Two Innovations to Make Airplane Comfort Just a Little Bit Worse

There are few things worse than an uncomfortable plane trip home from a vacation. And the better the vacation, the worse the plane trip can feel. As if I wasn't already depressed enough leaving Jamaica last week, I also had a late flight, a seat separate from my party, and got to sit near someone who brought the entire McDonald's menu aboard.

Of course I've whined about plane travel before, and others certainly recognize the torture. But some recent ideas are really about to kick up to torture factor of airline travel.

First, we'll go with the technology that is likely to be implemented, and few people will want to see. Airline seats are manufactured according to measurements made in 1962, when the average American butt was 14 inches for men, 14.4 inches for women. Forty years later, Air Force measurements determined averages for both were at the time over 15 inches, but airliner seat sizes have remained, while presumably butts get bigger. And the seat pitch (equivalent points on subsequent seats) has shrunk by at least four inches since the 1970s. While a Tennessee senator is proposing laws about minimal seat dimensions, Airbus is taking a design approach to this issue: bench seats.

Bench seats replacing traditional airline seats would be important for a few reasons. First, the bench seat would be sold differently than a traditional seat. Passengers would be charged for the space they use, and how their weight affects fuel performance, much like how air freight is charged. Basically this means that two overweight fliers could share a bench seat, or a family of four with two small children could occupy the same space. The seat has several seat belt and arm rest configurations.

However, most people would still be sitting three across on the bench, so there likely won't be any extra room, and those folks would just get a less comfortable seat instead. It it's unlikely an airline would grant a "weight discount" if someone wanted to purchase the whole bench and take a nap. However if there is money to be made in Airbus's bench seat, you can bet your butt you'll see it soon.

On the contrary, this is a technology that many flyers want to see, but just won't happen in our lifetime unfortunately: the detachable plane cabin. The idea is so simple that it was just described.

Instead of the plane cabin being an integral part of the airplane, it would be a capsule that is filled with passengers and cargo and then secured to the rest of the plane. If an emergency were to happen, pilots release the capsule during flight. Parachutes slow the descent of the capsule, and airbags soften the landing and keep it buoyant if it lands on water. Click this link to the video to watch a 1:30 animation of the concept.

I recently flew with an anxious flyer, and while something like this might put her at ease, it is incredibly unrealistic. First, airliner deaths are so rare, it might not demand the expense (on the airline's part, of course). Developing traditional airplanes can cost $300 million, so it's not farfetched that the capsule cabin plane could cost double that, or more, to innovate. There are a hundred more questions than answers. And how do you steer a detached capsule? How do you test these? Are they going to be any safer than riding down with disabled-but-still-flying airplane? Does anyone care about the pilots? (It this the equivalent of an ejection seat for automobiles?)

So we're not really sure what the future of passenger aviation holds, but if either of these innovations see reality, it looks uncomfortable.