Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Saturday April 18 2015, @04:05PM   Printer-friendly
from the Airbus-Wants-Your-Flight-to-Suck-Even-More dept.

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.

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 18 2015, @04:36PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 18 2015, @04:36PM (#172480)

    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.

    Starting Score:    0  points
    Moderation   +3  
       Informative=1, Touché=2, Total=3
    Extra 'Touché' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   3  
  • (Score: 3, Informative) by snick on Saturday April 18 2015, @04:39PM

    by snick (1408) on Saturday April 18 2015, @04:39PM (#172484)

    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

      by maxwell demon (1608) on Saturday April 18 2015, @04:57PM (#172487) Journal

      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

        by TheRaven (270) on Saturday April 18 2015, @07:49PM (#172552) Journal
        It's the same for US carriers. The only airline I've flown where this isn't the case is RyanAir, where it is if you're willing to pay a few pounds more to pick a seat (if not then you get randomly assigned from the seats that no one picked). I suspect that a lot of people don't realise this because you don't get to pick a seat if you go to the check-in desk. If you do the online check-in before departure then you can choose your seat though and with some airlines you can change the assignment at the very last minute from their app while waiting at the boarding gate.
        --
        sudo mod me up