United’s new seating option ditches the middle seat

United Airlines on Tuesday unveiled a new economy offering on its new Airbus A321XLR aircraft that will give passengers some extra elbow room access to a shared table across an open middle seat.

United said the new Economy Plus offering will be available for bookings starting later this year, with the feature expected to be included on all 50 of the A321XLR jets it ordered from Airbus. It added that it’s exploring ways to offer seats like these on other aircraft in its fleet in the future.

The company said in its announcement that it expects it will be the only airline offering this seating option, which builds off the recent announcement of the United Relax Row that will debut in early 2027 and feature multiple rows of seats on the Boeing 787 and 777 wide-body aircraft that convert into a couch.

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“We’re investing nose-to-tail across our fleet and giving customers choice and value in every cabin,” said Andrew Nocella, United’s chief commercial officer. 

“The XLR is our newest aircraft and not only offers all-aisle access lie-flat seats in United Polaris but now also includes seats in Economy Plus with extra leg and elbow room.”

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Each United XLR will have large, custom-designed tables that stretch from armrest to armrest over the vacant middle seats, giving the passengers seated in the window and aisle seats more space to stretch out. 

The table is permanently fixed and will have a soft leather-like cover and two indentations for cups. The extra space with the vacant middle seat is in addition to the three additional inches of legroom offered in Economy Plus seats on the aircraft.

United plans to start using the A321XLR on domestic flights this fall and for international short- to medium-haul routes starting by early 2027.

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The Airbus A321XLR has 32 premium seats — 16 more than the Boeing 757s it will be replacing in the United fleet — including the new United Polaris suite that has all-aisle access.

All seats have a large 4K OLED screen with Bluetooth connectivity, with screen sizes ranging from 19 inches in the Polaris suites to 16 inches in United Premium Plus and 13 inches in United Economy.

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Additionally, all passengers have access to larger overhead bins that have space for roll aboard bags and a snack bar in the rear of the economy cabin. It will also operate with five flight attendants on most transatlantic flights as the 757 did.