First, the next big idea was standing flights. Now, it’s sitting sideways on flights.
(Are we looking at zero-gravity flights next, so seating assignments will be totally defunct?)
The British design firm Design Q has just unveiled its proposed plan for high-density airplane seating, with inward-facing seating along the windows of the plane, and a row of back-to-back seats down the middle that face outward. The design would be for short-distance flights, rather than international flights.
Somehow, I’m not sure that this potential seating arrangement will really (ahem) take off. The aisle basically got eliminated, so there’s not much of a path to the bathroom and definitely not room for a beverage cart (maybe all eating will be eliminated in this futuristic plane). The idea of taking off and landing while sideways isn’t that appealing to me–though I know that’s what military planes do all the time. Maybe the designers forgot the overhead bins–they’re not in the design. Then again, maybe it’s all a part of the plan to keep passengers in their seats and cut every potential cost. At the end of the day, I doubt passengers would intentionally choose this over the status quo.
You might not know it, but you’ve already seen some previous work by Design Q, including the Upper Class seating for Virgin Atlantic and a redesign of all classes at Cathay Pacific.
[Thanks, Runway Girl]