Is the War for Elbow Room Over?
Jennifer Billock July 23, 2019
Tired of battling for the armrest when you’re stuck in the middle seat on a plane? Your nightmares will soon be coming to an end with a new seat design that staggers seats so everyone gets their own share of the armrest; the seats are expected to debut on a North American airline within the next two months.
Finally, the war for armrest space is over. No more will the passenger in the middle seat have to struggle to get a piece of the armrest on either side of them—a new seat design is going to solve that issue.
Molon Labe Seating, a Colorado startup, has created a new airline seat that gives everyone their own armrest, plus about two more inches in seat space. It works by staggering the seats; the middle seats are pushed back a bit from the aisle and window seats, and the armrest drops down to accommodate the middle passenger.
“We’ve solved the elbow wars,” Hank Scott, founder and CEO of Molon, told Yahoo Finance. “When you sit on the plane and someone decides I’m going to steal the armrest, because our armrest comes in two heights, you can’t physically put your arm on an armrest that is staggered. So if you sit in the middle seat, the lower portion of the armrest — the portion that is further back — belongs to you. Now if the person next to you wants to steal that, it’s going to be uncomfortable.”
The new seats are expected to debut on a North American airline within the next two months, and 50 planes will have the seats by 2020.
[Images: Molon Labe Seating]
This only serves to prove to me that airlines need to re-classify their 4 cabin classes: First = Luxury Business = Premium Premium Economy = Standard Economy = Super-Saver/3rd Class The basic level of comfort airlines should provide should be 'Standard' with passengers understanding that bagging a Super-Saver seat means a cramped, sub-standard, no-frills product that will get you to your destination, in 3rd Class, but at rock-bottom cost! You pays your money, you makes your choice, easy.
The dummies are wide, but those seats are wider than any U.S. airline I've flown in Economy since forever. And is the back row going to take over where the sinks now exist in those elf-sized bathrooms that already can't possibly be ADA-compatible?
The seats in that picture look very uncomfortable. I won't be flying that airline! People can share arm rests as long as they are considerate of the other passenger. But, there is no way to share on these proposed seats. Awful design!
There have been designs like this for ages. I liked the ones that were fully angled with a shell back better. No weird zigzag to get out, plus each passenger got a little area they could lean to the side to sleep. Shoulders were offset enough to avoid rubbing on other passengers too. I hope these are slide forward to recline at least. Getting out if the middle passenger is sleeping will be interesting.
The image with the dummies sitting in the seats shows the real problem... the seats are far too narrow for the average person.