Comments on: what do middle seats on airplanes and the current recession have in common?

By: entropy

entropy — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:14:47 +0000

I keep trying to buy that $10 pinotage and I still can’t find someone who is selling it in the DC Metro Region, despite having asked several stores to look into acquiring some…

By: Miles Archer

Miles Archer — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 17:19:39 +0000

Oh, and California wine — there is still some good value, especially from wineries outside of Sonoma and Napa.
By the way, you’d appreciate how A Donkey and a Goat winery is using Facebook.

By: Miles Archer

Miles Archer — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 17:15:59 +0000

Middle seat, Middle seat, <2 hr flight, cheap price, reliable service? Works for me every time.
Window or aisle seat, no legroom, unreliable service, charges through the nose? No way.

By: Farhan Rehman

Farhan Rehman — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 17:38:56 +0000

That’s so insightful of you You’ve hit the nail right on the head.
The recession is just an excuse to cut out the wasteful flack that was dead weight, and not creating any real value. The sooner people understand that, the sooner they’ll realise that people have been laid off, and jobs been lost all the time.. Only difference now is that the newspapers are trying to “find” it to report on it, whilst before there were more exciting things to talk about, like war, terror, and terrorists..
That’s all gotten old, boring, and drab, so now they’re spending all their time trying to create a new illusion of something being newsworthy when it really isn’t.
Like most of the people you met at SXSW, if people are offering “real” value, then they most definitely will be thriving in these times
Thanks for writing that.. I’m glad you’ve really hit the nail on the head, with that analogy

By: Geoff

Geoff — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:11:44 +0000

“No, we don’t want to buy your $25 bottle of nasty, Califonian vinegar”
Ouch. I’m sad to hear that this is how the world sees Sonoma County now. Oh well, guess nobody gets to be the upstart forever.

By: SeltPeloUnola

SeltPeloUnola — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:43:04 +0000

Great…

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 04:40:15 +0000

Hugh, I love a lot of what you write, but there is no way that the middle seat will ever disappear. I understand the metaphor, but it’s a simple matter of economics.
If anything, the “middle seat” syndrome is likely to get worse with increased exposure to more environmentally-friendly “blended wing” aircraft. Forget two aisles with 9 seats wide. The future is looking like high (30,40..50) seats wide with who knows how many aisles.

By: Alice Bachini-Smith

Alice Bachini-Smith — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 17:55:14 +0000

I think the middle seat guys in the last recession were known as “middle managers”.
People regard the edges as most risky, but in times like these they can be a safer bet than the “safe ground”.

By: Moise Levi

Moise Levi — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 15:14:03 +0000

The recession is over ; the “old media” is still in the “middle seat” ; the new media is sitting on the aisle talking to the other person on the aisle and striking a new deal

By: e

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 12:17:46 +0000

Everyone knows that AIRPLANE ETIQUETTE states that the dude in the middle seat gets both armrests. It’s the way.

By: Jake Edwards

Jake Edwards — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 11:32:05 +0000

Yeah baby I fucking well dig it the most.
More vitriol please.

By: Phil Hodgen

Phil Hodgen — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 08:50:44 +0000

Spooky coincidence. I’m sitting in Dubai working on the manuscript for that lawyer knowledge download you’re talking about. (I’m an international tax lawyer). I’m betting I’m better off telling all in an ebook for (relative) peanuts than selling $10K consulting gigs. Hope you’re right! I like to eat and sleep in a warm, dry place.
Gotta stop now. Off to a Tweetup.
@philiphodgen

By: Leon Jacobs

Leon Jacobs — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 07:32:04 +0000

I’m afraid there is something very odd about your middle-seat logic. JetBlue only flies US routes so they can probably get away with only flying planes with 2–2 configurations. There is a point on the curve where a passenger jet with that configuration cannot be operated economically over a longer distance. So as long as jets fly trans-atlantic, you will always have middle-seats.
And by the way, I fly at least twice a month and I NEVER get the middle-seat. Middle seats are for people who don’t know how to use online check-in or arrive late for meatspace check-in.

By: Brian

Brian — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 06:04:24 +0000

Hugh, why the hell are you not on CNN, MSNBC, etc? A large part of the recession has to do with the media reporting it without context. The other part of it the elimination of the guy selling the middle seat.
Killer post.

By: ming

ming — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 05:28:21 +0000

we are NOT in a recession we’re in a transition!