[Paleo Conservative]

In addition to the 747-8 Intercontinental's enhanced performance, the airplane will feature a new interior with 787-like amenities. The interior will incorporate new mood-lighting technology, as well as new lavatories that are being developed for the 787. The newly designed entryway of the 747-8 takes passengers past a concierge station into the elegantly contemporary new interior. A dramatic stairway leads to the upper deck. The new curved, upswept architecture gives passengers great space and comfort, with more room for personal belongings.

I'm wondering. Do you think Boeing is hinting at increasing cabin space by making the walls thinner using the types of insulation? The original A350 was supposed to use this to allow an extra 0.5 inches of width per seat. It sure would be nice if Boeing could fit full 18.0" wide seats in economy on the new 747-8I.

[phantomworker]

Well, you are the expert on aviation. You know more than those in the industry. ;) I'm sure that they have performed studies to determine customer values. Is the extra .5 inches worth it??? I've been on a 757 the last few flights I've flown. I would not be impressed with an extra half inch. How about you?

[skeptoid]

Assuming 10 across seating that would require a gain of five inches. Looking at the detailed tech pages at boeing.com, it's not evident where that could be gained without designing a new fuselage. The fuselage 'wall thickness' is only about 7 1/2 inches which looks pretty delicate for a 21' 4 inch wide fuselage that's going to pressurized for many tens of thousands of cycles. Dropping back to 9 across takes care of the 1/2 inch and more, but you lose 25 to 40-some or more seats.

We big-boned individuals are not going pay extra unless we get wider seats. So the answer is .... different widths of seats for different prices.

Or they could weigh each passenger with his luggage and charge by the pound.

.....or maybe not ...