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Old Apr 19, 09, 8:50 am   #16
 
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So can you lower the tray table? If not, this seems like a lot of work. Put it on, time for the meal, take it off. After the meal, put it back on.. and in the meantime don't spill anything out of those pockets....
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Old Apr 19, 09, 11:30 am   #17
 
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Originally Posted by SanDiego1K View Post
If anybody can compare them, please do so.

As for the Nirvana, you can buy it from eBags via AAadvantage eshopping, thus picking up a few frequent flyer miles along the way.
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Old Apr 19, 09, 3:56 pm   #18
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Carol, most of us try to avoid any seat that has such a tray table

In any case, most people over the heightof 6' 2" have difficulty getting the tray table down even w/o one of these things.
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Old Apr 19, 09, 4:36 pm   #19
 
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OK, so many pockets are sexy, but that thing is just too big. It's a bag of its own. If this were your personal item bag, good. But if this is inside your personal item bag, I'd say you are complicating things rather than making them easier.

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Old Apr 22, 09, 1:14 pm   #20
 
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Burp...

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Originally Posted by SanDiego1K View Post
Since I took the time to look each up each of these, I thought I'd give the links:

Cup pilot

Nirvana Seatback Organizer & Travel Tote

Sarahbelli Traveler
There's a great moment in the Nirvana video where the mother and her small daughter are putting a bib on the baby. The baby just happened to spew some baby food as they put on the bib. Talk about good acting. Raise that baby's pay and ask for residuals and maybe a percent of the gross!
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Old Apr 22, 09, 1:41 pm   #21
 
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Originally Posted by CarolDisney1 View Post
So can you lower the tray table? If not, this seems like a lot of work. Put it on, time for the meal, take it off. After the meal, put it back on.. and in the meantime don't spill anything out of those pockets....
That's what I wondered, as well. I usually have the tray table down for a good part of the trip and I can't see how i can have this thing attached at the same time.
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Old Apr 22, 09, 4:12 pm   #22
 
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Originally Posted by follonica2 View Post
That's what I wondered, as well. I usually have the tray table down for a good part of the trip and I can't see how i can have this thing attached at the same time.
I'm just the opposite, and unless I'm eating or using my computer, I hate having the tray down and this will help loads.

I got it in the chocolate brown and it arrived last night. I have to say, I'm rather impressed - it can be a overstuffed or as lean as you want it to be. It fits easily into my usual carryon bag, or I can use it as my personal item. For a non-Mom, it's probably overkill for short flights - but am really looking forward to it on my transatlantics this summer.

also... the D-rings at the top look like they have potential for hanging my PMP from to watch movies, handsfree & at eye level. Will have to see if I can finagle something to accomplish that.
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Old Apr 22, 09, 8:49 pm   #23
 
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Originally Posted by hfly View Post
Carol, most of us try to avoid any seat that has such a tray table

In any case, most people over the heightof 6' 2" have difficulty getting the tray table down even w/o one of these things.
Good point! Which brings up another point.

The flights I can see these being possibly useful on are long overseas flights. If you are in Business OR First the tray is generally not on the seatback.

Watch the video on the Nirvana. WHERE do you put this thing then?

Seriously, this thing seems to have lots of flaws for use on the type of flights you would WANT to use it on. Not to mention that if you are in the aisle your "seatmates" are going to LOVE banging into this as the enter and leave. Probably only polite to remove the "impediment" LOL!

(Isn't it actually against FAA regulations to attach things to the seats. Seems like I heard that during the "knee defender" fight?)


I am going to be honest. If you are in the aisle and this thing is "overstuffed" then you need to be polite and REMOVE it when your seat mates want in and out. You don't get to block access for your toys LOL!
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Old Apr 23, 09, 9:42 am   #24
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Originally Posted by CarolDisney1 View Post
<SNIP> (Isn't it actually against FAA regulations to attach things to the seats. Seems like I heard that during the "knee defender" fight?)
There’s some regs out there concerning what’s allowed in the seat pocket, but that’s not to say there’s anything about hanging items on the seat back. Some have little hooks on the tray table latch for hanging a light jacket.


Quote:
Originally Posted by nor4 View Post
There's a great moment in the Nirvana video where the mother and her small daughter are putting a bib on the baby. The baby just happened to spew some baby food as they put on the bib. Talk about good acting. Raise that baby's pay and ask for residuals and maybe a percent of the gross!
¿Qué?
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Old Apr 23, 09, 5:06 pm   #25
 
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Agreed. I believe the FAA regs don't strictly prohibit them, but discourages items that "alter the performance of any part of an airplane" - which obviously the knee defenders do. I also read on the zen website that it's not approved for use during take off or landing (duh! everthing is supposed to be stowed then anyway), and that's the only time I've ever heard an FA ask people to remove items from the seat pocket. Perhaps an arguement could be made as an item that would adversely affect passenger evacuation in the event of an emergency -especially if totally overstuffed- but IMO, it's no more obstructive than the various carry-on bags that are hanging out on the floors or the trays that are down.

Of course I'll remove it for my seatmate if/when they need to get past me. You have to close a laptop, put your tray table up and usually get out of your own seat when that happens too, so I don't see this as being any more inconvenient than that - in fact, with the design, it doesnt look to be any big deal at all. That said, if it interferes with my seatmates space (while seated) in any way, I won't use it period - and it'll either go back or on eBay.

Time & the first flight will tell... I know exactly the flight I'm going to test it on. If it passes muster with the usual FA on this flight, I should be golden. lol
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Old Apr 23, 09, 8:06 pm   #26
 
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antlass: Amen, I shall look forward to your trip report, how this gadget does on an actual flight. In the meantime, thanks for bringing it to our attention.
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Old Apr 26, 09, 12:38 pm   #27
 
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Originally Posted by aktchi View Post
...
As for the Nirvana, you can buy it from eBags via AAadvantage eshopping, thus picking up a few frequent flyer miles along the way.
Same for the Delta program. 5 miles per dollar for eBags when I checked today.
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Old Apr 26, 09, 1:54 pm   #28
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hfly View Post
Carol, most of us try to avoid any seat that has such a tray table

In any case, most people over the heightof 6' 2" have difficulty getting the tray table down even w/o one of these things.
Seriously. It seems to be a surrender of sorts
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Old May 27, 09, 2:29 pm   #29
 
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Alrighty... I flew with the Nirvana recently and here's my perspective:

I took it on a 2.5 hr DTW-OKC Delta “red-tail” flight on a CRJ (which btw ended up landing in Ft. Smith, Arkansas due to tornados in OKC, and then we ended up on a 2.5 hr bus ride from Ft Smith to OKC finally arriving at 3:30am, UGH. But I digress...)

Before the flight: I carried it as a shoulder bag in the airport. It was pretty handy really. My 8.9" acer aspire netbook slid right out of the top flaps for the security check and the little slot for my id/boarding pass was right there. The netbook slid right back in again – no problems. (note: do not fill the other pockets with bulky items or the return of the netbook wont be nearly as easy) It was a nice & smooth security process.

Ladies, this is definitely not a purse replacement though, as you really do need to unzip the bag to access items lower than the "top" id/document compartments. (Could a larger, prettier handbag accomplish this ease with a netbook too? Absolutely... so on to the real use of the Nirvana...)

Then I bought a water bottle to take on board the flight. Again, it's not easy to access the inner guts of the bag from the top entry, so I had to set the bag down & open it right up to put the water bottle in the holder, and it fit just fine - even with the bag zipped back up again. Cool! (Although I admit I had a moment of trepidation seeing the water bottle snuggled up so close to my video & mp3 players. I wished I had a Ziploc bag and made a mental note to myself: "make sure that cap is on tight! We don't want any leaks!". I may not use it for water transport again, I’m too just freaky about my gadgets.)

During the flight: After we were airborne and heard the “bell”, I turned to my seatpartner and said, "Ok, here we gooo". And unzipped the Nirvana. It slid very easily on to the tray and I had no problems locking the tray up again. The Nirvana was about 2 inches wider than the tray (this by design to accommodate different size trays/seats). I would have been happier if it was slightly narrower (perhaps with elastic bands to accommodate larger trays?). I was sitting on the aisle and was a bit leery of having it overhang at all into the walkway, so I slid the full 2inch overhang to the gap between the 2 seats. I was sitting next to a friend, so this was ok. If I'd been next to a stranger, I probably would have felt compelled to ask them if they were ok with it. I had my water bottle, my mp3 player, my netbook, a paperback & a pen in it. The netbook made the pocket gape forward, but this was solved by zipping it closed as far as possible.

I felt the eyes on me from the surrounding rows, and the FA commented on it during the drink service “Hey, that looks really convenient”, the guy across the aisle said "pretty cool!" and a businessman from the row behind me asked what it was and where he could get one.

Pros: Nice when used as a shoulder bag taking a netbook thru security. No interference with knee space. Great organization with fingertip access to your stuff & water bottle in flight. Did not interfere with my seatpartner’s space at all, not even when they got up to use the lav. (granted I didn’t have it stuffed full either)

Cons: Quite large when opened up and in use. Overkill for short flights - holds more stuff than most people need. Pockets tend to gape forward if heavier items are in it. Not great as a purse replacement. Bottle holder doesn’t work well with the plastic cups served inflight.

Will I use it again? Hrmmm….

Short flights (under 3 hrs): Probably not. I'll stick to my regular travel purse + my Cup Pilot, and carry my gear in a small rolling underseat bag. (Unless I’m flying with the 3 yr old… then it’ll probably be priceless for any length of flight! Lol)

Longer flights: Most likely, yes. I can see myself using this on larger aircraft during my TATL flights when I use more gear and want to reserve the underseat floor space for my feet instead of for a gear bag that I can access regardless of turbulence restrictions. (unfortunately, I'm mostly a TATL coach class flier..waahhh!)

Overall: It’s a great concept that could use a few tweaks, but it’s really getting there. I’d love to see a slightly scaled down version. (Now I’m itching to test fly the Sarahbelli Traveler organizer hehe).
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Old May 28, 09, 4:44 pm   #30
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How funny to come across this thread just a few days after I improvised a seatback organizer of sorts on a long overseas flight, by clipping a small bag to the seat pocket using a carabiner clip. It was a handy way to keep a pack of tissues, glasses, lens drops, meds, small tube of hand cream, and other little comforts right at hand. I had a window seat, and it was clipped on the window side so it didn't bother any other pax, and the structure of the seat pocket let me attach the clip without damaging anything. It worked so well, I'm sorry I never thought of it before.
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