Airline Adds “Kids Beds” In Economy, Changing Family Travel Forever…

Flat beds in economy, for real…

Rejoice tired and weary family travelers, your calls have finally been answered. Years back news broke of the Piuma Seat, a magical design which would bring flat beds to the economy cabin by turning headrests into an extra seating cushion area. Put a few seats together and you’ve got a long bed wide enough for one passenger to roll around in, or a row of  personal mini beds for young children. There was just one problem: no one actually bought it. Despite critical acclaim and sensational press accolades, no airlines rolled the seat out. That’s now changed, and the wait is officially over. Family travel just got a serious upgrade, at least for kids…

Joon

Joon is the “millennial”, low cost arm of Air France, expanding its global network by the day. The airline aims to pick up where legacy airlines left off, with low fares, innovative tech and a pay for what you wish approach. Yesterday, the airline announced that it had officially installed Geven’s Piuma Seats onto it’s Airbus A340 aircraft, presenting the world’s first family section in economy, with beds for kids. Unlike other offerings, it’s not even a price gouge.

Beds

The Piuma seat is simple. All that space where your legs go could be repurposed as an extended seating surface, creating a bed. It’s the same idea as raising a foot rest and bringing it level with the seat cushion. The Piuma seat design snaps the headrests off, snapping them back in at seat level to create a much extended seating surface. For children, the extra surface is enough to lay down flat, much like an adult would in a pricey business class seat. Unlike the Air New Zealand equivalent, where one person lays across three seats after essentially paying for all three, the Joon offering allows families to pay a modest fee to select these dream seats.

Fees

There’s a limited number of “Cosy Joon” seats available on each Airbus A340 aircraft, and the seats occupy central rows 33-36. You can browse Joon’s route map here. The seating concept is designed for families traveling with two or more children, where parents sits next to the children. The children’s headrests snap into place creating enough surface area for individual beds, where each child can sleep laying flat. To lock in this absolutely brilliant family feature, it’s a mere €20 per person. A parent with two children would pay €60 and two parents with two children, or one parent with three children would run €80. The seats are specifically positioned for families with three travelers or more. Simply book your flights, and log on as soon as possible to land one of the new family rows.

Amazing

Family travel is often a struggle, to put it lightly. Allowing children to sleep laying down in their own economy seats is a significant competitive advantage, and one which will undoubtedly win support from parents traveling with young children all over the world. It’s refreshing to see an airline offer this level of comfort in economy without the 3x price requirement. Family travel will never be the same. This is wonderful stuff.