Double-level airplane seat: window anxiety for avgeeks
Posted by Katana_DV20@reddit | aviation | View on Reddit | 32 comments
Just came across this article on this concept for a double deck seating arrangement for airliners. Apart from the cramped feeling of having a WALL in your face during the flight can you imagine being without a window at all? The upper row wont have any windows.
Wait, will the upper row have windows beside their feet? So confused.
Not keen on this arrangement at all although I do concede - the wannabe lie flat bed on the lower row is genius.
More here:\ https://edition.cnn.com/2026/04/14/travel/chaise-longue-double-level-airplane-seat-new-design
aphtirbyrnir@reddit
I hate these “concepts.” They’re unrealistic and will never happen. Aviation regulations are very strict on emergency egress and there’s no way you can meet requirements in these configs. Even crash survivability would be dubious at best.
AbeFromanEast@reddit
In today's America if an airline made some strategic crypto purchases of a particular coin they could get the Administration to pass anything they wanted.
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warm_winds_whisper_@reddit
The risk there is the first airline to adopt this would (hopefully) lose a lot of customers as people don’t want to fly in stowage.
MarioMilieu@reddit
You’re probably right, but the cynic in me says the capitalistic drive to squeeze every last penny out of everything will ultimately prevail.
Haldron-44@reddit
Anyone remember this nightmare of a concept:
Winston_Carbuncle@reddit
I'd pay good money to see Sammy boy do 12 hours in that middle seat
Chockfullofnutmeg@reddit
They’re may allow asbestos back….
horrible_noob@reddit
Also how fucking huge does the fuselage have to be to support the mere height of these? Just doing away with overhead bins completely and moving the floor down a few feet?
Responsible_Demand28@reddit
Nothing like someone busting ass right in your face!
atcdev@reddit
+1
I've seen photos of this design concept going back at least 8 years. Not even the lowliest budget carriers have ever publicly expressed any interest. Nor have I ever seen any evidence that it is airworthy (it almost certainly is not).
Old-Aardvark945@reddit
Yeah, and someone actually get paid to come up with them. Although with luck they'll be replace with unpaid AI. Serve' em right!
yanvail@reddit
Yeah, this is all fine and good, but wait until there's an emergency and panicky people have to get out in a smoke-filled cabin. The number of face-plants onto the seats on the other side of the aisle won't complicate things at all.
Hour_Analyst_7765@reddit
This looks so awkward.
Apart from being literal 2 feet from somebody's butt. I mean, not everyone's hygiene is dining habits are 100%!
Second, what if the upper deck reclines? More claustrophobia? Eek.
Like literally from this picture, the upper deck seems the only survivable seat for any trip longer than.. 5minutes. Downstairs looks like total torture, even if you can stretch your legs maybe 5cm more.
XenoRyet@reddit
Everyone makes the "eww close to butts" comment about this stuff, but there's literally a solid wall between you and the butt. You're more insulated from butts in this configuration than you are in the current ones.
Hour_Analyst_7765@reddit
But will it also be in any production version, not just this mock up?
A solid sheet of material will always be heavier. Its a plane: I 100% expect airlines to literally cut corners to make the structure lighter with the minimal amount of scaffolding needed that is structurally safe.
CounterSimple3771@reddit
I'm ok with this scenario if they turn her around and she never looks like most passengers...
Safe-Informal@reddit
This concept has been floated around for many years. Nobody wants their face near a stranger's butt for 2-10 hour flight. The extra weight will cost the airline much more money per year. It would require the total redesign of aircraft fuselage to accommodate the extra height. It also has zero carry-on capacity. How many people are going to able to climb up those stairs into that row? There is also a potential for someone to fall stepping down from the upper deck.
jane-is-my-name@reddit
No more carry on’s. 😝
PouletSixSeven@reddit
as someone who has tried to sleep during a 14+ hour trans pacific flight - fuck yes, fuck me this
Former_Farm_3618@reddit
Such a dumb idea if the driving force is adding more passengers. The flights are already close to weight limit. Adding more people and their luggage isn’t viable. Plus the added weight of these seating contraptions is too much.
GGCRX@reddit
Not at that seat pan tilt it's not.
I just don't see this happening, at least not without a brand new airplane that's designed for it.
Doubling the passengers increases weight significantly, and most planes aren't going to have the overhead to take that many more people. Plus, it will increase evacuation times, which will also likely be a non-starter.
The "hey, we figured out what to do with handicap people" thing is also absurd. Wheelchairs are not plane crash rated. It's doubtful wheelchair users would be allowed to stay in their chairs for the flight, and it's doubtful their wheelchairs could stay either - you do not need a 400 pound power chair bouncing around the cabin in turbulence. If they're in lighter manual chairs, you'd just transfer them to a seat.
potato_face1234@reddit
I am not sitting in the fart zone
pixeltackle@reddit
Who wants to be underneath the seats in front of them? I've seen enough people drop their breast milk bottle/soda/devices and it roll down the aisle... imagine that flopping on your lap from above. Nah.
birdpix@reddit
Just imagine the whole plane getting up and rushing the door.
AbeFromanEast@reddit
Shades of South Park in this concept.
agha0013@reddit
industrial designers have been toying with this concept for a great many years now, and it's a concept that continues to be rejected by manufacturers and regulators, no matter how much ryanair might want it.
And as far as industrial design goes... that bottom seat is on drawer slides....
Unusual-Economist288@reddit
Bottom bunk gets the freshest farts tho
Old-Aardvark945@reddit
Why is there what looks like a screen way above the guy's head?
ACO_McBitchin@reddit
I would quite literally never fly again if these became common place. I just flat out wouldn't go. No destination is worth this nonsense.
airport-codes@reddit
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Katana_DV20@reddit (OP)
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