A design concept for a double decker plane – to give passengers more space, apparently – has been revealed, and it's enough to put your off flying for good.
Yep, as if budget airline travel couldn't get any worse, it seems there's an idea to literally sit passengers on top of each other.
The new design was mocked up by Alejandro Núñez Vicente to help economy passengers feel less cramped.
Speaking to CNN the 21-year-old explained his Chaise Lounge Airport project.
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"If you asked me before, I would have said maybe it’s just a university project. If you asked me now, after all the hard [work], after all the effort of many, many people – I would say that now this is more of a reality. We see it as the future of the economy class."
Many, including us, are asking why change the old seating arrangement if it works fine, to which the designer said: "So if passengers still fly in the worst economy class seats, why are we going to give them a better option? It makes money. That’s the goal of the airline at the end of the day, not to make your flight better.
"My purpose here is to change the economy class seats for the better of humanity, or for all the people that cannot afford to pay for more expensive tickets,"
The effort in the design must be admired – we all love a double-decker bus, after all, there's just something infinitely fun about sitting at the front of the top deck and going round a corner – but that doesn't mean the same applies to air travel.
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And Reddit users were quick to point this out, with one writing: "The lower seats look like a s***show to get in and out of."
Another said: "It’s disturbing even as a mock-up."
Others were genuinely concerned about the safety of the passengers on the lower deck, whose legs look somewhat trapped under the seats above: "Lower seats will never pass emergency safety requirements."
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To which another replied: "Actually I suspect that neither set will pass safety requirements – the upper seats are accessed via two-step ladders and there’s a lot of interference between the upper and lower seats. You have to be able to evacuate the entire aircraft in 90s; I don’t think that would be possible with these seats."
Would you ride on a double-decker plane? We're a hard no for this one, but it's a sound effort.
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Topics: Travel, Technology