In the last few years, airline seats have been shrinking while passengers' waistlines have expanded. Recently, the airline industry has started to take a closer look at how it should address the issues raised by larger fliers.
Design: Inez Torre
Airbus bench patent —
This month Airbus filed a patent for "a re-configurable passenger bench seat" to accommodate passengers of all sizes.
Airbus / European Patent Office
Detachable seat belts —
Adjustable, detachable seat belts would ensure that all passengers are locked in, regardless of their build.
Airbus / European Patent Office
Family seating —
The seating can be adjusted to accommodates families (or miniature adults, as this illustration from the patent seems to suggest).
Airbus / European Patent Office
Seating innovations —
The Airbus patent is one of the more sensible new seating suggestions to be revealed in recent years. Read on for seven terrifying airline patents we're less keen to to see in action.
Airbus / European Patent Office
Is this the future of flying? —
With airlines under pressure to slash fares and cram in ever more people without extending cabin space, passengers might soon be stacked on top of each other -- literally. This is our hellish version. Click on to see what real aviation engineers are coming up with.
Anastasia Beltyukova/CNN
New Airbus patent —
Airbus has offered a chilling glimpse into what the future of air travel might hold with a patent that envisages two rows of seats layered on top of each other. The patent states that the design "still provides a high level of comfort for the passengers" with seats that could be reclined 180 degrees.
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Airbus saddle seat —
At least with the stacked-rows design passengers will actually be sitting down. Not so much with the so-called saddle seat, another Airbus patent, which would require them to assume a semi-squat position during a flight.
European Patent Office
Saddle up —
The seat (our imagined version shown here), which wouldn't look out of place on a bicycle, has no headrest, with back support also in limited supply. The patent admits that the increase in the number of seats is achieved to the detriment of the comfort of the passengers.
Anastasia Beltyukova/CNN
Abandoned Ryanair proposal —
Fully-standing spaces were proposed by Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary a few years ago, although they haven't been rolled out. "We have no plans to trial or introduce standing flights," an airline spokesperson told CNN. If our rendition is even close to accurate, that's a good thing.
Anastasia Beltyukova/CNN
Economy Class Cabin Hexagon —
Those for whom flying means getting lost in a book or a film while politely ignoring their neighbors probably won't enjoy the designs from Zodiac Seats France.
European Patent Office
Just keep looking down —
Zodiac Seat France's Economy Class Cabin Hexagon consists of a tightly packed jigsaw of alternating backward and forward seats, making it difficult to maintain the number one rule of traveling on any form of public transport -- avoiding eye contact. Or so we imagine here.
Anastasia Beltyukova/CNN
Upright sleep support system —
Not to be outdone, Boeing has filed its share of eccentric patents, such as the "upright sleep support system." Its purpose is to help passengers rest during a flight by letting them lean face-forward into a cushion that has a hole to accommodate eyes, nose and mouth.
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Boeing sleep support —
Its purpose is to help passengers rest during a flight by letting them lean face-forward into a cushion. Another cushion supports the chest. Both are deployed from a backpack attached to the seat.
