page_title: Economy class
section_title: Airlines
hierarchical_section_title: Economy class / Airlines
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Innenansicht der Kabine eines Lufthansa Italia-Flugzeuges. English: View into the cabin of a Lufthansa Italia aircraft.
context_page_description: Economy class, also called third class, coach class, steerage, or to distinguish it from the slightly more expensive premium economy class, standard economy class or budget economy class, is the lowest travel class of seating in air travel, rail travel, and sometimes ferry or maritime travel. Historically, this travel class has been called tourist class or third class on ocean liners.
context_section_description: Economy class seats usually recline and have a fold-down table. Seat pitch ranges from 28 to 36 inches (71 to 91 cm), usually 30–32 in (76–81 cm), and 30 to 36 in (76 to 91 cm) for international economy class seats. Domestic economy seat width ranges from 17 to 18.25 in (43.2 to 46.4 cm). Full economy class is usually denoted 'Y' with schedule flexibility, but can be many other letters.
  A pocket on the seat in front will typically contain an airsickness bag, an inflight magazine, a duty-free catalogue, and a safety and evacuation card. Depending on the airline, extras might include a blanket, an amenities bag (e.g. ear plugs, toothpaste, eye mask), and headphones. In-flight entertainment in economy class is either a "mainscreen" mounted to the aircraft bulkhead providing the same viewing for all cabin passengers or individual screens for each seat that may show video on demand. For passengers sitting immediately behind a bulkhead or on the same row as an emergency exit, the in-flight entertainment screen may be contained within one of the armrests of the seat. Some low-cost carriers can charge a fee for headphones. However, economy standards vary between carriers. Aeroflot, Qantas, and Cathay Pacific offer in-flight audio and visual entertainment and meals on both international and selected domestic routes to all passengers, including those in economy, while other airlines such as Transaero may charge an additional fee for the in-flight entertainment.
  Availability of food also varies. Some major carriers no longer serve meals in economy for short flights. Meals are now only generally provided on international flights. Some airport vendors have started to offer packaged meals to economy travellers that can be carried on to flights. Low-cost carriers, such as EasyJet and Ryanair, charge for food and drinks on flights. In addition, many carriers, particularly within the United States and Canada, also make economy passengers pay for airport check-in, checked bags, pillows, blankets, and headphones.
  Many airlines have created a slightly enhanced Economy class with, for example, a slightly larger pitch between seats such as Economy Plus from United Airlines. Arguably, such enhanced Economy classes only restore some of the comfort and amenities that were lost over the past few decades.
  Perhaps the first cheaper-than-standard airline flights were United's Boeing 247s between San Francisco and Los Angeles (Burbank) in 1940. Their nonstop DC-3s carried full-fare passengers ($18.95 one way) and Boeings flew a couple of two-stop flights each way for $13.90. That ended in 1942, and low fares did not reappear on scheduled airlines until 1948 when Pan Am started one DC-4 flight a day from New York La Guardia to San Juan with a $75 fare instead of the normal $133. In 1949, a tourist seat on a Pan Am DC-4 from New York to Rio cost $382 instead of $460 on the standard DC-4 making the same stops.
  In late 1948, Capital Airlines started one DC-4 flight each way a day between Chicago and New York La Guardia. Each flight left at 1 AM and stopped for ten minutes at Pittsburgh (Allegheny County). Chicago-NY fare was $29.60 plus 15% federal tax; seats on all other flights cost $44.10 plus tax. Coach flights slowly spread (all domestic flights were one-class, coach or standard, until TWA started two-class 1049Gs in 1955); in 1961, domestic coach passenger-miles for the year exceeded first-class for the first time.
  IATA allowed transatlantic tourist fares in summer 1952: New York to London cost $270 one way instead of $395. In the next few years, tourist fares spread around the world.
caption: Economy class on a Lufthansa Italia Airbus A319
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