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posted by cmn32480 on Friday July 10 2015, @05:45PM   Printer-friendly
from the crisco-and-a-shoehorn-to-get-more-in dept.

One of the few comforts we economy class fliers have left is our right to strap on noise-canceling headphones, stare at the back of the seat in front of us, and pretend we're on a beach, or at home, or in a modest-sized jail cell—anywhere, really.

Now that right is at risk. Zodiac Seats France, an industry supplier, has patented a new seating configuration that rips out the (horrid) middle seat in favor of one that faces the rear. With "Economy Class Cabin Hexagon," you get more neighbors than ever before—and they are right in your face.

The goal of the design is "to increase cabin density while also creating seat units that increase the space available at the shoulder and arm area." To be fair, it seems to do that—because you're no longer facing the same direction as your immediate neighbor, you have more shoulder room. And if you're traveling with your kid or spouse, being face-to-face can be nice (we guess).

Why not move to standing-room only, with roller-coaster style restraints?


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  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday July 10 2015, @07:21PM

    by bob_super (1357) on Friday July 10 2015, @07:21PM (#207600)

    "The market will choose" is the usual line when it comes to user comfort, often followed by "you are free to pay more for comfort, or use land/water transport"

    Don't go mentioning that the offer side of the market got skewed by unwise mergers, restrictions on foreign competitors, take-off and landing slot restrictions, terror excuses, and overall congress bribery...

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by frojack on Friday July 10 2015, @09:07PM

    by frojack (1554) on Friday July 10 2015, @09:07PM (#207643) Journal

    Except with exactly TWO manufacturers, and it seems all the airlines are colluding to keep prices high and planes full there is no market.
    Hence my mention of the DOJ investigation, and regulatory capture above.

    I doubt these new seats will appear on US planes anytime soon, because people will bitch, and switch to the last airline to adopt them. But that "last airline to adopt" theory hasn't prevented every aircarrier from squeezing knee room. Although the "standard" seat pitch has decreased almost industry-wide from 33-34 inches to more like 31 inches, http://www.cnbc.com/2014/09/05/airlines-with-the-biggest-economy-seats.html [cnbc.com]

    This leads to thinks like the Knee Defender. http://www.gadgetduck.com/goods/kneedefender-how-to.html [gadgetduck.com] when it becomes clear that the space immediately behind a seat is sold both to the passenger in front and to the passenger in back. This is the kind of double dipping you can regulate with better seats.

    Those 787 seat pictures with enough room to play a game of badminton in the isles? They don't exist. Boeing reported that not a single air carrier ordered that configuration. Not even for first class seats. A couple of sultans in some arab country bought them for private planes.

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