Now this is doubling down.
The designer of the much-ridiculed double-decker airline seats — which spawned a thousand memes — has now rolled out a prototype for first class.
“Now that we know economy works, and now that’s moving forward, we thought, ‘Why not go to the other end of the cabin and do a business-class/first-class hybrid?’” Chaise Lounge founder Alejandro Núñez Vicente told CNN at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Germany, where he’s displaying his company’s bi-level sky chairs.
His original coach class arrangement — which features one row above another with the top level accessible by stairs — was designed to allow lower-seated passengers more legroom as there was no seat directly in front of them. Doing so required Núñez Vincente to do away with the overhead luggage bin.
The visionary’s first-class iteration, dubbed “elevated class,” is essentially the same concept except with a slightly different layout. Whereas the economy version has the standard three seats, this upper-crust configuration features only one seat on the bottom row, and two on the top like a sofa, allowing for much more space and comfort.
Núñez Vicente said he wanted to elevate air travel by creating “more space for more seats in the airplane” while also providing “an even better experience than they get today in business or first class.”
Specifically, he envisioned the bottom seat as an enclosed cubicle with a spacious footwell that passengers can stretch their legs out into under the upper level — perfect for the solo traveler. Conversely, the more couch-like upper tier was designed for people traveling with a plus one as well as lone flyers who need more space.
The lack of an overhead luggage locker might seem disconcerting, however, Núñez Vicente claims that this is offset by the roomier footwells, which provide all the storage a passenger could need.
“The real estate that you’re getting is so much bigger than the one you would get in any business or first class,” declared the entrepreneur, who founded Chaise Lounge as a 21-year-old college student, inspired by economy flights that didn’t accommodate his 6-foot-2 frame.
Unfortunately, his economy prototype became the subject of ridicule, with critics deeming the layout claustrophobic and weird.
“Fresh hell just dropped,” wrote author Amber Sparks on X in response to a CNN article about the design. Fellow writer Kaz Weida tweeted: “I’ll be back to comment on this once my claustrophobia lets me breathe again.”
Indeed, the top row’s design is such that passengers will only have 4.92 feet of space between the seats and the top of the plane, preventing them from standing up to get out.
Meanwhile, one Redditor claimed that those seated in the lower quadrant would break both of their knees at the same time should they encounter turbulence.
However, Vincente remains undaunted by haters, declaring, “there’s no such thing as bad publicity.”
“Most of the things that changed the world are normally from radical people that come with a crazy idea – like Steve Jobs with the iPhone,” insisted the seat honcho, who claims that “big players” are interested in the economy class design.
Núñez Vicente says he’s also anxious for “elevated class” to get off the ground, gushing: “We will put our reputation on the line, again, and see how it turns out.”
The visionary’s not the first to design a seat that ostensibly saves space sans sacrificing comfort.
Earlier this year, an Italian aerospace company unveiled a convertible “sofa-bed”-style business class seat, which they claim could transform the face of air travel.