Skyscanner Australia compared the economy seats of six of the most popular airlines that fly from Australia. These airlines are British Airways, Cathay Pacific , Delta, Thai Airways and Virgin Australia.
Leg room When it comes to leg room, British Airways takes the last place, with a 31 inches (just under 79cm) in their economy seats flying from Australia. Delta, Thai and Virgin have some planes with this length, but they do offer some roomier alternatives. If you are looking for a bit more space, opt for Cathay since they have a uniform 32 inches (81cm). Ultimately, if you really want to stretch out, fly Thai Airways with 34 inches (86cm) on its Boeing 747-400s.
Width of seats If you are looking for wider seats, fly Cathay Pacific. Like Delta and Virgin Australia, it offers seats 19 inches wide (47cm) on its Airbus A330-300 (333) models, but with a minimum offering of 18.2 inches (46cm). Virgin has the smallest economy seats departing Australia, with its Embraer ERJ-190 (E90) - often used for shorter legs of a journey - just 17 inches (44cm) wide. British Airways offer the tightest seats (17.5 inches) and Thai Airways give a bit more room at 17.7 - 18 inches.
Entertainment When it comes to entertainment, all of the airlines aforementioned offer a wide range of options on board. Each company offers hundreds of TV shows and films to watch, music, games and trivia. British Airways boasts a monthly changing schedule, Delta offers 18 channels of live satellite TV and Thai Airways provides small toys for younger children to play with.
Cabin luggage As to cabin luggage, 7kg plus one small item (such as a hand bag) is the standard offering, and Cathay, Thai and Virgin Australia all keep in line with this. In this case, Delta and British Airways offer better options as they both have higher weight limits. While BA lets you take on 23kg so long as you can lift this to the overhead locker yourself, Delta has no weight limits at all on most of its routes; this doesn't apply, however, if you are travelling to Singapore (7kg), South Korea or China (both 10kg)
Customer Feedback One of the key areas of this study is related to best economy seats and of the five airlines compared here, only one - Cathay Pacific - was in the top ten. Top of the list was Japan Airlines. Since each airline has a good reputation, deciding who you fly with comes down to personal preference, flight deals and convenience of flight times.
Prices If all you care about are the most economic fares, use travel search engines like edreams, Kayak, skyscanner, among others, or download their app, to search which companies offer the best deals depending on the day and the destinations, as these may vary.