In a further sign of our culture’s coarsening—or militarization—we may soon have to start paying for that typically abused flight privilege of facing forward.  As The Daily Mail reports:

Air travel is being overhauled with a new aircraft design which plans to seat passengers facing each other in rows.  The controversial design is intended to save space and money and could see 50 percent more passengers packed on to each plane.

Howard Guy, director of the UK company Design Q, acknowledges that some people will not be happy with the plan, but says they will be able to pay less for any inconvenience.  ‘Having passengers face each other is not an ideal situation,’ he said.  ‘But this will see increased revenue for the operator and more economical tickets for the passenger—so by keeping both happy, this concept makes an attractive alternative.  Sure the passenger can choose a flight facing forward in a traditional seating position, but he or she will have to pay more for the luxury.’

Nevermind that having passengers sitting beside each other isn’t usually an ideal situation, either, the air travel of today hardly evokes glamour or luxury.  To better remind ourselves of where we came from, take a look at the Pan Am promo spot in your lower window:

 
New Aircraft Design Puts Passengers Face-To-Face In Rows For Budget Travel