I remember a time when everyone thought that Bombardier’s Canadair Regional Jet was the best thing since sliced bread.  I think I was even one of them, but my tune has since changed.  It’s easy for me in 2006 to shake my head and wonder what we were all thinking when we as consumers went crazy over the CRJ, and in turn the airlines bulked up their fleets with the small jets.  But if I think back to where the airline industry was when they first came out, it made sense at the time:

• Smaller markets were either not served at all, or were served by horrible turboprops.  For those of us who had to get to those smaller cities, it was an exercise in frustration.
• The regional jet is much faster and much quieter than the turboprops that served small markets, this cut the flying time down significantly for frequent fliers and made the ride much more enjoyable.
• With the market shifting from big hub-jets to small and medium sized flights, we all enjoyed more flexible scheduling for our travels.

In short, the very concept of the regional jet changed the industry and we were all (for the most part) very happy with the little CRJ for making it happen.  However now in 2006, it is clear that while the CRJ was the first it is far from the best.  I personally have a minor revolt going on, where I will actively seek out flights that use anything but the Bombardier plane.  If I can get a 757, that’s just fantastic because I can stand up straight and usually have a decent amount of leg room.  In the category of regional jet, I try to seek out the Embraers these days as they seem to have perfected the passenger experience for regional planes.  Anecdotally, these planes just feel roomier to me.  At 6′5″, every centimeter counts for me.  Beyond anecdotes, let’s look at the stats on the Air Canada layouts of these aircraft:

CRJ:  31-32″ seat pitch (legroom), 17″ width
ERJ 175:  32-24″ seat pitch, 18″ width
ERJ 190:  34″ seat pitch, 18″ width

And this explains why I now loathe the CRJ; compared to the turboprops it is still a great thing.  But compared to what is available in the more modern class of aircraft, it fails miserably.  Too bad there are so many of them in service.