September 22, 2009 Light on your feet
The future of (cheap) flying may involve new postures — stiffly standing or precariously perching on an ottoman-like seat, face to face with fellow travelers:
Having passengers face each other is not an ideal situation,’ he said. ‘But this will see increased revenue for the operator and more economical tickets for the passenger - so by keeping both happy, this concept makes an attractive alternative.
‘Sure the passenger can choose a flight facing forward in a traditional seating position, but he or she will have to pay more for the luxury.’
Mr Guy predicts that the design could see a 50 per cent increase in the number of passengers on board and a 30 per cent reduced cost per seat. - Daily Mail
Where exactly would the carryons go? Maybe under the little seats? I could see a good deal of trippng going on. I love stretching my legs on trans-Atlantic flights, but this might be a bit much.
And from FlightGlobal - are you ready for stacked sleeper compartments? This site says the Asian airlines are at the forefront of the non-traditional seating movement. No surprise there.
Reader Comments (9)
Aren't the seats facing traditionally forward for a reason? Like so the seatbelt can restrain your forward momentum if the plane crashes. The percentage of people surviving a plane crash is quite high provided they can egress the plane within the first minute of the crash. I bet packing more people in it, or placing seats sideways where restraints would be less effective, would certainly reduce everyone's survival rate on that flight. And what good is money if you're not around to spend it?
That looks horrible. Maybe a good design for a bus, but not for a plane. Can't they even provide armrests? Don't the airlines realize that if they made things BETTER on a plane, more people might want to fly (i.e., Virgin America's success)? I guess they are really only concerned with making more money and packing 'em in like sardines. I've seen safer, more supportive seats on the subway.
I guess I kind of like the new configurations. For a woman with a bigger bottom, I appreciate the fact that I don't have be physcially uncomfortable (I don't consider current airline seats comfortable) on a plane and self conscious too. I tend to bring my own comfort items like a neck pillow and pillow for my lower back so this doesn't seem too terrible. I like the idea of having more personal space. I would definitely give it a try for a cheaper price. The safety concern is a good point though.
Chronic!
Where are the flotation vests? The oxygen masks that pop down from the ceiling?
This reminds me of my last classroom at school in 1975!!
Their fares could be as cheap as a bus pass, you still wouldn't get me on it.
Ohhhhhhh, I know why that picture is niggling at me.......it reminds me of a fancied up troop carrier!! And my old classroom.
Wait, Megan -- wouldn't someone staring at you the entire trip be more self-conscious than sitting in your own seat? ;)
The new "seats" also look awfully uncomfortable (I have horrible back pain and hate current airline seats, too), even for a short-haul flight. Will they put padding for the back? Also, where do you stash your purse or in-flight stuff? The whole thing just seems weird. And though you save weight on less seating material, isn't that weight simply gained back by all of the new bodies in the plane?
The fact that they now consider forward-facing seats to be a "luxury" is kinda funny to me. Gives "cattle class" a whole new meaning. The stacked sleeping cabins are sorta cool, though. Almost like train travel.
No worries, absolutely not gonna happen. Way too dangerous. Not enough support. The people in the center row would bump their heads into one another at the slightest turbulence.
It's just a wet dream of profit maximization. Kind of like a slave ship but you pay for it (possibly with your life, even).
The design would be easy for cleaning, though.
Obviously, I post things like this for fun and to keep us thinking about what lies ahead in travel. In any event light travelers should be better able to cope than most with whatever silliness comes down the runway.
Bring on cabin innovations. Standing...eh, maybe, for short trips at the right price. Stacked sleepers look very promising. The sitting, legs-out position seems the comfiest to me (think Laz-E-boys!). The face-to-face idea as depicted in the photo is mediocre, but that's just a prototype...who knows what they could come up with?
The safety aspect is interesting. Is it convention or for safety that seats on planes to face forwards? The brace position, I gather, is so that you minimise the forward momentum of your torso and head. In a backward position, there's less room to move. Presumably the backward position is safe enough for flight, given that crew seats are in that position. Rear-facing child restraints also come to mind. An X-shaped harness (like the crew have) with side-on seats could well be safer than the current forward-facing hip-belt setup. I'm sure that there are other configurations that could improve on safety, space-efficiency and comfort beyond conventional seating.
A quick Google reveals that air crash investigators have found that rear-facing seats are indeed safer.
Read on.