New Standing Airline Seats?
Proposed Skyrider 2.0 Airline Seats Would Have Passengers Standing, Not Sitting
The photograph to the right features silent film star Harold Lloyd on a crowded NYC subway.
One has to wonder, if standing airline seats are in our future, are we also to expect that sometime in the future our airliners must resemble the packed crowds on the NYC subways?
While this scene is likely preposterous and unsafe for an airliner, it is certainly a fact that airlines are always looking for a way to squeeze another nickel of profit out of each and every flight.
Over the years the seats on the typical airliner have gotten more narrow, leg room is disappearing, the seats barely recline, and if you’re a wide-shouldered man, using the bathroom has become a feat that requires a certain amount of contortionism.
If you click on the photo above for the large view, you will notice that these “seats” are more something to lean back against rather than to offer guests a comfortable place to sit.
The creators of these seats boast that these Skyrider Seats will allow the airlines to obtain more profit while allowing those of lesser means to obtain an airline ticket where they may not otherwise be able to afford it. OK. As an airline stockholder, I understand the desire for bottom-line profits, and I’m all for allowing more folks to travel.
Here’s this from the folks at Avioninteriors:
“The Skyrider 2.0 is an innovative seat, it allows an ultra-high density in the aircraft cabin. Skyrider 2.0 opens the traveling experience to a wider passenger market, also creating a useful space for the introduction mixed classes boarded on the same aircraft. Its main feature is the original bottom that ensures an increased upright passenger position allowing installation of the seat at a reduced pitch while maintaining an adequate comfort.The design of this seat enables to increase the passenger number by 20% allowing increasing profits for airline companies. Furthermore, Skyrider 2.0 weighs 50% less than standard economy class seats and the reduced number of components enable minimum maintenance costs. In conclusion, Skyrider 2.0 is the new frontier of low-cost tickets and offering a possibility to fly to whom today cannot afford it.”
While these seats may never see the light of day, you can rest assured of one thing: if they do come, I won’t be standing in one of them.
What are your thoughts? Would you lean on one of these “standing seats” to fly from one place to another?
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