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Will Fatties Fit On Air New Zealand's New 'SkyCouch?'

January 26, 2010 at 9:51 AM | by | Comments (2)

So yesterday in the land of the Kiwis, Air New Zealand unveiled their "revolutionary, Kiwi designed lie-flat economy and ground breaking premium economy seats," and initially we were thrilled at the promise of lie-flat seats in economy...until we saw the pictures.

That's it above, their "lie-flat" design, which depicts your pretty typical airline seats, but now with footrests that can raise to create a larger flat surface for stretching out. It's called the "SkyCouch," and although the light of heaven seems to be shining down upon the young, beautiful couple, we're skeptical.

Our concerns and a video after the jump.

Gallery: Air New Zealand SkyCouch and more seats

So first off, we have a problem with the fact that these two fresh young faces seem to be two people taking up three seats. In order to experience the full SkyCouch, you've got to purchase the two seats as usual and then you pay half-price for the third. Only 22 sets of these SkyCouches will be available in economy, and they'll be up in the first 11 rows of the class, effectively creating another class between premium economy and economy. "SkyCouch" class, we guess. Who knows what the odds are of buying one of these SkyCouches, since as we saw on our recent Air New Zealand flight, they need all the passenger space they can get.

Secondly—and we know it's a press release image—but those are some picture-perfect models showing off the new seats. They aren't sporting fanny-packs, U-shaped neck pillows, they don't look cranky like they've been waiting in the terminal for hours, and—what's more—they are pretty trim. What's going to happen if you have two less-than-perfect people who book the SkyCouch maybe as an additional treat for their honeymoon? Will flight attendants be available to assist them in fitting together like puzzle pieces, or if just can't be done, will they be separated and moved to different seats? They paid to lie down, after all.

Hey now, we're just wondering. And what about tall people? We travel with a gent who, in addition to being tall, also enjoys wearing cowboy boots. If we curl up with him on a SkyCouch, will his long, pointy-booted legs be allowed to stick out into the aisle or will he be sleeping with his legs bent?

So many questions! We guess we'll just have to wait until we have a chance to see the seats in person and snuggle our big butt up in them. The 340-seat 777-300 aircraft will be configured with 246 in Economy (including 66 seats creating 22 Skycouch combinations), 50 in Premium Economy and 44 in Business Premier, and it won't hit the commercial routes until December of this year, so we've got some time to hit the gym.

Related Stories:
· Lie-down in economy now a reality with Air New Zealand [Air NZ]
· New Interiors and service provide luxury jet feel [Air NZ]
· Air New Zealand news [Jaunted]

[Photos: Air New Zealand]

Comments (2)

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Return to » Will Fatties Fit On Air New Zealand's New 'SkyCouch?'


nothing terribly revolutionary

but i do like the "dine together" bit in premium economy.
Christopher Gamblee Wallendjack on January 26, 2010 at 11:46 AM #Permalink

i like it

agreed, the premium economy bit looks great. and i quite like the idea of the skycouch - i'm tall enough to have to curl up even on a flatbed so that makes no difference. hope they do a special deal for single travellers on the couch though - maybe sell em off cheap at the airport?
juliab on January 26, 2010 at 2:15 PM #Permalink
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