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I recently flew on southwest, my first time on an airplane in almost 20 years, and was appalled. Take me back to Amtrak - far more civilized. This article sums up the experience perfectly.
This article doesn't come close to to summing up air travel these days.
It doesn't describe being crammed in a seat between two hefty passengers while a kid kicks the back of your seat.
Or the fights that break out over people reclining their seat back. A man choked a woman on a Southwest flight recently for reclining her seat prior to takeoff.
I'm not sure what "frills" American could eliminate. They already charge for luggage and you have to pay extra if you want a decent seat. It's been ages since they served any food other than wee packs of pretzels.
and commented: "This remains tolerable for the passengers in as much as the flight lasts only one or a few hours."
or two rows of seats layered on top of each other:
Spoiler
Boeing has filed its share of eccentric patents, such as their "upright sleep support system." United States Patent: 8985693
There are more projects going on. Like plans to cut down to just one toilet per aircraft .
Boeing had been consulted over refitting the fleet with "vertical seats." Passengers would be strapped in while standing up, and tickets for these "seats" would cost between US$6 and US$13.
I enjoy taking the train when I have time. But the fact of the matter is the train is slow, and can't take me everywhere I need to go. Plane travel might not be ideal, but it's far more efficient and allows many more options.
I've traveled a few times by Amtrak and had no problems. If things keep going downhill with the airlines, and people refuse to continue to fly, Amtrak might add more routes. The problem is the airlines know they have you over a barrell.
I've traveled a few times by Amtrak and had no problems. If things keep going downhill with the airlines, and people refuse to continue to fly, Amtrak might add more routes. The problem is the airlines know they have you over a barrell.
Routes aren't the issue as much as time for travel, at best it takes 18 hours to travel from DC to Los Angeles, even factoring ample time to get to the airport a flight takes about 1/3 of the time. Even if we get to the point of having a high speed train system I don't see it being as efficient as flying for long distance travel. Also there is never going to be the ability to travel internationally by train, so we are always going to be dependent on air travel in some way.
There are a lot of things that get patented that are never going to see the light of day in real life. A number of the horror seating configurations are in that category- the FAA requires that any airline flying a new type of aircraft or making substantial changes to seating existing arrangements must do a certification demonstration showing that the aircraft can successfully be evacuated in less than 90 seconds using only half the emergency exits and with tandom debris in the aisleways, and European regulators require similar testing. (Rule is evidence based from a number of 1960s-1970s crashes where most passengers survived the original crash but were voercome by smoke/fumes/fire before they could get clear of the plane.)
There are videos out there of Airbus practicing for the test when they were certifying the A380 and they're impressive. But I think that trying to go to the 'enhanced seating' that is being patented would hit the point where you're trying to get too many passengers through too few doors and a failed FAA/EU test would make it a no go seating option for pretty much any other country to adopt because they tend to follow FAA/EU leads.
The exception would be the usual iffy Indonesian discount carriers.
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