Folding Y Seats?

[Flying Fox]

I have always wondered why no airline (that I know of at least) has installed Y seats that fold up & away (like at the movies) when unoccupied?

I would have thought that this is a good idea to give the impression of more space in rows and would make aircraft cleaning easier & faster?

Anyone have any thoughts?

 

[opusman]

Maybe not as strong/safe in an emergency landing?

 

[nlagalle]

I have always wondered why no airline (that I know of at least) has installed Y seats that fold up & away (like at the movies) when unoccupied?

I would have thought that this is a good idea to give the impression of more space in rows and would make aircraft cleaning easier & faster?

Anyone have any thoughts?

I'm guessing there will be issues surrounding the strength of the seats on an impact crash. as the seats move there could well be issues of it's strength during an accident (well that sudden stop at the end!).

 

[dk4]

Me too... something similar to how the cabin crew seats flip-up on most aircraft. I agree with all your ideas about space perception & easy access, but would take it a step further...

If all seats in a cabin have some sort of easy release floor connection on them, so that pitch can be altered quickly and easily during turn around - then add a few of these flip-up seats (perhaps marketed as a new class "below" economy) at the back of the cabin and presto airlines can offer a competitive premium pitch during peak morning and evening city services (by folding the back few seats up and pushing them together, and then expanding leg room in other rows) and fly higher volume loads during the day with a tighter pitch (and more available seats) to leisure destinations.

Conversely a similar, but reverse idea could be applied to a premium economy seat @~40" pitch, so that is able to be reset during turn-around to fold right back into the seat behind to create a flat bed @~80" pitch. Again allowing the same aircraft to maximise seating density on lower yielding routes/times and sell a premium bed option on other flights where it can.

 

[docjames]

All good ideas but the weight penalty for such a setup outweighs the benefits in terms of revenue / utilisation. Add the crash demands and fixed typically wins. It would take some cost to make a sufficently durable, light, versatile seat, and to do so the cost will again outweigh the benefit.

 

[UP4014]

I'd guess the weight is the problem, and you have life jackets under some types of seats.

 

[tuapekastar]

The seats are remarkably light. On a tour of the NZ engineering base at CHC two or three years ago, there were some Y seats just sitting around in the seating workshop, and was able to lift a set of three pretty much with one finger (or so it seems now, can't exactly recall, but they were surprisingly light). I guess every gram counts!

 

[Flying Fox]

I'd guess the weight is the problem, and you have life jackets under some types of seats.

Life jackets could still be attached to the underside of the seats even if they flip up.