cimmanom
Joined 8 years ago
Joined 8 years ago
It was physically far more comfortable to fly, in a way that’s now a available only in business class. All those characteristics would now be considered business class amenities, and aside from a little more legroom (not even approaching what used to be standard in economy unless you’re on an exit row) are unavailable in premium economy on any flight I’ve taken recently.
You got warmer blankets and larger pillows. They would hand out amenities like headphones and playing cards for free. And you could put about twice as much into the overhead.
Ok, on demand entertainment is new in business class, but that’s about technology rather than cost savings, and it’s available in economy everywhere these days too. And for me at least, not much of an upgrade. I’d far rather watch the specific things I’ve brought on my own electronics, read a book, or do work.
If my grandmother needs to fly, do we have to upgrade both her seat and someone else’s in the family to something twice as expensive so someone can help her with the various things she can’t do for herself any more? Or upgrade the whole family if we want to sit together?
Current cattle class seats aren’t comfortable. But they’re accommodating to the elderly and people with disabilities or injuries. If some seat shuffling is required to accommodate a special case it’s usually just shifting people between aisle and non-aisle seats, not downgrading them to standing seats so someone else can sit.
Edited to add: what about people with disabilities? Can elderly people no longer fly? Or even if they have a few sitting seats to comply with disability regulations, what happens if you sprain your ankle at some point between booking your flight and boarding?
Of course, PTO is less of a clear incentive at places with “unlimited” PTO.
If you know the general location of every key on the keyboard with near muscle memory and just have to look down to make sure you’re actually hitting the right one, there are still some gains from touch typing properly, but returns are diminishing.
As for ergonomics: with small hands, I personally find actual touch typing requires a lot of reaching and stretching and causes me more RSI than moving my hands more freely around the keyboard does. YMMV.
That said, using 6 fingers instead of 10 is probably slowing you down somewhat. You may find it useful to take a touch typing course, which will train you to use all fingers even if you don’t end up actually touch typing.