Originally Posted by
Octane
They look in appalling condition, what's the rest of the aircraft like? I would have thought crew comfort or lack of could be considered a safety issue?
To be fair, this one had been in storage since the beginning of COVID 19, and was going in for a heavy check. Hopefully it will come out with new seat cushions or at least reupholstered. But that doesn't make the seats any more comfortable. They're just a terrible design! I bring an inflatable lumbar support which makes them marginally tolerable.
As for the rest of the plane, these planes are also far more likely to have MELs on them, sometimes multiples. Our new A321s are much more reliable and rarely have anything on MEL.
The next worst thing is the old CRT screens. They're so dim that, when the sun is shining in, all you can see is the reflection of your white shirt in the screens. (OK, slight exaggeration, but they're pretty bad compared to the new LCD screens.) They're talking about upgrading them to LCDs, but they've been talking about that for years, and they just keep kicking the can down the road. I'd almost rather them not spend the money on the upgrade, because it will mean we're keeping those planes longer. They need to just retire.
Still trying to find out of any other airline had seats like these in their old A320s? Or are we the only lucky ones?