Do armrests raise on all regular aircraft seats?

Question

I am due to fly out to Cancun from Manchester on my honeymoon in August, holiday booked through Thomson who have advised that the aircraft should be a 767-300. I have heard many rumours that the seats on the wide body 767-300 aircraft are very narrow due to their configuration of 2-4-2 seating. I have never travelled long-haul before and this concerns me somewhat as I am a large passenger, and although I don't extend across 2 seats, I do not fit comfortably between armrests on a standard short haul aircraft. I am fine if the armrest between myself and my future husband are raised and always choose window seat so as not to encroach on a stranger. My query is, does anybody know if the armrests on the Thomson long haul aircraft definately raise between standard seats as I know I will not be able to fit if they don't. Apparently Premium Class seats have fixed armrests.

Answer 1

Oh I know just what you mean!  I have hips too.  On every long haul flight that I've been on, the arm rests will rise in most rows.  However, in the bulk head row (the one with no seats in front of it, just a wall that is usually the galley or a bathroom) the arm rests will not rise because your tray table pulls out of the arm rest in those seats.  Also, sometimes the emergency exit row arm rests do not rise, presumably because in an emergency the door is placed on the arm rests.  

Don't feel bad.  Airline seats are only 16 inches wide and us girls with hips just feel a bit squished.  If you can, make sure the flight attendant sees you with the arm rest down and your seat belt buckled because on some airlines if you cannot fit they can ask you to de-plane and the arm rest seat belt test is how they tell if you fit.

Answer 2

Well it depends if your seat is bulkhead or not. But you can check this website out, it has information about almost all airlines with the information of the seating individually. You can hover over the seat and it'll tell you if theres something wrong such as the armrest doesn't go up. It also tells you which seats are the good ones with bulkhead (meaning more room than standard seats).

The Site is:

http://www.seatguru.com/

Answer 3

Are you flying first class?  If so, then the seats will be larger and should accomodate you.   I have never flown on any aircraft where the arm rests didnt lift, and even when I have flown in planes where the configuation is 2-5-2, I didnt notice that the seats were any more narrow.  When I last flew to the UK, I feel like the seats were actually wider (this was in a 777 with 2-5-2 configuration).  However, the real answer might depend on what airline you are flying.  There is a cool website called www.seatguru.com which gives seating maps of each airlines' aircraft, but I dont see that it mentions arm rests, unfortunately.  Good luck to you and enjoy your holiday!