Over the last few years, the airline could tell you the exact seat specifications—width, legroom, and recline—of its new, extensively publicized “World Business Class” seats and the routes on which the new seats were deployed. The new seats recline to nearly flat and are 20.25 inches wide. Everyone was told the specs of the seats they replaced, also called “World Business Class,” which reclined to 156 degrees and were 19.5 inches wide.

Late last year, just after finishing installation of the World Business Class seats, the carrier announced a number of new routes to Europe from the US, served by B-757s with “World Business Class” seats. That made me suspicious. Was Northwest using the old seats on these flights—but taking advantage of the publicity to make consumers think they were getting the new ones?

A call to the carrier’s public relations department yielded the following: “We don’t know anything about the recline of the seats.” Further nagging confirmed my suspicion: “My apologies for the delay. Our 757 WBC seats currently provide 160-degree recline,” Northwest’s Media Relations Manager Roman Blahoski wrote in an e-mail on June 20. In other words, it seems the 757s do have the old World Business Class seats, perhaps with new reupholstered covers, but the numbers still do not add up. Then Blahoski added something odd: “But the present setting is likely not the final. Based on tests the manufacturer is performing, we are hoping to increase the recline.”

I’m not sure what that means. One thing is certain, though: On Northwest’s 757 routes, you’re getting an inferior seat and it’s called the same, specific name as the much better one promoted in its marketing materials and website. Who knew Northwest could be so sly?