Airbus could bring plane travel to a new low

Finally, after all your griping about leg room and seat discomfort on planes, Airbus heard you, and the airplane manufacturer is making a change.

At an aircraft convention in Germany last week, Airbus debuted mock-ups of a new seat configuration that would add a fifth seat to the middle section of its A380 super jumbo airplane, making 11 seats per row in total. The configuration is made possible by raising the trio of seats by each window a few inches, which allows the lucky window-seat passenger to effectively be sitting inside the plane’s wall.

So, as we said, Airbus is looking out for its passengers. Instead of expanding legroom or prioritizing comfort, they simply gave everyone an extra friend per row to commiserate with. See more photos at Quartz.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up