Oh no, here we go again. About a year ago we had the hub-bub over the standing seats (which, for the record, I still believe existed). Now, new and improved for 2007: Rear-facing seats!
Rob at the Airline Hub pointed to this article in the Times of London last night, and the folks at the IAG blog posted the above image today.
This configuration makes me practically pine for standing seats! Can you imagine crawling out from the window in such a configuration? According to the Times, this is a real possibility:
Ten airlines, including one British carrier, are considering turning half their economy-class seats to face the opposite way to the other half to squeeze in an extra column of seats along the aircraft.Airlines could add up to 50 seats to each aircraft and increase the seat pitch, the gap between one seat and the seat in front, by four inches (10cm).
Rear-facing seats aren’t new, per se. Business class seats on British Airways have alternated between forward and reverse-facing seats for some time. But such an arrangement is new for economy.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the new economy option is designed by the Premium Aircraft Interiors Group (PAIG), the same company that designed the BA Club World seats.
But business class seats have a degree of privacy that economy seats simply don’t have. Not only will crawling over your neighbors be harder, but you’ll be staring at your neighbor’s face. And romantic couples won’t be getting too frisky in this configuration.
So, who are the ten airlines that are reportedly considering this puzzle-piece seating arrangement?
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April 12th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
I don’t know how it is now; but in 1962-1964 when I was in the Army and being flown back and forth to Greenland, the entire airplane was set up with all of us “passengers” seating backwards – at the time it was said that this was safer in an emergency landing or crash! If true, why not all backwards for all airplanes – military and civilian? But alternating? Ridiculous!
April 13th, 2007 at 6:24 am
I’ve heard as well that backward facing seats are safer for the passengers, but it’s sort of the stigma of flying backwards that tends to keep the seats facing fowards.
But then again, most of us wouldn’t live through a crash anyways…
April 13th, 2007 at 8:53 am
It might actually be an improvement and add swiveling seats like they have on some Japanese trains where rows of seats can be rotated by users to face front or back. That allows groups of four traveling together to face each other, while those who don’t want to face each other don’t have to.
April 13th, 2007 at 9:18 am
I know plenty of people who won’t sit on backwards facing seats on the train for fear of motions sickness… Won’t that be an issue here as well? Also: hello, bad breath.
April 13th, 2007 at 9:23 am
Whoops! Motion sickness, I mean.
April 16th, 2007 at 1:53 am
that is ridiculous! I mean, if this puzzle arrangement be used, it would be harder to exit your seat, and privacy for people in front and next to you would be extremely limited. It wouldn’t be half bad if there were privacy shades on both sides of seats that face the opposite direction.
April 17th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
I flew in a backwards seat once. It felt really weird. I would not want to do it again.
April 18th, 2007 at 1:04 am
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June 16th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
What about having seats that face each other for parties of 3 or more like at the end of train cars. They could have a few in the cabin. It’s much safer to face backwards anyways. Plus, this way parents can keep an eye on their kids, and family members in general can look after one another instead of facing forward and praying that everyone in your party (that’s sitting behind you) is doing just fine. I think it would be a great selling point for families, especially on long-haul flights.
June 16th, 2010 at 5:25 pm
I have such bad grammar, I think there’s supposed to be a question mark at the end of the first sentence.