Airlines eye crueler ways of making passengers miserable • Hacker News Board

Re: Airlines eye crueler ways of making passengers miserable

#11

Post by forinti » Fri, Apr 26, 2019, 1:14 PM UTC

There will, inevitably, be people who simply can't use these seats.

If you have a bad knee, you might not be able to bend it. If you are old and have a bad back you might not be able to stay in a such a seat for long.

This is going to cause trouble.

Re: Airlines eye crueler ways of making passengers miserable

#12

Post by gomox » Fri, Apr 26, 2019, 1:16 PM UTC

tyingq wrote: post #8

The bicycle like standing seat does look awful. Reclining, though, is a silly feature on coach airline seats. At best, you temporarily get more room at the expense of the person behind you. Until the person in front of you reclines. Reclining seats when the seat pitch is so tight is just dumb. Oh, and if you get the paywall: http://archive.is/vqTNf

If you ever do a long haul flight in economy (which I assume you haven't) you will realize the obvious purpose of reclining coach seats: to allow people a fighting chance of remaining asleep instead of being constantly awakened by their falling heads.

Re: Airlines eye crueler ways of making passengers miserable

#13

Post by rhexs » Fri, Apr 26, 2019, 1:17 PM UTC

Currently flights effectively have no room left anymore -- I have absolutely no idea why the seats on short-haul flights have the ability to recline. It's impossible to use a 15 inch laptop if the person in front of you moves their seat back.

If Delta removes that ability, I'll start flying with them exclusively. Have back problems? Feel free to pay more to sit in first/economy plus/whatever.

I'd obviously also support regulation for minimum seat space sizes, but that will never happen in America.

Re: Airlines eye crueler ways of making passengers miserable

#14

Post by ataturk » Fri, Apr 26, 2019, 1:18 PM UTC

CompelTechnic wrote: post #3

For short flights, I do not mind the development of "standing seats." Airline margins will remain razor thin and the savings will be passed to the subset of customers who choose to be more cramped. There WILL continue to be "premium economy" or similar for those who choose it, that is undoubtable. If the price sensitivity tradeoff of customers ultimately dictates that these standing seats do not gain adoption, I woul…

You make it sound all economic-ey and free market, but it is anything but. This is nothing but a response to the insidious march of inflation destroying formerly viable markets coupled with airline greed. The rich don't have to suffer these indignities, they don't even go through a security screening. There's an airport near my house that caters to all the local muckey-mucks and the number of corporate jets going in and out of there is astonishing. I don't even think there is a single TSA agent at that airport or even a single metal detector or body scanner.

Re: Airlines eye crueler ways of making passengers miserable

#15

Post by mikybee93 » Fri, Apr 26, 2019, 1:18 PM UTC

This makes no sense to me. Airlines are adding another option that is cheaper. How is that a bad thing? If I don't want the cheaper option, another airline will offer me a more comfortable one and I'll pay for it. What is there to be upset about here?

Re: Airlines eye crueler ways of making passengers miserable

#16

Post by mlrtime » Fri, Apr 26, 2019, 1:18 PM UTC

PaulHoule wrote: post #10

CompelTechnic wrote: post #3

For short flights, I do not mind the development of "standing seats." Airline margins will remain razor thin and the savings will be passed to the subset of customers who choose to be more cramped. There WILL continue to be "premium economy" or similar for those who choose it, that is undoubtable. If the price sensitivity tradeoff of customers ultimately dictates that these standing seats do not gain adoption, I woul…

I don't believe that "customers want cheap flights more than they want comfort". Really customers have about as much choice in the comfort of a flight as they do in the cost of health care services. For years it has been "pay 4 times as much as economy or suffer", in the last ten years they've introduced "basic economy" which at least is realistic. I might rather fly in a widebody on a domestic flight but I don't get…

People vote with their dollars, many legs have multiple options and multiple seat options. Almost everyone goes with the cheapest option.

I've flow from NYC to Chicago $90 round trip. It's incredible how inexpensive flying as become.

Re: Airlines eye crueler ways of making passengers miserable

#17

Post by sparkling » Fri, Apr 26, 2019, 1:18 PM UTC

cimmanom wrote: post #9

That’ll be fun when you spend 3 hours on the tarmac before your “short haul” flight due to airport congestion or weather conditions. Edited to add: what about people with disabilities? Can elderly people no longer fly? Or even if they have a few sitting seats to comply with disability regulations, what happens if you sprain your ankle at some point between booking your flight and boarding?

Having been recently "traped" insinde a plane at the gate for nearly 3 hours, that is my main concern. Personaly i would have no problem with such a standing seat for short 30-60min flights if boarding and deboarding plane-to-gate process is <15min.

Re: Airlines eye crueler ways of making passengers miserable

#18

Post by brotoss » Fri, Apr 26, 2019, 1:19 PM UTC

CompelTechnic wrote: post #3

For short flights, I do not mind the development of "standing seats." Airline margins will remain razor thin and the savings will be passed to the subset of customers who choose to be more cramped. There WILL continue to be "premium economy" or similar for those who choose it, that is undoubtable. If the price sensitivity tradeoff of customers ultimately dictates that these standing seats do not gain adoption, I woul…

Delta's NET income for 2018 was $3.95 billion dollars

Re: Airlines eye crueler ways of making passengers miserable

#19

Post by mikybee93 » Fri, Apr 26, 2019, 1:20 PM UTC

cimmanom wrote: post #9

That’ll be fun when you spend 3 hours on the tarmac before your “short haul” flight due to airport congestion or weather conditions. Edited to add: what about people with disabilities? Can elderly people no longer fly? Or even if they have a few sitting seats to comply with disability regulations, what happens if you sprain your ankle at some point between booking your flight and boarding?

I don't think anyone suggested that all seats are going to be replaced by these.

Re: Airlines eye crueler ways of making passengers miserable

#20

Post by moftz » Fri, Apr 26, 2019, 1:21 PM UTC

I would want to try sitting in one sometime. Airlines might have a better time trying to push the idea if they can get mockups built that can be installed in terminals at major airlines. If it's actually not that bad, let people test it out. It looks terrible but so is sitting in a cramped airline chair with your knees jammed into the seatback. If the vertical seat at least gave the illusion of more room in the sense that you aren't physically pressed up against anything, it might feel more comfortable. Another issue with the vertical seats is that everyone is a different height and therefore a different inseam length, how do you accommodate shorter people and children while also fitting tall people in? Having the saddle/seat being able to move up and down like an office chair would help.