[NM]

Would you like to travel this way if it was offered?

From news.com.au

CATTLE-class travellers may soon be able to luxuriate at full length on long-haul flights with the news that German airline Lufthansa is considering an economy sleeper cabin.

The idea, which the Associated Press said would radically alter intercontinental travel, was still in its early stages and the airline was polling customers to gauge interest, Lufthansa spokeswoman Amelie Lorenz said.

[Optics]

Originally Posted by NM

Would you like to travel this way if it was offered?

From news.com.au

Looks interesting, but awfully sterile. Very efficient use of space, trust the germans .
Flat beds would be great during overnight long-hauls, but its hard to see how this arrangement would work for sitting, especially when travelling together with someone?

[NM]

I would expect that somehow the three bunks would need to convert into three seats. So all three must be in bunk mode or bed mode at the same time.

[d15.in.oz]

...now imagine, if each row or column could flip over for day time flights!

[tscharke]

it looks like a morgue

[Optics]

Its also going to make seat allocation more difficult, as they are going to have to ensure anyone with mobility problems is not allocated anything other than ground (well floor actually ) level.

[NM]

Originally Posted by d15.in.oz

...now imagine, if each row or column could flip over for day time flights!

Now you are approaching my theory for efficient flight. All we need to do is place a large enough mass in orbit above the Earth. If the mass is large enough, it will have sufficient gravitational force to overcome the gravitational force of the Earth on the aircraft, allowing the aircraft to remain at altitude for extended periods with the only force to overcome being the small amount of drag due to the very thin atmosphere.

I call this Gravitationally Optimised Neutral Acceleration Delivery, or GONAD for short. As the aircraft climbs towards the optimal cruising altitude, the fuel burn rate decreases until only very small amount of power is required to propel the aircraft. The Anti Gravitational Mass (AGM) orbiting the Earth need not be continuous along the flight path, but the aircraft will need to use its own power to overcome any gaps between

The side benefit of using the AGM is that not only the aircraft is experiencing weight equilibrium, but so are all the objects inside the aircraft including passengers. So now there is no reason to have a horizontal sleeping surface. If there is no vertical gravitational force inside the cabin, then the passengers will be comfortable sleeping vertically, where a standard economy 31" pitch would be quite acceptable.

This, and my theories of light, electricity and metric time are often discussed in depth following a few beers at events such as FT's AGM to be held in February.

[d15.in.oz]

All we need to do is place a large enough mass in orbit above the Earth. If the mass is large enough, it will have sufficient gravitational force to overcome the gravitational force of the Earth on the aircraft…

I think your flying balls idea is interesting, but my guess is (And my fuel burning computational skills, are not as good as your demonstrated rocket science understanding)… a Space Lift –



Space Lifts could be installed at major airports around the planet, and they would haul us up and out of the atmosphere. (Presumably at an incredibly cheaper cost than launching a rocket every time.) Once up there, purpose built non-atmospheric vehicles would shuttle us off (swiftly and cheaply) to another Space Lift, which would bring us back down to Earth.

The ultimate hub&spoke operation! (Of course, for obvious reasons, the US government is more focussed on funding NASA research into costly rocket science… so we will need to wait a long time before "private industry" develops the cost effective(?) flying balls theory.)

[NM]

I was going to be relying on your spacelift to get my AGM in position in the first place .

[winetraveller]

Looks like something out of invasion of the body snatchers.