Double-decker airline seat —mocked in countless memes — now has a first-class version: ‘Fresh hell’
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.
“We decided to move it [the dual level layout] towards the first and business class,” Chaise Longue founder Alejandro Núñez Vicente, 24 told the Post. “It’s very efficient to put seats on two different levels. It creates much more space for both the airline and the passenger.”
The Madrid native unveiled these bi-level sky chairs recently at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Germany, CNN reported.
Núñez Vicente’s original coach class arrangement — or as he calls it, “comfort class” — features one row above another with the top level accessible by stairs, and no overhead luggage bin. It was designed to allow lower-seated passengers more legroom as there was no seat directly in front of them.
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.
“It gives the passengers choice,” Núñez Vicente told the Post. “Nowadays you don’t really have a choice if it’s business class, all of the seats are the same.”
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.
“We have storage space for five carry-ons per passenger,” the sitting boss told the Post. “It’s impossible physically to carry five carry-ons, but you have the storage space for that.”
“Our main goal is the comfort of the passengers,” 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, CNN reported.
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.
There’s also the question of whether aviation regulators would be amenable to passengers keeping heavier bags in the footwell rather than the overhead due to safety concerns.
However, Núñez Vincente remains undaunted by haters.
“You always have critics of innovation,” the comfort mogul told the Post. “I think Steve Jobs at the time had a lot of people criticizing the touchscreen.”
He added, “When Elon Musk said that he was going to make electric cars popular, everyone laughed at him and look at all the car brands now.”
“I think if you see someone trying to change things for the better, at least give them a chance, and don’t just try to bring them down,” concluded Núñez Vicente, who claims that “big players” are interested in the comfort class design.
Núñez Vicente is also anxious to get “elevated class” off the ground, gushing: “It’s under development and it’s still moving forward. It’ll happen sooner or later.”
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.
