United Airlines Is Nixing Some Middle Seats

If you’ve ever looked at a “middle seat” on an airplane and thought, “The only good middle seat is a DEAD middle seat” . . . well, you’re pretty dramatic, and you’ll also like this news: United Airlines has announced that they’re nixing some middle seats, and replacing them with a table, which can be shared by the people in the window and aisle seats. The table has a soft leather-like covering and two cup indentations. Of course, the arm-rests are still there, but now you don’t have to fight a middle passenger for them. And there’s also the extra space where the middle passenger’s feet would go. But there are a few important caveats. For one, this is limited to just one row on certain newer planes for now, and not surprisingly, the seats will cost more. It’s unclear when these seats will first be made available, other than that it should be “later this year,” and likely on longer flights. They say that if this is a success, they could add these set-ups to more planes and routes, because nothing says ‘luxury travel’ like replacing a sweaty human being with a piece of fake leather.