Oh, and the Airplanes Are Badly Designed, Too

Talk about piling on. As if the passengers, political bloggers, environmental psychologists and even pilots jumping on the “air travel is miserable” bandwagon weren’t enough, now the design critics are joining in, too. New York Times By Design blogger Allison Arieff has added her take on the design of the planes themselves.

“Airline companies are storming the doors of design consultancies, looking for ways to over-deliver to first class customers with boutique hotel-ish airport lounges, flatbed seats and memorable flight experiences vis-à-vis lighting, meals and entertainment,” she wrote in a recent post. “A designer colleague recently e-mailed me about her new gig designing a first-class luxury lounge for a Pacific Rim airline. Great, I e-mailed back, but I wish one of these airlines would spend five minutes on the economy experience.”

Later, she suggests that the current economy class model “seems to look to gas station restrooms for precedents.”

Ouch. Of course, as far as I know, no road-tripper has ever been forced to sit in the gas station restroom for three hours.

Photo by Ma1974, via Flickr (Creative Commons)

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