If you’ve been impressed by (or just envious of) all the luxurious changes at the front of the plane, including lie-flat seats, sliding doors, private rooms, showers and more, fasten your seatbelts for what’s ahead, based on prototypes shown recently by seatmakers.
One system—you can’t really call it a seat—is Maya, which takes all those now-usual amenities and adds a 45-inch curved screen synced with your phone, sensors that adjust the seat based on your body temperature and weight, and systems that allow you to program how much you want to sleep and when and what you want to eat. It could even support various virtual reality experiences.
It’s not here yet, but it’s not the only one in development by a number of companies, and it could arrive within relatively few years if the airlines decide it’s a competitive tool for sales to the next generation of high-end flyers.
And who are those future flyers the airlines and equipment makers are targeting? An executive of the seatmaker Collins told reporters that “this is really focused on the millennials, the Gen Zers—the people who are driving Teslas.”
