I kind of miss the sensation of takeoff from the backwards-facing lounge seat, especially from a place like MDW. They were also great on uncrowded flights, especially when you could un-velcro the backwards facing seatbottom cushion and use the base as a footrest.

That said, having been stuck in a backwards lounge seat for a cross-country flight on a full flight, I'm also glad they're gone; they weren't well suited for the mix of mid- and long-range flights in today's schedule.