Your Humble Blogger went from Collision Detection over to the Industrial Design Excellence Awards, which have pictures of a variety of Very Cool Stuff, from extremely Danish barbecue grills to the iPod shuffle. The thing that caught my eye, though was Evelyne Chaubert’s Family Class aircraft travel category. By instituting Family Class travel, “The old sardine-like experience is eradicated and families are able to travel comfortably, without intruding on the comfort of other passengers.” Basically, instead of rows of chairs, there are “transformative seating pods” which are described as, er, pod-like. They are groups of four chairs more or less in a semi-circle. This allows family groups to sit together, more easily entertain the children, and also allows toddlers to walk in loops rather than just up and down a narrow aisle.
My first thought was something on the lines of “Man, I’d love that. It would be great for trips with my Perfect Non-Reader.” And my second thought was that it would be even better for trips without my Perfect Non-Reader. I mean, seriously, who wouldn’t prefer that kind of seating? Even if the other three people in the pod-like pod were total strangers, and we all just read or laptopped for three hours, wouldn’t it be more pleasant with all that room?
So, why don’t airplanes just make the whole cabin like that? Or at least half the cabin? Oh, right, it takes up three times as much space as the old-fashioned narrow row of seats pattern. Which means that tickets would, presumably, cost three times as much. And maybe there just isn’t a market for that. I mean, if you are spending that much money on an airplane, you can probably either make do with first class or kick it up for a charter, right? So although this is a nice idea, is there something more to it that makes it award-worthy, or is it just that the panel had just all got off a plane?
chazak, chazak, v’nitchazek,
-Vardibidian.
I’d love seating like that. I’d settle for the option of facing seats, like on a train, at the bulkhead. But maybe there’s something unnatural about flying at 400 mph in a large aluminum tube 6 miles up while facing backwards.
The designer is being absurdly optimistic about not needing much overhead bin space, though, apparently increasing the height of the passenger cabin by about 18 inches so passengers can walk under the bins that are there.
True. And when I mentioned the cool wandering aisles, my Best Reader immediately asked “what about the flight attendants and their carts?” Um, they, er, don’t go back where the kids are.
I wonder why they don’t do facing seats, though.
Thanks,
-V.
I wonder why they don’t do facing seats, though.
Southwest used to, in a few rows. I think they’ve eliminated that feaure on their new generation of planes.
It seems to me that facing seats would take up more space than non-facing seats, although maybe not at the bulkhead. They also require you to keep your knees bent the whole time, unless you’re careful not to kick the other guy in the shins.
They also require you to keep your knees bent the whole time, unless you’re careful not to kick the other guy in the shins.
…Or unless you want to kick the other guy in the shins. In which case this is a feature.
If you think about how much room you have in front of you in bulkhead seats (where there’s plenty of space to stretch out your legs on most planes), all that space gets turned around and shared with the row behind if you do facing seats at the bulkhead. The seat pitch is much greater than turning around a normal row.
The psychology of plane seating is really bizarre though. I recall a study that showed people were much happier having an empty seat next to them rather than having a more spacious seat, even though the smaller seats are contoured and don’t allow you to easily use any of the empty seat except as a tray. (You can’t just move partway into it and then be able to stretch both arms out, for example.)
Personally, I just want the front seat next time. I didn’t like steering the plane from the back seat. (Not that I’m seriously complaining about the experience, mind you.)