Seat Pitch and Leg Room

The amount of seat pitch available to us on a flight is a significant factor for our comfort, as it largely determines how much legroom we will have. This is particularly significant on long haul flights, with its inherent risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

Seat Pitch

Seat Pitch is the distance from any point on one seat to the exact same point on the seat in front or behind it. Whilst it is not the same as legroom, it does give us a very good approximation of how much seat room we should expect.

Leg Room

Leg room is more accurately measured from the inside back of one seat, to the outside back of the seat in front (i.e. the space your leg occupies from hip to knee). UK regulations set a minimum distance of 26" for this measurement, which is equivalent to a seat pitch of about 28". Airlines will usually quote the larger seat pitch measurement in their literature, and so for consistency reasons, this figure has been used in the table shown below.

Seat Pitch Details

The table shows the typical seat pitch offered by an airline on international flights; in general, planes used for long-haul flights tend to have a greater seat pitch than short flights. Where the seat pitch is given as a range, this indicates that the airline has a number of different types of aircraft in their fleet, each with a slightly different seat pitch.

It should be noted however, that these measurements may not be available on all of an airline's fleet of aircraft, and in some cases, the proportions represent new installations that may not be available across the whole fleet.