Or a re-enactment of this story  

posted by McD at 10:57AM CST on December 15

I'm glad to know that the things that they're making me unplug my ipod for are increasingly more justified. 

posted by Valatan at 02:41PM CST on December 15

I fully support the "middle seat gets both armrests" idea.

But I have to disagree with this insidious and wrongheaded opinion, which states the moral ranking of crimes against humanity goes something like:
...
-- dogfighting
-- reclining your seat back during airplane flights
-- being Hitler

Fuck that shit. In the industrial design classic "The Measure of Man and Woman - Human Factors in Design", we read that for vehicular seating "The spine [is positioned] at 100° from the upper leg bone, which the the comfort angle" and that 95 degrees is the minimum desirable thigh-to-spine angle. The seat angles of a chair for "everyday use and travel" have a 105° to 115° thigh-to-spine angle and a 15° seat reference plane -- a total 30° seat back-to-groundplane angle. (Relaxing the seat plane angle slightly gives better thoracic support).

So even for the average person, the seatback-upright is not the designed seating position: the seatback-reclined position is. Seatback-upright is only to reduce the chance that your head will slam into the seat ahead of you (no shoulder restraints) during a crash.

My kneecap-to-back distance is 26 1/4", basically that of a 99th percentile man (the largest person accounted for in traditional industrial design calculations; sorry, Gilliss). With my knees straight ahead, I touch the seat back ahead of me whether it's reclined or upright, so I'm acutely aware of how much leg room is available. Reclining the seat ahead only marginally impacts the amount I must angle my legs in order to fit.

However, my 19 1/2" floor-to-bottom of thigh (popliteal) length is also at 99th percentile; assuming the seat height is designed for a 50th percentile adult with a ~ 17" popliteal length, my thighs are at about +6° to the floor plane. This in turn means that for a 90° seat back position I'm at an 85° spine-to-thigh angle -- 20° less than the comfort angle and 10° less than the minimum prescribed seating angle.

What I'm trying to say is: if you're behind me on a plane, I'm reclining the seat back and that's the way it's gonna be. 

posted by mrflip at 03:03PM CST on December 16

I'm fine with the reclining because all I have to do to counter is recline my own seat (and sort of cross my ankles in front of me to get my knee hight down-- it's very important that nothing be stored under the seat in front of me). On some planes they do have to fix the fact that the guy at the very back of the plane gets screwed.

Ze doesn't claim to be right all the time. He just wants to be a fountain of ideas, presented in a chuckle-inducing way. 

posted by McD at 12:44AM CST on December 20

Flip this stylesheet makes it hard to see where one comment ends and the next begins. 

posted by McD at 12:45AM CST on December 20

Yeah, I'm reacting to other forums where I've seen that idea put /much/ more forcefully.

As for the stylesheet -- I'll try to mess around with it sometime. My console has the "edit this comment" buttons, so I never noticed the need for a visual break. If I recall, I tried a few things and didn't find anything non-garish... I hate CSS so, so, so much. If you feel like it, download the stylesheet and a local copy of one page, ship 'em over, and I'll fix it accordingly. 

posted by mrflip at 07:27PM CST on December 20

Seat Guru helps you choose your seat. Does this one recline? Does that one have more legroom?

Also, starting this week United will charge for *both* checked bags. They already charge $50 for an extra inch or so of legroom, and try to fool you into clicking on the upgrade when you choose your seats:

  Want choose seats? Can haz more legroom!

Lots of surrounding words. Maybe you not see
when we say iz extra $50 for more better. At
least we not ask if you wants car wash. 
Maybe we is just asking coz we iz nice. 

(regular-type URL           (Giant Yellow Form
  link for no)             Btn saying Yes Please
                           that could easily be
                          mistaken for "Continue")

Next time I just pony up a few extra (but deterministic) $$ and fly Continental. 

posted by mrflip at 10:30AM CST on June 12