Is THIS the Real Future of Airline Seating?

It was only last week when I wrote about the PaperClip Butterfly seating that converts from premium economy into business class seating. I asked if this was the future of airline seating.

Maybe not, if UK-based Factorydesign has its way. What if instead of seating, passengers actually flew in pods? Not just any pods, stacked pods in 3-D seating. The seating, named Air Lair, is a cocoon design supposedly with space for 30% more seats.

In Factorydesign’s world, there would be no need for separate cabins because all the seating would be the same, front to rear. Instead, they would propose different ‘zones’ for passengers, separated by things like families, business travelers, or singles.

I don’t have a problem with the 3-D seating but can imagine that their zone idea will fail pretty quickly. If a flight is canceled, it will create havoc for families as too many of them vie for the few family section seats on the next flight. Inevitably, larger families will suffer first.

For that matter, it may be necessary to place some single traveler in the family section because that is the only seat available. I can hear the complaints now.

And if these are single pod seats, what about couples that want to sit next to each other? And what about the honeymooners who just might want to snuggle? And do parents really want their children to fly in their own pod seats where they can’t be seen by the parents?

I have no idea how Factorydesign would answer these questions so for now, just enjoy the idea that the future of seating will be different than anything we have today.