Air New Zealand is launching new seats in its longhaul economy class, with a section of the plane fitted with “Skycouch” seats designed to create a three-seat wide airborne equivalent of a foldout couch. It’s an effort to create the first lie-flat bed in coach, a worthy goal if ever there was one.
Starting in November 2010, the window seats in the first eleven rows of economy class of newly-delivered Boeing 777-300s will have cushioned extensions (positioned like calf supports when in “seat” mode) which extend up to create a couch-like flat surface.
To reserve a Skycouch, you’ll need to buy three seats, obviously. If you’re traveling as a pair, you can buy your usual two seats and add on the third seat for half the price of the other two.
My first thought, when I saw the design, was that they were making the “ghetto upgrade” — laying down across a row of empty seats — an official booking class. And indeed, that’s the basis of the design, but expanded to be wide enough for two consenting adults.
No curtains, and no undressing, so don’t get any ideas.
The biggest shortcoming at this point appears to be the length of the bed. The width of three airline seats isn’t that big. Average seat width is 17″. Let’s even add a few inches for gaps between cushions, to be generous. (I know, gaps?) Let’s bump it up to 55″ — 4′ 7″ or 1.4 meters — across all three seats. That’s great if you’re short, but if you’re any taller than that, your feet will be hanging out into aisle. Look at the promo photo below. The guy’s head is angled up the wall of the plane:
There’s some romper room risk here, too. I can see families, especially large ones, buying these seats if they can afford them, and keeping the seats in couch mode for the duration. That means higher odds of noise. If traveling in a non-Skycouch economy seat, and looking for rest, try to find a location as far from the couches as possible.
The airline is also changing its premium economy seats and improving some service delivery in the business cabin. And there’s “new oven technology that will cook food from scratch rather than simply reheating,” but the big news is really (deservedly) the couch-in-coach concept.
A short promotional video to give further perspective (and showing the changes to business and premium economy), after the jump:
(Thanks to reader Michele for the early heads up on this last week!)
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January 26th, 2010 at 10:33 am
Twitter Comment
innovation in economy class, that’s exciting
January 26th, 2010 at 5:09 pm
great idea, but one question. do these seats recline? if so, then you’d lose a great deal of your ‘coach’ due to the tilt of the seats in front of you.
January 27th, 2010 at 12:19 am
1) I think I could get my entire family of four to sleep on one of these.
2) How are you supposed to wear your seat belt? Is there a way to make it fit perpendicular to the seat and still be tolerable? Is the same belt supposed to enclose two people?
January 28th, 2010 at 7:40 am
Interesting experiment, for sure. Good question from Brian about the seat belt thing (“secured over your blanket or outermost garment”, right? LOL)
I’ll stick to AirNZ premium economy, thanks.
January 28th, 2010 at 9:02 am
Seatbelt design has been approved by CAA.
Quote from Air NZ’s Ed Sims (the Project Manager):
“Seatbelt for the first prone person extends from the seat as per normal . Second person would have an extension belt (as we currently use for children on parents’ laps for take off and landing, but a bit bigger.)
All perfectly safe and CAA approved.”
January 28th, 2010 at 8:21 pm
Twitter Comment
Not bad…hoping others will follow suit
January 29th, 2010 at 3:32 am
[...] Mark Ashley of Upgrade: Travel Better gives his opinion on Air New Zealand’s new lie-flat seats. [...]
January 30th, 2010 at 11:01 am
I have doubts about usability and value for money factor, but it is good to know that someone is thinking of people flying economy too.
January 30th, 2010 at 7:05 pm
[...] Air New Zealand reveals new lie-flat design for economy class | Upgrade: Travel Better – I’d like to see how this plays out before booking one for myself [...]
January 31st, 2010 at 3:27 pm
They look interesting, but as others have asked, will they really work. As the pictures show, there is no room between them and the seat in front, and surely you can’t lye like the people are in the top image?
February 1st, 2010 at 4:42 pm
I’m not sure how many people would go for this…