Airplane seat of the future? Just think how many more fellow travelers you'll be sharing your space with

SEATING DEVICE COMPRISING A FORWARD-FOLDABLE BACKREST
Original document: US2014159444 (A1) ― 2014-06-12

ABSTRACT: A seating device with reduced bulk, for example for an aircraft. This seating device comprises a backrest which describes a circular translational movement towards the front and upwards of the devide when the seating device is brought to the retracted configuration. A seating structure is provided comprising a bearing piece on which are fixed, side by side, a plurality of seating devices with reduced bulk. An aircraft is provided comprising a seating device with reduced bulk mounted in its cabin.

"If you squint, the thing looks more like a medieval torture device than lounging equipment. . . . Airbus openly acknowledges that packing more passengers on board is going to result in reduced comfort, and that the goal is basically to figure out how far they can go without inciting an airborne revolt."

-- the Washington Post's Brian Fung, in "Airbus wants
to patent the most uncomfortable plane seats ever"

by Ken

Attention, cattle-class air travelers: It's time you gave back some of that vast reservoir of space you've been consuming in-flight.

"As if it weren't already a complete joy," the Washington Post's Brian Fung writes ("Airbus wants to patent the most uncomfortable plane seats ever"), "air travel is now poised to become even more comfortable — with a new kind of seat that'll encourage you to get, um, real friendly with your neighbors."

Airbus has filed a seat patent that appears to pack people in without all the clunky cushions and awkward folding tables, in an apparent bid to save valuable space on its aircraft.

Its cushions are shaped liked bicycle saddles, and when the seats aren't being used, they fold vertically to save space. Cutting down all that "bulk," as the patent application puts it, lets you do a lot more with the limited real estate on board.

The goal, of course, is to squeeze as many seats as possible into the aircraft cabin, and the good news, such as it is, is that, according to the Airbus patent-application description, engineers have whittled away seat width and the spacing between seats so far that:

(1) "[I]t is now no longer possible to further reduce the seating width, particularly in economy class." [Phew! -- Ed.]

(2) "[I]t is difficult to continue to further reduce this distance between the seats [aka "legroom" -- Ed.] because of the increase in the average size of the passengers."

Yes, as Brian Fung points out, "defending your God-given right to leg room has come down to using your waistline as a weapon."

The new Airbus seat design, says Brian, "could potentially make air travel even more economical than it already is."

If you're willing to put up with it — and most people would be, Airbus predicts, so long as the flights are short — it'd be far more efficient than the way we currently fly, loading huge metal-and-plastic contraptions onto planes just so they can cradle our fleshy rear ends.

But if you squint, the thing looks more like a medieval torture device than lounging equipment. Not to mention all the features you'd lose: Do people eat from their laps? Plug headphones into that pipe-shaped thing? Do the cushions float? And even with all the leg room it looks like you'd open up, reclining looks practically impossible.

Airbus openly acknowledges that packing more passengers on board is going to result in reduced comfort, and that the goal is basically to figure out how far they can go without inciting an airborne revolt."

Looking at the wider view of the design, says Brian, "only enhances the likeness to an ancient Greek galley."

Windows might soon be replaced by oars, or a handlebar-bike pedal combination. On the bright side, perhaps manual labor might lead to modest airfare refunds.

Who am I kidding? Your complimentary in-flight beatings will continue until morale improves."

Happy flying!

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