Ingenious Sliding, Staggered Airline Seats That Offer Greater Aisle Space and Increased Middle Seat Size

Sliding Seat

In 2015, Molon Labe Seating introduced Side-Slip Seat, their ingenious design for airline row seats in which the middle seat slides under the aisle seat in order to give greater room for boarding. Once fully open, the staggered row design puts the middle seat slightly behind the other two seats, allowing for three extra inches in width and their own set of armrests. Visual indicators show when the seats are locked in place.

As passengers get off the aircraft they will slide the seat across to make the aisle wider. Of course flight attendants and cleaning crews can also slide the seats into the wider aisle configuration to prepare for the next passengers to load. The seats should be in the wider-aisle configuration as passengers come onboard, they simply walk to their seat and slide the seat into place and take their seat. …Our staggered design means that adjacent passengers now have their arms, elbows, shoulders and thighs staggered. It doesn’t look like a lot but when you sit in the seat you notice it instantly, it makes a huge difference.

Wider Middle Seat

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.