Allegiant Air adding ‘Giant Seats’ to planes used on longer flights

Not all airline seats are shrinking.

Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air on Tuesday unveiled “Giant Seats,” a wider seat with larger headrests and more leg room, on its six Boeing 757 jets used on long flights to Hawaii and across the country.

Renowned as an airline that will charge passengers more for amenities to generate ancillary revenue, Allegiant has begun selling the larger seats for $50 to $90 more per one-way flight, depending on the route.

Airline officials opted against calling them “first-class” seats, but they’re as large as most airlines’ premium products.

Rows of Giant Seats have been installed at the front of the aircraft and over the wing. While most of the aircraft has six-across rows of seats, the Giant Seats rows are configured four across.

Like the rest of the seats in the plane, there’s no recline option.

The larger seat option is available when booking travel on the airline’s website.

“By adding these new Giant Seats, Allegiant passengers will enjoy the feeling and comfort of a premium seat, while flying to their destination at an affordable cost,” said Jude Bricker, senior vice president of planning for the airline’s parent company, Allegiant Travel. “We think the Giant Seats will be a welcome option for travelers, especially on our long-haul flights to Hawaii.”

In addition to the larger seats, Allegiant is introducing “Legroom-Plus,” a section of seats that increases the distance between seats by 6 inches to 34 inches. The Legroom-Plus seats have 33- to 34-inch pitch while standard seats have 28 to 30 inches.

Allegiant was one of the airlines that pioneered efforts to cram more seats onto its jets. The airline last year completed a reconfiguration of its MD-80 twin-engine jet fleet to add 16 more seats per plane. The added capacity has helped drive revenue higher for the company over the last year.

Southwest Airlines followed suit and added six seats to each of its Boeing 737-700 jets.

Allegiant’s Giant Seat moves are part of an overall reconfiguration of the airline’s twin-engine 757 jets used primarily on flights of more than five hours. The change in the 757 cabin will reduce the number of seats from 223 to 215.

Allegiant uses its 757 fleet to fly from nine western cities to and from Honolulu and Maui. It also uses them on some domestic routes to and from Las Vegas.

Contact reporter Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow him on Twitter @RickVelotta.