A discussion about the airline industry, airline employees, and all things related

Seat selection has become an important decision when purchasing an airline ticket.  United Airlines offers more room in economy for a price unless you are a seasoned traveler.  Northwest Airlines wants to give you an exit row seat for a price when you purchase your ticket.  But something that airlines might start asking has me a little more than scared.  You might start hearing at check in: 

Would you like a forward facing or rear facing seat? 

Ten airlines are considering turning half their economy-class seats to face the opposite way to the other half to squeeze in an extra column of seats along the aircraft.  Airlines could add up to 50 seats to each aircraft and increase the seat pitch, the gap between one seat and the seat in front, by four inches.  But they would have to encourage passengers to spend up to 15 hours facing the back of the aircraft and trying to avoid eye contact with passengers facing the other way.

The traditional seating layout is constrained by people sitting shoulder -to-shoulder. This typically means leaving a two-inch gap between seats for an armrest. Under the new layout, one person’s shoulders would be alongside his neighbor’s knees, removing a gap.  The layout would be similar to that of the business class lay flat seating style on some airlines now but instead of just a pair of seats, you might have four or five sets of seats in the forward-rear set up. 

By saving on the armrest space an extra seat could be fitted in each row. A Boeing 777 could have ten-abreast seating instead of nine-abreast, allowing an extra 21 seats.

British Airways said that rear-facing seats were popular in business class and it would consider them for economy passengers. 

If any US airlines are considering it, that is unknown.  I do not know if this is a good idea.  The rear facing seats on the bus and the trains are always the last to be used.  I just forsee people facing the rear waking up during a flight and getting the feeling that the plane is going down.  

The Times (London) 

Mark from UpGradeTravelBetter informs me that Emirates already does the 10 across in Economy by making the aisles and seats narrower.  British Airways, United, and American  have 9 across in various forms.  Has anyone experienced the 10 across seating in economy on Emirates?  Is it comfortable?