Originally Posted by
jasdou
If I had to guess, I would say cost. Anything that moves will be more expensive, require more maintenance, will be more prone to breakage and will be more complex to certify than a static sheet of plastic.
The original seats on the 777's had movable dividers which lowered up and down.. With time and use they became loose and a regular maintenance item, and most significantly, they rattled during minimal turbulence plus and proved to be disturbing. And thus...somebody made a decision.