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Comment by tyingq | Hacker News Reader

What I'd rather see is designs that make the middle seat more palatable.

There are more aircraft with 3 seats on each side now.

It's not perfect, but ideas that make the middle seat better via dedicated armrests, or offsetting it slightly back, would be welcome.

One supplier with some decent ideas: https://www.airlineseats.biz/for-passengers

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It baffles me that non-middle seat passengers try to assert rights to middle seat armrests and consider themselves justified.

That seemed to get more common around the time picking the seat became a luxury add-on (e.g. basic economy vs economy on the US major carriers). Once folks felt they paid more for their aisle/window, they stopped caring about entitlements for the person in the middle.

I wonder if any of you ever tried sitting on the aisle. It’s a hazard there, constantly being hit by anything and anyone who passes by. No way I’m “resting” on that armrest and therefore I’ll lean towards the middle seat.

Do you prefer the middle seat to the aisle?

I think so.

Aisle lets you get up anytime you want, but also forces you to get up twice as much as the middle seat. But mainly in the middle seat you never have to be afraid of people bumping into you, which affects you for most of the flight.

I managed to extend my elbow into the aisle just as a flight attendant was rushing forward and the poor lady doubled over in pain from the impact. As a large guy, I felt pretty bad, and it's not the first time someone has made contact with my passing by.

The middle seat staggered lets people use the same armrest at different spots. That's a good idea

https://static.wixstatic.com/media/1fe40a_b68668609cbc4cf59b...

Except it makes it even more annoying to get out for the window seat behind.

I've not been able to exit from the window seat without both of my seatmates getting up for some time. I don't see this setup as any worse when seat pitch is tight.

Congrats, you’re either not flying economy or you’re flying with small neighbors and you are small too.

In economy, a 6ft person will have their knees touching the seat in front of them. Getting out without them standing up will require straddling them like a mile-high stripper. Additionally, if you’re big (6ft 240lbs), getting between the economy seats when they’re empty is inconvenient and it requires weird bending over when the seats in front are reclined.

I imagine you've read something in my comment that isn't there. I didn't characterize economy as a good experience. I just said this seems no worse for exiting.

You can also see the middle seat is wider than the other two, creating some incentive where you might want it. And because of the backset, the row itself isn't wider.

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