My airline has a handful of very old A320s, the first ones ever delivered in the US, originally operated by Northwest Airlines. Those A320s have these terribly uncomfortable, mechanical cockpit seats, which are completely unlike the electric seats found in the rest of our fleet.
Rumor is, these were supposed to be temporary seats, used just for the ferry over to the customer, and upon delivery they were supposed to be replaced with the more comfortable seats with which we're all familiar. But Northwest decided not to replace them. This always struck me as implausible, and probably an urban legend.
I suspect this is just how the very early A320 cockpit seats were, and they were replaced with better seats shortly thereafter. Does anyone know the full story? Has anyone else (outside of Northwest / Delta) flown an A320 with cockpit seats like these?
