As a general rule of plane-ticket-booking thumb, as price shrinks, so too does legroom.
Thankfully, that same rule will no longer apply to in-flight entertainment systems, at least not if French aerospace firm Thales has anything to say about it.
The company has proposed putting 21.3-inch portrait touchscreens in the back of ultra-thin economy seats in order to give passengers the ability to watch movies and TV, view maps, access magazines and play games during flight.
The impressive Digital Sky seats were unveiled at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg earlier this week and reps from multiple airlines (United and Qatar among them — both of which use existing Thales systems) were reportedly impressed with LCD screens.
The potential benefits of the fully integrated system — SkyMall purchases, paid Internet access, extra peanut requests — is massive, and airlines may determine that the cost of implementing it will be offset by the possibility of excess extra income.
On behalf of Joe Sixpacks everywhere, our fingers are crossed.
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