Here’s why you may have extra room on your next flight

Airlines are adding more capacity to planes. Bloomberg photo by SeongJoon Cho.

Airlines are adding more capacity to planes. Bloomberg photo by SeongJoon Cho.

Airlines are adding larger planes and more rows to existing aircraft during high demand for travel by air. But that doesn’t mean you’ll be cramped on your next flight.

The increased seat count is leaving more middle seats empty, as passenger fill in the window and aisle seats first. It's also relieved some fights among travelers trying to grab overhead bin space quickly, the Wall Street Journal reports.

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Airlines have increased capacity so much over the last year, that they’re struggling to fill it. U.S. domestic flights were 83 percent full in November, down from a record 86.3 percent in July, according to WSJ.

But the increases in capacity typically benefit large-hub airports like Chicago, Atlanta and Washington D.C. Smaller hub airports like the Dayton International Airport have sought increased capacity in recent years for many major airlines.

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