on tarmacks around the country during the Noreaster a couple years ago, they’ve bounced back with great in-flight service after their admission of incompetence. Their “DirecTV in every seat” is still a great draw. The flight attendants are friendly and prompt. All seats are leather and even though they seem to be smaller than the coach seats on other airlines (or am I getting bigger?), I never feel uncomfortable. Why? Because JetBlue offers travelers the ability to pay more for more legroom seats. I’m 5’10” so I don’t need too much legroom, but the option is nice for redeyes. That’s important since JetBlue has picked up a fair share of the business Delta lost since it started flying direct from LAX to Boston. Happy Jetting!

















And the number one coach class airline experience is…



1. Virgin America
Where to begin. When you walk onto the plane it’s like you’re rockin’ 50 Cent: In Da Club. Add up the black lights entry, pilots donning all black uniforms (no corny pilot hats), a (RED) in-seat entertainment system, armrest remote controls, leather seats, and ample legroom, and you have by far the best coach experience. Their in-flight service is far superior to others because their flight attendants will bring you food and drink when you order, not just via a cart that stands in your way right when you MUST relieve yourself. The order system is part of the entertainment system. Their musical selection offers dozens of artists of every genre. My VA playlist includes Bach, Vivaldi, Rihanna, Janet Jackson (Rhythm Nation 1814), Beyonce, John Legend, (I dropped Kanye after the Taylor Swift incident), Prince, Neo, Keysha Cole, Earth Wind and Fire…you get the picture. Travelers can pay $2.00 for a fairly decent pair of headphones too, but I suggest you have your own. And there’s more. VA offers a premium seating service called Main Cabin Select for seating at bulkheads and exit rows. Cost is $100 extra which isn’t reasonable on a short flight, but can make a difference flying cross country. Lastly, they have a creative safety video that gets annoying after the third time seeing it—which is good since most people tune out after hearing the same compliance speech begin. I won’t spoil it, but Richard Branson does make reference to the Mile High Club as a standard part of the video. VA gets the lion’s share of my LAX to Boston travel these days, and I don’t mind one bit.


















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So there you have it. My top coach class airline experiences. The top airlines all have segmented the market by offering a premium coach option. They sport leather or equivalent comfort seats. Their market research has paid off from my perspective. While, there are plenty of poor airlines getting their deserved negative attention, I want to recognize airlines that are performing well.

That said, coming soon, I’ll give you the three worst coach cabins. Hint: the Detroit-hubbed airline that I grew up flying will make an appearance.