"A couple of inches" is seating gold. Although I'm 6'1' I've got relatively short legs and legroom isn't much of a problem, but I have broad shoulders even for my height. That means that if I'm in a narrow middle seat I'm spilling over into the adjoining seats, and there's nothing I can do about it. This is why I try to avoid Boeings - they tend to have narrower seats as a rule.
Seat width is something people should be talking about as much as seat pitch.
Totally. Places screw around with width a lot too. I did a tour of MLB ballparks this spring and was surprised at the width variance between parks and even sections in parks.
Seat width is something people should be talking about as much as seat pitch.