Originally Posted by
KenTarmac
I'm sure that 38 years ago people would have called you crazy if you told them about the internet, iPods, iPads, High-def TV, cell phone technology, etc.
Right, and essentially zero of those were predicted by "futurists." Everyone expected flying cars, and we ended up with Star Trek communicators (that also store movies and music). Likewise, I'm sure there'll be pretty cool amenities on planes 38 years in the future, but I doubt the planes themselves will look fundamentally different from the planes we have now or had 38 years ago.
The Airbus press release (like much of '60s sci-fi) is predicated on the idea that we'll have infinite costless energy -- hence, why not have multiple leisure rooms in a plane instead of occupying every square foot with passenger seats? In reality, I think we'll be stuck with 17-18" width, 30-32" pitch for the foreseeable future.