Airbus has been working on making the economics of the A380 even better for airlines who buy it: pack 11 seats into a row:
Airbus has found a way to make flying economy even worse. That’s quite a feat, given how crummy the experience is these days. The trick, it turns out, is eliminating one the few remaining saving graces of air travel: better than even odds you won’t be squeezed into a middle seat. Generally, you’ve got a two in three chance of landing an aisle or a window.
But now, airlines flying the Airbus A380, the largest commercial jet on the planet, can reduce those odds. The European plane maker announced this week that it will offer a 3-5-3 cabin configuration, creating rows with 11 seats.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, the future of civilized air travel lies with airships.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 18 2015, @04:36PM
With a 3-5-3 configuration, there are still 6 aisle or window seats, and 5 "middle seats", so the odds of getting a window or aisle seat are STILL better then 50%. It's not exactly complicated math to figure that out.
(Score: 3, Informative) by snick on Saturday April 18 2015, @04:39PM
Why do you think that seat assignment is random?
Your chances of not getting stuffed into the cargo hold will be determined by what you are willing to pay for the "upgrade"
(Score: 4, Informative) by maxwell demon on Saturday April 18 2015, @04:57PM
Indeed, in Europe it's standard that you can choose your seat on check-in, with the only limitation that you cannot choose an already occupied seat.
So no, seats are not chosen randomly; the later you check in, the worse your seat will likely be.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Saturday April 18 2015, @07:49PM
sudo mod me up