Traveling on a budget? Well, flying economy might not be such a terrible experience when you’re occupying the seats by this young airplane seat designer – and he’s confident in his unique skills.
Don’t Be Afraid Of Flying Economy
Alejandro Núñez Vicente is the creator of the Chaise Longue Airplane Seat design. Now it’s not just a concept – these are real seats that can help make flying economy a little more presentable. Núñez Vicente came up with it in 2021 and then got nominated for the 2021 Crystal Cabin Award, a top prize in the aviation industry. Since then, his design garnered a lot of attention online. The 21-year-old seems to have come up with an innovation for budget traveling! That said, Núñez Vicente paused his master’s degree just to work on the project full time, including discussions with huge airlines and seat manufacturing companies. Thankfully, there’s enough sponsorship money to keep the project rolling, and customers are excited to try the design. Yet, there are plenty of people who think his idea is even worse than the old-school style.
“I grow more from listening to the critics and listening to the bad comments, than from listening to the good comments and the flowers that they throw me,” the creator told CNN Travel. Considering that his seats are made for daily economy traveling, he’s been reading all comments and listening to different suggestions. “My purpose here is to change the economy class seats for the better of humanity, or for all the people that cannot afford to pay for more expensive tickets,” he said.
Proceeding Despite Backlash
Now, Núñez Vicente received the last round of feedback. He dedicated a whole Instagram post to the latest achievement – a presentation of the first full-scale prototype of his design. “I can say proudly that I HAVE PRESENTED MY PROTOTYPE AT THE BIGGEST AIRCRAFT INTERIORS EXPO OF THE WORLD, and IT HAS BEEN A COMPLETE SUCCESS!!” the caption about Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) reads. He also thanked his sponsors AIRE (Aircraft Interiors Refurbishment España, S.L.) and 3DSeatMap VR – by RENACEN for “unconditional and generous support.” At first, the Chaise Longue seat was created for the Flying-V airplane. Now, the new prototype is suitable for Boeing 747, Airbus A330, or any medium to large wide-body airplane.
The designer is very confident in his unique creation despite all the backlash. He thinks his concept will become a reality with enough fan support. “One of the phrases I get a lot, is ‘If it’s not broken, why change it?'” admits Núñez Vicente. “So if passengers still fly in the worst economy class seats, why are we going to give them a better option? It makes money. That’s the goal of the airline at the end of the day, not to make your flight better.” Yet, he’s determined to change the old way of flying economy.
“If you asked me before, I would have said maybe it’s just a university project,” he stated. “If you asked me now, after all the hard [work], after all the effort of many, many people — I would say that now this is more of a reality. We see it as the future of the economy class.”
Sources: CNN Travel, Forbes, Thrillist