Frontier's new seating: 'Stretch' for some, 'scrunch' for others

Sure, I think it's great that Frontier is introducing Stretch -- a new premium economy section in the first four rows of coach that adds more legroom.

But what I don't like is that they're not taking out any rows in back. Instead, they're squeezing the space between the other rows to make up for the extra room.

Sounds as though you're either moving up to riches, or being pushed back to rags.

Originally, seats were 33 inches in pitch -- meaning the space from a spot on your chair to the same spot of the chair in front of you. The Stretch section now gets 36 inches. The other seats behind are scrunched to 31 inches -- or even 30 inches.

Because of Frontier's tier class system, the only way that you can get a Stretch seat at the time of booking is if you're a Classic Plus member. For you, it's free. For everyone else, you get your chance at check-in. Those in the Classic class can get an upgrade for $15 per flight segment. Those in the Economy class pay $25 per flight segment.

You can currently find Stretch in the airline's Embraer 190s. A320s, A318s, and A319s will follow suit in the next few months. The new seating class just started earlier this month.

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