This is genius.
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Finally some love for coach
25 Apr 2008 09:24 am
Comments (14)
I was expecting some love for the handbags, which wouldn't have been much to see at all. That being said, I expect that most airlines will switch to some form of staggered seating within the next twenty years. Staggered seating makes the seats seem wider, because your widest bits (ie, your shoulders) aren't right next to your neighbor's widest bits.
Hmm, I wonder if this will make it to Northworst too now that they're merging with Delta. In any case, I don't think there's anything you can do to a seat in an airplane to make it bearable for more than three or four hours, tops. The key to comfort is to reduce the travel time, rather than trying to make an intrinsically cramped and noisy plane "more comfortable". Bring back the SST!
Does this arrangement (different seats+different floorplan) allow the same overall seat density as the more normal design? If it doesn't, I doubt the airlines will go for it in a big way.
Most of my flights lately are on regional jets, 1 + 2. I wonder if there is anything similar to be done with these smaller planes.
I never understood why the seats had a "headrest" that craned my neck in an uncomfortable position. My head is craned forward in an airline seat instead of being allowed to lean back and relax. Jerks.
As others have noted elsewhere, these may be problematic depending on how much hip room they have. In addition, the seat pitch varies among airlines. For example, Southwest has 1-2" more space at each seat on their 737s than the other majors - probably due to smaller galleys.
I also wonder if they can meet evacuation time requirements, since you have to move at an angle rather than straight out to the aisle. They'll also require that the overhead space be rearranged to provide useful reading lights and A/C vents - an added expense for a profit starved industry.
"I never understood why the seats had a "headrest" that craned my neck in an uncomfortable position."
For the same reason car "headrests" exist at all, they're designed for neck injury protection. Yhey're actually for neck injury protection.
It's great, but they sure don't seem to think much of the fatty Americans who are keeping them employed.
http://www.thompsonsolutions.co.uk/ts_cozysuite_comfort.html
"These are valuable increases given the continued growth in average passenger size (particularly US nationals)"
That may make sense in an internal document/business plan, but what foolish person put that out there as a marketing point?
"How can we say, politely, 'because Americans are fatter than ever our seats make sense'."
That "feature" goes without saying. As soon as Delta gets these I fly with them and no one else. (until the get some fatty seats too)
Whichever airline adopts these seats will be at a huge competitive advantage, political-correctness be damned.
Unless regulations interfere, there will be enormous market pressure to switch to these seats, and I think we should see fairly rapid market adoption.
It certainly is. (And I hadn't guessed what was on the other end of the link either.)
Will these stop the bozo in front suddenly tipping his seat back onto my knees? If so, hurray!
O dearieme,
Sorry about that, if you tip your seat back into the schmuck's knees behind you faster next time, it won't be so bad.
Everyone knows the first thing you do upon the plane getting 1000 ft off the ground is stake out your claim for both armrests. After that you wait until the plane hits about 1000 ft and kick your chair back ASAP. That way when the bozo in front tips his back you're already making the person behind you wish they could afford First Class for the last 5 minutes.
I like it. My problem with it is 2010(!). I don't understand why it would take almost two years; it's not like there's any fancy R&D that still needs to be done. My impression is that a planes seating configuration could be swapped out in about a week, maybe less. Is there some sort of crash/emergency testing they need to go through first for FAA approval?
Dearie me: The seat backs don't move (aside from the fold-out trays). To "recline", the seat slides forward and down, staying within the one passenger space. Not good for people with long legs, but reclining a few inches never did much to help me sleep in a chair anyhow, and snuggling into the corner of the staggered seat would probably work better for me than the current steerage seats ever did.
But these seats do require increasing the seat pitch a little, losing at least one row on a 757. I'd think the staggering would also lose space at each end of the airplane, costing another row. Will the airlines go for it? Or more precisely, will conditions arise such that customer demand will require them to switch to stay competitive?
1) Will booking agents such as Travelocity make information on the seating type prominent and accurate. On my last air trip, with two plane changes, Travelocity's seat selection function wasn't even available for the 4 hour middle leg, and it mis-represented the 4 row turboprop of the last leg as 6 rows with the aisle seats unavailable and the lavatory in the wrong end. You can't select for better seating if you don't know about it, and I don't think this is something any airline can switch over to 100% at once.
2) How many corporations will allow their business travelers to pay a few dollars more for these seats? It won't be nearly as expensive as business class, but it seems to me that it will cut the number of seats by 5 to 10%, and the airlines will have to make up for that in higher prices. OTOH, some corporations may take this as an excuse to stop paying for business class on long flights...
3) What percentage of passengers actually can choose between competing airlines? Flying from one of Michigan's smaller airports, I'm pretty much locked into either Northwest or American, because those are the two commuter services that come here, and they are ridiculously overpriced with a huge discount if I book the main leg on the same airline. Then there are connections to be considered and whether a particular airline even flies into the final destination. Even for big-city travelers with direct flights, often more than half the gates and landing/takeoff slots belong to just one airline, so you may not have much choice unless you can be very flexible about the schedule - and mergers are making this worse.
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I was expecting some love for the sitcom--that would've been something to see--but I guess the lowercase C should've tipped me off.
Posted by Statler | April 25, 2008 10:05 AM