
New Airbus beds will let passengers sleep in the cargo hold - bkohlmann
http://money.cnn.com/2018/04/11/news/airbus-cargo-hold-beds/index.html
======
gargravarr
Considering the price of even business-class bed seats, which when you're
looking at them don't look that comfortable, looking at these pictures of rows
of comfortable-looking bunks makes me wonder what exactly Airbus is trying to
achieve here. Surely these bunks will be hideously expensive due to the space
they take up.

Safety is also questionable, and since most frustration of air travel centres
around what we're always told is 'passenger safety', I'm taking a long look at
this. The article mentions the lack of windows, but also fails to mention that
humans rarely enter the cargo hold during flights for one specific reason -
they are not designed to accommodate humans while in the air. The air is not
heated or circulated to the same degree. There are no emergency exits. In the
event of an emergency landing, you'd have to get everyone up the stairs and
onto the main deck to the exits. Retrofitting this setup sounds like it would
need a lot of modifications to the aircraft to accommodate safety, and the
costs of this will probably drive up the cost of seats in sections where you
don't even get this benefit.

I've long thought that replacing the pathetically cramped Economy-class seats
with stacked pods like those used in Japanese honeycomb hotels would be a very
viable solution - claustrophobic, sure, but planes already are... Similar
passenger density, some semblance of privacy due to being all-enclosed, quite
safe in turbulence or an emergency landing if you're laying down, and
relatively uncomplicated egress. True, for persons with limited mobility it
could be infeasible, but it's an option...

------
davewasthere
Shut up and take my money!

I've often thought I'd love a row of seats to be swapped out for four beds,
one on top of another. But being able to sleep in the cargo hold is better
than nothing. The airline could earn more than the cargo itself, at the added
bonus of using less fuel.

Am sure a few of them will be all over this.

------
richev
I love the thought of this...subject to the price!

