Ryanair, Airbus and nightmare flights Ryanair has vowed to improve its service and Airbus has called for wider economy seats to give passengers a better night's sleep. Is flying about to become more pleasant? In your dreams. Michael Skapinker Ryanair's service promise came after shareholders criticised the abrasive style of Michael O'Leary, its chief executive. The airline, Europe's leading low-cost carrier, this week cut its profit forecast for the second time in two months. Ryanair says it will improve its website, relax its aggressive approach to carry-on luggage and give customers 24 hours to correct mistakes made when booking online. I have long been ambivalent about Mr O'Leary. Other low-cost airlines are more polite and some, such as Southwest Airlines of the US, with its rapping cabin crew, and South Africa's Kulula, with its dark onboard humour, manage to be funny. ("Welcome to Johannesburg," went a Kulula announcement I once heard. If you are visiting, we hope you enjoy your stay. If you are returning home, we hope your car is where you left it.") On the other hand, Mr O'Leary's approach struck me as being an instance of truth in advertising. Flying is awful, he seemed to say. Rather than pretending we love you, we offer ridiculously low prices. Flying is awful. Mostly because you have so little room. Apart from rush-hour train commutes, which generally don't last that long, there is nowhere else those of us lucky enough to live above the poverty line have to sit in such proximity to strangers. Low-cost flights, at least, generally take place during the day. They are bad enough, but overnight flights are dreadful. Some people seem to be able to drop off. For those of us who struggle to sleep even in our own beds, a night in the air is purgatory. Airbus says a slightly wider seat would improve our in-flight sleep. It cited research by the London Sleep Centre, which simulated flying conditions, including background sounds, in-flight entertainment and catering, while measuring the brainwaves, eye, abdominal, chest and leg movements of six volunteers. It found that the sleep quality of those in 18-inch seats was 53 per cent better than those in 17in seats. So is Airbus going to widen its seats to 18in? It doesn't need to. Its long-haul economy seats are already 18in. Why the research and the press release? Because "other manufacturers" - who can they mean? - "are eroding passenger comfort standards by going back to narrower seat widths." So this is a bit of intercompany needle. I recently flew on an Airbus A380 for the first time and admired the ingenuity that produced the world's biggest aircraft. But I slept fitfully. It is not seat width that bothers me; it is the lack of leg room. Passengers who slam their seats into the fully-reclined position make it worse. Most airlines aren't about to widen the gaps between seats. To understand why, look at the industry's projected 2013 profit figures. According to the International Air Transport Association, the world's airlines are expected to make an $11.7bn profit on revenues of $708bn. That is a margin of 1.7 per cent. Many airlines struggle to survive. Alitalia is battling to stave off bankruptcy. The European Commission recently allowed the monopoly-creating takeover of Olympic Air by Aegean Airlines, a fellow Greek carrier, because Olympic would otherwise have gone out of business. Ryanair faces increasing competition from low-cost rivals and is cutting fares further. Mr O'Leary says: "If a couple of competitors get blown up as part of that process - well and good." He is being a little less nasty to the customers, who have more choice, not to the competition. I don't think we will see more legroom in his aircraft. I have talked only about economy. As I work for a lean, cost-conscious company, I haven't flown business class for 15 years. I walk past the business class lot as they settle into their soon-to-unfolded beds. They look pleased with themselves. But really: those beds look as narrow as ironing boards and there is a stranger sleeping across a small partition. You get more privacy in a youth hostel. Business class is not comfortable either. It just feels that way compared with the wretches at the back. michael.skapinker@ft.com Twitter: @Skapinker