I heard about this on the radio while I was on vacation in Canada, and was intrigued. It is a fascinating topic, with a few more layers than it might seem at first glance.
The topic seemed to go something like this: "If you could take a flight to Paris (or some other nice destination to a faraway place) for $80, but you had to sit in a bike seat for the entire time, would you do it?"
Unfortunately, I did not get to hear much from the story, but it was a subject that I swore I would explore once I got regular access to the internet again.
Admittedly, I forgot about it for quite some time.
But finally, I remembered. Not sure why, but I did, and this time, I found a few articles on the subject.
It's a fair enough question, though: would you be willing to sit on a bike seat for eight hours, if it meant that you could get a cheap flight to some nice, European destination, like Paris, or Vienna, or Berlin?
On the one hand, it sounds tempting, because hell, $80 for such a flight is something that I could afford. Even if you only visit the city for an extended weekend or so, it's better than not visiting it at all. And at those prices, you might even be able to visit several such destinations that are normally far away and, often, rather prohibitively expensive to take flights to see. Or maybe to visit family across the pond? If perhaps the cheapest flight to some European destination presently is, say, around $850 or so (assuming you place the order in advance) for roundtrip tickets, you might be able to afford four to five such roundtrip flights if the prices were indeed that much less (and that's a bit if!). But assuming the prices are that much cheaper, I personally might not feel so committed to spending as much time on a single trip to Europe. Hell, a four or five day stretch of days in Paris or Barcelona or Athens? Hell, take three days off from work, and the other two days that you have (on weekends for most of us, and for those of us with an unconventional schedule, we could probably make it work, anyway), and that does not eat away as much on your vacation time. You might be able to take literally three or four such "vacations" during the course of a typical year, if you are entitled to two weeks worth of vacation time. And, you might even still have some time to spare! And think of the money you would save (at least on flights)!
Yet, on the other hand, you are uncomfortable - extremely uncomfortable! - for a very long period of time! I mean, on the return flight back from Poland last year, we were crammed into tiny seats with very little leg room. We did not feel it as much on the way there, although perhaps some of that had to do with the excietment for the impending trip. But on the way back? Boy! We were extremely uncomfortable! By the time we had been in the air for six or seven hours, all we wanted to do was get the hell off the plane! And that was with seats that reclined, and with trays that opened up for meals, and with movies to watch! What if you had none of those options for, say, eight hours? Or, perhaps more? What if you fly from New York to....say....Beijing? Or perhaps to Rio de Janeiro? Or maybe to Cape Town? Or even to Sydney? My tailbone is already hurting just thinking about it!
I mean, my butt gets numb sometimes when I simply sit in the same place - and often a relatively comfortable place - for too long! But sitting on a bike seat for that mans hours, and you're not even competing for the Tour de France?
Wow!
What do you think? Would you buy cheap tickets to see some exotic destination that you've never seen before, and never thought you'd be able to afford?
Or is this just another demeaning corporate strategy to rake in yet more profits by herding people like cattle into a plane, comfort be damned?
Do you think people are going to buy such tickets, or will this fall flat instantly? And, if people do buy tickets, will it eventually falter, once people actually realize just how uncomfortable these seats are? Or, perhaps, is this the wave of the future for coach?
Please share your thoughts on this fascinating topic! I'd love to hear from you!
Here are some articles on the subject that I thought would be nice to share, so you can read in more detail about this proposal from Aerobus (and there are illustrations, too!):
The Future Of Airline Economy Seats? Be Ready For A Flight On A Bicycle Seat! by John Ollila on July 14, 2014:
http://loyaltylobby.com/2014/07/14/the-future-of-airline-economy-seats-be-ready-for-a-flight-on-a-bicycle-seat/
Bicycle Seats on Passenger Flights? by Phil Kaufman aka AffiliateHound
http://www.abestweb.com/forums/travel-740/bicycle-seats-passenger-flights-176519.html
Airbus's retractable bicycle seat patent aims to maximize profits published by CBC News Posted: Jul 16, 2014:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/airbus-s-retractable-bicycle-seat-patent-aims-to-maximize-profits-1.2708716
Would You Sit on a Bike Seat in Economy? 14 July, 2014 / by Jason Kessler / in In the Air, Media
http://flyanddine.boardingarea.com/sit-bike-seat-economy/
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