Please, Don't Let This Be the Future of Air Travel
Slouching toward JFK
By Rebecca Boyle Posted 09.10.2010 at 5:00 pm

http://www.popsci.com/node/48244/?cmpid=enews091610

On your last flight, did you stare with envy at the people sitting in
the exit row? Did you get a charley horse from trying to cross your
legs under your tray table? Consider yourself lucky, pal. Your next
budget flight might ask you to fly horseback style, squeezed onto a
saddle in just 23 inches of space.

This new airplane seat will be officially unveiled at a trade show
next week, and the early buzz is that several airlines are interested,
including some in the U.S. The thought makes us cringe — which, come
to think of it, we will be required to do in order to fit into these
seats.

The “SkyRider” is the latest innovation designed to save airlines
money and, apparently, make passengers miserable. It is supposed to
mimic the experience of riding horseback: “Cowboys ride eight hours on
their horses during the day and still feel comfortable in the saddle,”
says Dominique Menoud, director general of Aviointeriors Group, which
will make the seats. Some cowboys might say otherwise, but there’s a
larger point: In the future, do we really want to return to traveling
Old West style?

Odds are pretty good that budget airlines will be the first to order
the SkyRider, which Menoud says can be used in its own cabin class.
Ireland’s Ryanair already wants to sell standing-room-only seats, and
this could be an aviation-authority-approved alternative. Tickets will
probably be cheaper, but airlines will reap rewards by packing more
people on board. That is, until people give up and choose telepresence
over sardine-style travel.

We’re all for future aircraft technologies that improve flight
efficiency and design. By all means, give us airplanes with self-
cleaning, shape-changing seats made of plant fibers. Please, just
don’t make us sit 23 inches apart.

[USA Today]