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Is This the Future of Airline Seats?
Ryan Boyd January 22, 2019
A new seat design from Lloyd Weaver and Burk Daggett of SE Aeronautics shifts dimensions in order to provide flyers with extra legroom, and the design firm is hopeful that the fully adjustable seat could be the future of air travel.
The seat, which uses viscoelastic materials to “sandwich” the flyer’s body, is meant to make long-haul travel more bearable by conforming to passengers’ body dimensions.
“I personally hate to fly,” said the six-feet-tall Daggett. “Today’s 17- to 18-inch seat width doesn’t fit at all so I am forced to sit in an aisle seat and get hit with the carts, or in the window seat and sit slightly twisted to allow my fellow passengers their own seat space.”
To read more on this story, go to Forbes.
[Photo: Shutterstock]
This is ridiculous because it is impossible to stretch out like that if you are tall and especially if there is something under the seat. Plus people aren't going to sit in the same frozen position for the whole flight.
Yet another brilliant, revolutionary seat design. Chuck it in the pile with the rest that never made it to commercial aviation. You may need a ladder to reach the top of that pile...
...imagine sitting on something thinner than a Thermarest which are comfortable when laying down as one's weight is more evenly distributed, not so sure just how comfortable this would be sitting up with most weight on the butt and lower spine on a 3 - 4 hour flight, No headrest either which could result in neck stiffness. Also no way to fold up armrest for better egress and the monitor is attached to it so any shock on the armrest would transmit to the screen. Another question, looking at the drawing, how do the other passengers in the row access the adjustment latch with a seat right next to them? Oh, and where is the tray table (unless it's the back of he video screen)? The designer claims they would be safe in an emergency but such a thin design seems questionable. It would also need to be compatible with the current seat tracks in aircraft. 32" pitch is pretty generous for "Steerage class" these days, there are airlines like Frontier, Spirit, and Ryanair which will likely use tighter pitch to cram even more bodies in.
I think this idea is awesome, but will the airline industry adopt it?
Color me a sceptic. If you go to the Forbes article referenced and read through it they haven’t asked passengers their opinion. Wev’e been to this dance before. New special material that is thinner, harder and, they assure us, more comfortable. And oh, by the way, we can put more seats on the plane. How about using real passengers fat, tall, short, whatever as real life consultants and build a seat that works.