N<\/span>ew York (NYT) –<\/strong> Spirit Airlines, at least, is honest about the tight quarters on its planes. \u201cWe\u2019re a cozy airline,\u201d\u00a0it says on its website<\/a>. \u201cWe add extra seats to our planes so we can fly with more people. This lowers ticket prices for everyone, just like a <\/span>carpool.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not news that airlines have been squeezing more \u2014 and smaller \u2014 seats into the backs of their planes. The question is how far they can push their quest for higher profits before running into a backlash from their customers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe commercial side \u2014 primarily the people who run airline revenue departments \u2014 want more seats on planes,\u201d said Henry Harteveldt, co-founder of Atmosphere Research Group, an <\/span>airline and travel industry analyst. They\u2019re up against \u201cthe people in the airlines\u2019 marketing departments, who are trying to act as their passengers\u2019 advocates and push back on some of these initiatives.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

To accommodate the airlines, seat manufacturers have been skimming and trimming from just about every dimension, relocating the seatback pocket, replacing padding with elastic mesh and whittling down the armrests.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are two goals with seats: to squeeze in more people and to make the plane lighter,\u201d said Richard Aboulafia, <\/span>aviation analyst with the Teal Group.<\/span><\/p>\n

While low-cost airlines like Spirit have narrowed the distance between rows of seats to as little as 28 inches, most of the big American airlines have kept the distance \u2014 what\u2019s known in the business as seat pitch \u2014 at 30 inches. Anything less, the major airlines have found, pushes already beleaguered travelers to their limits.<\/span><\/p>\n

This year, the news leaked that American Airlines was considering a cabin redesign that would leave a few rows in its new Boeing 737 Max fleet with just 29 inches of pitch, plans\u00a0the carrier quickly dropped<\/a>\u00a0after a rash of complaints.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe got a lot of pushback from our customers and, most notably, from our team members,\u201d the airline\u2019s chief executive, Doug Parker, told investors on a conference call in July. \u201cWhile we could convince ourselves that that might be able to produce somewhat higher revenues on the aircraft, what it was doing to our perception <\/span>with our team wasn\u2019t worth it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The push to shrink the space between rows of seats comes as major carriers are squeezing 10 abreast in more long-haul jets, so that the middle section has four seats \u2014 and, by definition, two middle seats \u2014 rather than three.<\/span><\/p>\n

But customers will be spared this experience on most flights within the United States, Mr. Aboulafia said, because there just isn\u2019t enough space. \u201cThe good news is that pretty much every domestic flight you\u2019re going to take is going to be in a 737 or A320 \u2014 no way can you do four-three,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Traditional airline seats were fashioned out of rigid aluminum frames, then wrapped in thick foam padding. But that approach, said Alex Pozzi, vice president for research and development in interior systems for Rockwell Collins, a manufacturer of aircraft seats, is no longer used, with the availability of more sophisticated, high-tech materials.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been using a lot of advanced materials, a lot of composite materials, to allow the actual physical structure to get smaller,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve also removed a lot of the hard points in the seat and gone to fabric suspension systems,\u201d leading, he said, to seats more akin to ergonomic desk chairs.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe less size that the seat structure itself takes up, the more space that\u2019s left over for the passenger,\u201d Mr. Pozzi said.<\/span><\/p>\n

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