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Simple Geometry = More Seats In an Airline
New submitter innerpeace writes: New airline seat arrangement looks to increase passenger capacity. A patent application by Zodiac Seats France calls for a design that puts every other passenger in a row facing backward. That means that in a row of three fliers, the seat by the window and the seat by the aisle face toward the front of the plane while the middle seat faces toward the back. The design idea could fit up to 80 more passengers in a plane, depending on the current seat layout. Whatever downsides it has, if such a design is adopted, I hope it leads to a stronger adoption of a convention that those with window seats board first.
This looks like it would work fine if everyone knew each other - but would suck if you had an annoying seat mate. Who wants to be forced to look at them - or have them look at you?
This design violates current social norms for personal space. As such I dislike it.
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Didn't slave ship makers have this all figured out two hundred years ago?
Alternating orientation of the passengers, with no space for movement. I guess somebody with engineering degree has been paying attention to the cartoons section of The New Yorker/a>
Do you really want to spend multiple hours staring into the face of one or more strangers? It's bad enough on a short trolley ride.
Ever see those double chairs designed for making out? That what this looks like.
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this means not sharing arm rests with people.
What I'd like even more though would be if the entire passanger compartment were just removed and added to planes like modules.
What kills the whole experience is the rush onto the plane and the rush off it.
If people actually wait in the seat they're going to depart from rather than at the gate... it means you don't have that silly rush.
They have to do that because whenever the plane isn't in the air it costs the airline money. They want it in the air immediately. Okay, so why not have the passengers board a compartment and then have that instantly swapped with the existing compartment. Thus the compartment and fill slowly as people arrive at the gate and debarking might be a less annoying experience because you could potentially just open all the exits on the plane to let everyone bypass the various people that block the aisle because they can't figure out how to get baggage out of an overhead.
The idea isn't original. Other people have suggested it and of course the planes would have to be designed around the concept. But it would make loading and unloading the plane a matter of two minutes or something which is less time than it takes to refuel the plane.
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Do you really want to spend multiple hours staring into the face of one or more strangers? It's bad enough on a short trolley ride.
That's how long distance train travel worked for a century or so.
Of course the airlines will put the seats much closer. On the plus side we can get more legroom by interlacing our knees, on the downside we'll have to take turns holding each others meal trays.
Zodiac has been attacked by seating patents by their competitors. This is probably a defensive patent, something vague enough to discourage future lawsuits. I doubt they are intending to go and hexagonify all the seating, but it is pretty lol.
#1) This will make it that much more inconvenient for passengers closest to the window to get out when they need to use the bathroom.
#2) Forward-facing seats make more sense during takeoff, as the acceleration from the plane pushes passengers into their seats, but the seats keep them secure. Passengers facing the rear will find it a bit more uncomfortable holding themselves in the seat when basic physics is pushing them out of it. (Yes, I know airline attendants have rear-facing seats. A cousin of mine served as steward on an airline for some years and always complained about them.)
#3) Are airplanes engineered to handle the additional weight of 80 more passengers and their luggage?
This is a wonderful idea, as long as: the people facing backward don't puke on takeoff; flight attendants don't mind breaking up the inevitable fistfights; and you remove the bathrooms so that there's no temptation for the 6'4" next to the window to want to pee mid-flight. Except for all the horrible downsides, I don't see any drawbacks.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
It is about staying within safety guidelines mandating the speed of evacuation of aircraft. Beyond that it's about not violating social standards so much that too many fights break out (they're expensive). After that it's about stuffing the most people in with the final limit being not making too many of them so uncomfortable they are willing to pay more for a more expensive seat. There are finally concerns about the actual cost of manufacture of the seats. Southwest has had seats facing each other in exit rows for a long time.
It isn't about getting more seats in a plane
Yeah. Yeah it is. This is why you have seating arrangements designed for the average hypermetabolic midget ectomorph who can exhale, suck it in and hold it for the duration of the flight.
And, if you happen to be a normal sized person or a non-ectomorph body type, or carrying any extra weight at all, said planes are sardine cans where you're expected to die of asphyxiation.
And that's BEFORE the person in front of you reclines their seat and crushes you.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Well they could also have hammocks in the aisle way up near the ceiling.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
No, the backwards and the window people would be able to easily insert a catheter to each other, another advantage of that seating.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
If that's the case, Elon Musk has you covered. Literally.
I don't give a shit. I can only fly these days by ingesting 15 mg valium while boarding and 5 mg every two hours until the flight is over.
The sad thing is that I used to like flying. They just kept squeezing us closer and closer until one day I had a panic attack at 30000 feet and that was the end of my ability to relax on a flight.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
That's because sedation is dangerous. Most times you need an intensivist or anesthesiologist to do even moderate conscious sedation... At least a CRNA... And the risk of adverse events is never less than 1:100000. Just imagine if 1:100'000 passengers died.
Sedation in real life is not like in movies. Ask Michael Jackson.
If not, he can ask Bill Cosby for advice.
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
What "special treatment"? That they recline in a seat that is made for that function, just like all the other seats on the plane? What's so special about that?
If you want the "special treatment" of not having any reclining seats on a plane, call the airlines and demand they make a special plane just for complainers like you.
If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
A few years ago I sat facing backwards in one of those Southwest flights with two rows facing each other. It was terrible. Planes tilt nose up on takeoff, which meant that I was leaning forward, most uncomfortably. I figured I'd at least make it up on landing, but planes also tilt nose up on landing, which meant more discomfort. You'd have to give me a sizable discount to get me to fly backwards.
In my experience, the first-class seat may or may not recline any farther than the coach seats do. You get more legroom, and more width, but you're often still basically sitting upright even with the seat fully reclined. Of course, it depends on the aircraft and how they've configured it.
For every plane used for overnight flights, they really need to take out about every second or third row, spread the seats proportionally, and make them recline. Crank up the ticket price proportionally. There's really no excuse for being unable to sleep on a redeye.
Even better, they could make it easier to change the configuration, like you can with a passenger van. The first time the plane is on the ground after 8:00 p.m., the ground crew could walk in, push a lever, slide the seat forward, lift it up, and carry it off the plane. The flight attendants could come along behind them and switch the lever that allows the remaining seats to recline further.
Alternatively, they could also make a section of the under-plane storage available to make the passenger compartment taller, then add Amtrak-style fold-down beds. At a particular time, you fold down the upper berths and the lower ones slide together in pairs, forming the bottom berths.
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"Oh hi, random person of the opposite sex. You don't mind if my hand rests against your hip and frequently gravitates to your crotch while I sleep here, do you?"
I thought airline seats were already bad for violating personal space, but the way the picture shows it, this would expand new horizons of awkward.
As a guy with very broad shoulders I say: Bring it on!
On planes I prefer aisle seats because that way I don't have to constrict myself in order not to disturb fellow passengers. For me one shoulder in the aisle is the way to travel. Every now and a trolley bangs into me. But so what.
Still I wonder how this is ever going to work gracefully.
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
I'd pay extra for that spot.
Unfortunately no one does this. Or at least not the two airlines I've flown recently. They board the first-class passengers first, then all their special clubs (Gold Members, Sapphire Members, etc), then they board by groups. I can't really identify what makes you a Group 1 vs a Group 4 member, but I don't think it's based on seat assignment. On the last four flights I was on, I spent five minutes standing in the aisle, trying to get to my seat at the back of the plane but blocked by a dozen people in various rows trying to put their luggage in the overhead bins. From the time the airline started boarding to the time they shut the cabin door was anywhere between 30-40 minutes each flight. Getting off the plane, by contrast, took about 15 minutes.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not entirely sure about the universe - Einstein
Don't make me laugh.
Nah, I've flown on rear-facing military transports. It's very comfortable, and I'd prefer that to the current system.
Try 18 hours Melbourne (aus) to London. Overnight.
Well, when you consider it used to take 3-4 weeks (by ship) this feels like an improvement to me.