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Airbus Ready To Shrink Airplane Seats Into Bicycle Saddles
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Jul 15, 2014
Modified Jul 15, 2014
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Gothamist
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Jul 15, 2014
Modified Jul 15, 2014
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French aircraft manufacturer Airbus knows your 18-by-30 inch plane seat is far too luxurious. So, they've gone ahead and designed a backrest-less new chair that offers even less legroom, and looks agonizingly similar to a bicycle seat. Airbus hates you, and don't you ever forget it.
The patent [pdf] was filed last month. It calls for a "seating device with reduced bulk" that would significantly increase the number of cabin seats, all the while decreasing your ability to fly without repeatedly punching the neighboring mouth-breather who forgot to shut off his flickering overhead light before falling asleep. These seats have only small backrests and lack tray tables; legroom has been significantly reduced, much like that piece of paper you halved down to the last atom in your eighth grade science class. Let's take another look:
NOPE NOPE NOPE. (Via Espacenet)
Thankfully, Airbus may never get the chance to torture you with these seats, and perhaps they're doing you the favor of ensuring no one else does, either. "Many, if not most, of these concepts will never be developed, but in case the future of commercial aviation makes one of our patents relevant, our work is protected,” an Airbus spokeswoman told the LA Times. “Right now these patent filings are simply conceptual." And if they do get around to installing them, they'll only be used on short, low-cost flights—the patent application claims that the "reduced comfort" can be "tolerable" for "one or a few hours," provided you are literally the size of Thumbelina.
Ah well, there are still worse places to sit on a plane.
Tagged
airbus
plane
seats
why god
Rebecca Fishbein
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