Oh, the infamous middle seat… Is there anyone who enjoys sitting in the middle seat?
As a child my parents would cram all four of us kids in the backseat of our family’s station wagon (this was decades before seat belt laws were enacted), which meant that not one, but two of us, were forced to spend drive time squished between the two lucky siblings who scored the window seats.
And so it goes… from vehicle to vehicle… middle seat syndrome is hard to shake.
Until now.
Thanks to some ingenious British engineers, the dreaded middle seat on coach flights may never be the same again (at least on long international flights).
A group of aircraft interior designers from Britain have just unveiled the Freedom Economy Seat, a three-seat row that flips the middle seat backward (so it faces the rear of the plane). The same group also unveiled a four-seat row in which the middle two seats face backward.
According to the company, the goal of the new aircraft configuration is to minimize or eliminate the current problems of coach passengers bumping elbows, knees and especially shoulders. What’s more, the new seats would also give passengers at least two more inches of legroom than conventional seats. Good news for passengers… and airlines, since the new seats allow them to get 10 passengers across in coach sections of wide-body planes such as the Boeing 777 rather than the current nine.
While it looks great on paper (and in mock-ups) the question remains: How will travelers react to having a stranger stare back at them during a 9-hour flight?
Designers considered that concern as well. The answer they say—a foldout privacy shield built into the seats’ headrests. In theory, if you pull out the shield then no one will be watching your movie or looking at your laptop screen.
I don’t know about you, but I think the seat offer some great advantages. I like the idea of having more space in coach (hey, every inch counts) and I’m all for innovative ideas that make my ticket cheaper.
How about you? Would you mind flying in the middle seat if it were facing backwards?
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