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Latest Airbus single aisle aircraft innovations

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Re: Latest Airbus single aisle aircraft innovations

#31

Post by alistairSH »

We flew from IAD to DUB on Aer Lingus a month ago. Outbound was an A321neo LR/XLR and it was not bad at all. Legroom was fine (for me at 5'7"), big overhead bins should be required these days, and the entertainment setup was passable. The only complaint was flaky seat-back trays that required a real SLAM to latch. The damn things were constantly dropping down, getting slammed back not quite hard enough, and falling again. Not all of them, but enough it was noticeable.

Return was on their A330, which was noticeable worse in every way EXCEPT it's 2-4-2 seatings, so we had a pair of outside seats to ourselves, where on the A321, it's 3-3, so you have a neighbor in the window seat.

Re: Latest Airbus single aisle aircraft innovations

#32

Post by cwmma »

Is there a term for a product which is really only really for a minority of it's users?

Air travel seems like this as most airlines and manufacturers seem to bend over backwards for their wealthy and high margin passengers and basically treat economy class as "fine I guess we'll throw the rest of you in the back"

Mobile games seem the apotheosis of this as a lot of games are really about finding whales and any enjoyment anyone else has is really an accidental side effect.

Re: Latest Airbus single aisle aircraft innovations

#33

Post by asdff »

neonstatic wrote: post #15
krunck wrote: post #5

How about seats that are adjustable to fit small people. I'm sick of sitting in seats with concave lumbar regions. It tears up my back. I know, I know, the seats need to accommodate large, more spherical people. Cant there be an adjustable lumbar support though?

Since we are voicing seat related complaints, I want seats that don't recline. I don't want that asshole in front of me ruining my flight again.

I don't get the griping with the reclining. I see it all over reddit and here. Never in real life. It has never affected my life in the least bit to have someone in the seat ahead of me recline their seat. It doesn't affect knee room at all. You lose what maybe 3 inches of dead air space if that at the top of their seat.

Re: Latest Airbus single aisle aircraft innovations

#34

Post by datakan »

cwmma wrote: post #32

Is there a term for a product which is really only really for a minority of it's users? Air travel seems like this as most airlines and manufacturers seem to bend over backwards for their wealthy and high margin passengers and basically treat economy class as "fine I guess we'll throw the rest of you in the back" Mobile games seem the apotheosis of this as a lot of games are really about finding whales and any enjoym…

Airlines treat people like cattle then wonder why people behave like animals. I just did a cross country trip, about 4 hours per hop. I was so sore after that I've basically sworn off traveling that way ever again.

You can tell they keep removing space to fit more bodies in at all costs because they don't even try to line up seats with windows anymore. Multiple seats had windows in places that made them basically useless and one seat from what I could tell had two windows just due to the placement.

Don't even get me started on the cart that goes up the aisle handing out dry cookies to everyone followed by the person with a trash bag coming along to gather it from you.

I had school buses as a kid that were more comfortable and the people better behaved.

Re: Latest Airbus single aisle aircraft innovations

#35

Post by alistairSH »

pudgywalsh wrote: post #27

Because everyone sleeps soundly with bright blue LED lighting blaring in their faces. I fail to see what's innovative about "we shoved business class seats into a narrow-body aircraft". An A321 is still an A321. Flying internationally in a single-aisle aircraft is under any circumstances torture no matter how you sugar coat it: "Come fly in our modern, innovative sardine can." By the way BA did this years ago with th…

That flight was an odd bird from the outset. It didn't have the range to make NY in a single go, so it stopped in Shannon Ireland to refuel, where passengers deplaned, went through US Preclearance, and rebounded. IIRC, the US->UK return was non-stop. So one leg was longer than normal. Ultimately, it was dying on it's own when COVID drove the final nail into the coffin.

Re: Latest Airbus single aisle aircraft innovations

#36

Post by wat10000 »

datakan wrote: post #34
cwmma wrote: post #32

Is there a term for a product which is really only really for a minority of it's users? Air travel seems like this as most airlines and manufacturers seem to bend over backwards for their wealthy and high margin passengers and basically treat economy class as "fine I guess we'll throw the rest of you in the back" Mobile games seem the apotheosis of this as a lot of games are really about finding whales and any enjoym…

Airlines treat people like cattle then wonder why people behave like animals. I just did a cross country trip, about 4 hours per hop. I was so sore after that I've basically sworn off traveling that way ever again. You can tell they keep removing space to fit more bodies in at all costs because they don't even try to line up seats with windows anymore. Multiple seats had windows in places that made them basically use…

It's worth remembering that the airline market is very competitive and this happens because it matches consumer preferences. Yes, nobody wants to be crammed into a tiny seat. But given the choice between a large seat or a tiny seat that costs $5 less, people reliably choose to save $5. The only reason the experience is so miserable is because the flying public will accept nearly anything to save a little money.

It's also worth remembering that there are various premium options available. You can pay extra for economy plus or really splurge on business/first. "That's too expensive" OK well you made your choice....

Re: Latest Airbus single aisle aircraft innovations

#37

Post by datakan »

iSnow wrote: post #30
mrtksn wrote: post #8

Maybe its due to the lessons learned, the extreme conservatism in air travel should be up to a disruption. It's nice that they make blue light to look like the sky but: 1) The windows are disappointing. This is, I think, due to the fatigue caused by large rectangular windows that previously caused a disaster but it begs for improvement. A way to make large windows or get rid of all the windows and use very high defin…

> Automate the pilot out. That's a complete non-starter for now and the next decades. Fully automated operation for 1-dimensional transport (trains) is a solved issue, for 2D, not so much and most certainly not for 3D. Even though modern planes are very reliable, too many things can go wrong during flight to leave it to a machine - and for what? Just for bragging rights?

There are whole fleets of unmanned drones being flown by the military today

Re: Latest Airbus single aisle aircraft innovations

#38

Post by ceejayoz »

FergusArgyll wrote: post #16
neonstatic wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since we are voicing seat related complaints, I want seats that don't recline. I don't want that asshole in front of me ruining my flight again.

I don't get this attitude. The seats are meant to recline, as soon as takeoff is finished I recline. If you want more space, you should too.

Yeah, I'm six foot, always in the most basic economy, and never once has the person in front reclining impacted me.

It feels like the same phenomenon when people bitched and moaned about having to take even the slightest COVID precautions.

Re: Latest Airbus single aisle aircraft innovations

#39

Post by wat10000 »

pudgywalsh wrote: post #27

Because everyone sleeps soundly with bright blue LED lighting blaring in their faces. I fail to see what's innovative about "we shoved business class seats into a narrow-body aircraft". An A321 is still an A321. Flying internationally in a single-aisle aircraft is under any circumstances torture no matter how you sugar coat it: "Come fly in our modern, innovative sardine can." By the way BA did this years ago with th…

I never understood why the airplane size matters so much to an individual passenger. What's the difference to me, as a standard economy passenger, between flying internationally in an A321 or a 787? I have the same tiny seat either way. My knees are crammed into the next seat's back the same on both. I see this sentiment stated frequently and I just don't get it.

Re: Latest Airbus single aisle aircraft innovations

#40

Post by wat10000 »

gib444 wrote: post #28

Remember that airlines almost always opt for the more cramped and cheaper variants of interiors, asking "ok but how do we fit even more cattle in here?"

But also remember that airline customers also opt for the more cramped and cheaper variants.
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