Some airline companies prefer to spend extra money on leather seats fo

leather seats, "sometimes twice as expensive as the others"-- don't know what others refer to and how can the leather seats be compared with "the others".

If we turn a blind eye to the entire adjective phrase, the sentence looks like:

Some airline companies prefer to spend extra money on leather seats for their aircraft because they last twice as long.
their- can only refer back to companies because "it wouldn't make sense to say leather seats aircraft"
they- refers back to leather seats AS "leather seats last" makes more sense than "companies last". Also "twice AS long" is suggesting a comparison; "sometimes twice as expensive as the others": this is the predecessor that tells us with what the longevity of leather seats is compared.

So, each of the pronouns can logically refer only to the respective noun mentioned and is not ambiguous.

Look at this rule taken from Google:
Some nouns have identical plural and singular forms, although they are still considered to have a plural form.
For example:-
• aircraft - aircraft | fish - fish | headquarters - headquarters | sheep - sheep | species - species
Why can’t the they refer to aircraft: because for an argument we can say that aircraft being things can also last twice as long.

The point of this query is: Why couldn’t have the author of this text said as follows?



This would have removed any grain of ambiguity and doubt about pronoun reference; Pronouns in formal English should be beyond doubt like Caesar’s wife

Another point of discontent as fluke pointed out is that again the pronoun others can very well stand for other companies rather than for seats.

I think the text is paying too casual and cavalier respect to pronoun reference

KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

The fact that everything is underlined in this sentence means that you have a lot of issues to consider. Start with something concrete. You know that sometimes twice as expensive as the others modifies leather seats so make sure that the two are placed next to each other in the sentence. Eliminate (A) and (B). Next, because they last twice as long is better and clearer than being twice as long lasting. Eliminate (C). Finally, two times the extra money in (D) makes no sense, or at least it distorts the meaning of the original sentence, suggesting that companies are spending twice the increase in cost rather than twice the cost of the other seats. (E) remains.

An 800 test taker knows how to locate familiar concepts even in the most complicated of sentences. She starts with what she knows best, eliminates the choices that she knows to be wrong, and then focuses on less familiar concepts.

Dear GMATGuruNY

does the place of modifier "sometimes twice as expensive as the others" change the meaning in choice B compared to OA?

to be expensive = to cost a lot of money.
B: Some airline companies prefer to spend extra money, sometimes twice as expensive
Here, sometimes twice as expensive seems to refer to extra money -- the nearest preceding noun phrase -- conveying the following meaning:
Extra money is sometimes twice as expensive.
The implication is that EXTRA MONEY SOMETIMES COSTS TWICE AS MUCH MONEY -- an error of redundancy
Eliminate B.

(A) Some airline companies prefer to spend extra money on leather seats for their aircraft, sometimes twice as expensive as the others, because they last two times as long.
Dependents caluses are seperated through the commas therefore it distorts the meaning

(B) Some airline companies prefer to spend extra money, sometimes twice as expensive as the others, on leather seats for their aircraft because they last twice as long.
Similar reasoning as A which distorts the meaning even twice long usage is absolutely right

(C) Some airline companies prefer to spend extra money on leather seats, sometimes twice as expensive as the others, on leather seats for their aircraft, being twice as long lasting.
The addition of comma after other isn't required since these are continous statement and with being it's usually a red flag

(D) Leather seats lasting twice as long as the others, some airline companies prefer spending two times the extra money on them.
The starting gives away it completly makes the sentence akward

(E) Some airline companies prefer to spend extra money on leather seats, sometimes twice as expensive as the others, for their aircraft because they last twice as long.
This nails the twice usage and the meaning is also absolutely perfect
Therefore IMO E