Double-Decker Economy Class Seats? Netizens Are Worried About People Farting In Their Face — The Man Behind It Responds

More recline, extra legroom and overall increased comfort on a flight is the stuff of an Economy Class traveller’s dreams. But what if you had to be seated underneath another passenger the whole flight?

Check out the Chaise Longue Economy Seat, a double-decker plane seat design that’s gone viral recently after it was shown at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Germany last week.

Designed by 23-year-old Spanish airplane seat designer Alejandro Núñez Vicente,  the double-decker Chaise Longue Economy Seats are designed to be used as middle seats in Economy Class in long haul flights and requires doing away with overhead compartments in the middle section of the aircraft.

According to Alejandro, it has a recline of 125 degrees, compared to the 110-degree recline of a standard economy seat, and the upper level seats have even better reclining.

While the lower seats may seem claustrophobic to some, these seats actually have a foot rest that extends under the upper seats, so passengers will get more legroom compared to the average Economy Class seats.

The main priority behind pushing out this new design was not to cram more passengers in coach, but to alleviate the legroom woes of taller passengers, Alejandro, who is 1.88m tall, told CNN. “At the end of the day, by having a double decker, you optimize the space, you take advantage of the space that otherwise is just air,” he said.

Among the drawbacks of the design: Passengers with limited mobility will only be able to access the lower level — passengers have to climb three steps to get to the upper level. There are also no inflight entertainment screens.

The revolutionary plane seat design has prompted a flurry of reactions from netizens, ranging from bemusement to utter disbelief. The top-most concern? Farting issues.

Still, there are some who welcome the idea of more legroom. “Ok but at least his spot looks much more comfy lol leg room and all. I’ll just wear a face and eye mask,” one TikToker commented.

But Alejandro insists that passengers need not worry about their counterparts on the upper levels passing gas during flights as “it wouldn’t go straight through”, he told USA Today. He pointed out that “there will be some kind of restraint” where the partition behind the upper level of seats are.

This isn’t the first time that Chaise Longue has been under the spotlight — the very first iteration of the newfangled seat design first sparked online debate when Alejandro debuted it last year. The renewed attention on the viral plane seats comes after Alejandro made tweaks to the original design and showed the new-and-improved version at the Expo.

While he’s aware of the furore online, he has maintained he and his team will “try to adapt to every single constructive feedback that we get”. Alejandro also took to Instagram to respond to the public’s reactions so far.

“I understand that the reluctancy in a small but noisy percentage of the population is natural, because every single development (except for the enhanced IFE screens and the improved on-board services) for the last 3 decades in the economy class cabin has affected the passengers in a negative way," he wrote.

“That is the reason why we have decided to come from outside the industry with a radical and challenging innovation with one clear objective: ENHANCE PASSENGER COMFORT AND SPACE WHILE MAINTAINING PASSENGER CAPACITY.”

Either way, Alejandro has been reported saying that global carriers have expressed interest in the product. But there’s still a ways to go for the design to actually take to the skies — the company is currently working on getting the appropriate approvals and certifications which will take at least a couple of years, according to reports.