“From down there I saw all this space,” Jacob explained. “I thought that there has to be a better way to do it; there’s so much space it’d be absurd not to use it.”
After tinkering with the layout plans of different airplanes, the Flex-Seats were born. Jacob, now owner of Jacob Innovations LLC, has a few airlines currently looking into his new designs. Designs which could greatly change the way people travel.
Essentially, Flex-Seats create more leg room and allow for all passengers to have a full or near-full recline without disturbing those behind them.
Jacob’s innovative design takes advantage of the vertical space in an airplane. Depending on the layout of a particular aircraft, there are several different models that can be adopted—ranging from raising every other seat a few inches, to creating small staircases for every row with a second floor of seats in each row.
“In a given plane there is limited space given where you can fit passengers,” Jacob explained. “You cannot expand that space anymore than your given surface, but you can go up. It’s like in a city where people start building skyscrapers—you cannot expand so you start going up.”
Although it may sound like a long shot, Jacob’s plans aim to benefit passengers and airlines alike. In addition to offering some much-needed personal space, the design creates more seats, giving space for as many as twice as many people than current seating designs allow.
