http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/29/BAOA12IN90.DTL Airplane-seat exhibit opens at SFO museum Steve Rubenstein, Chronicle Staff Writer Saturday, August 30, 2008 Passenger seats have changed over the years and - at leas... The best thing about airplane seats is not sitting in them. The proof is at San Francisco International Airport, in a new exhibit about airplane seats. Seven genuine airplane seats, without the airplanes, are on display at the airport museum. They're inside a big glass case, as if to remind passengers that they are better off gazing at airplane seats from a respectful distance than actually sitting in them. "They all look pretty horrible," said Mauel Meraz, a visitor from Las Vegas. Meraz, who was about to fly home, would soon be obliged to sit in a real airplane seat for a full hour. He dropped by the airport museum to kill time, as visiting the museum is about the only thing to do at San Francisco International Airport that doesn't cost a lot of money. The seven seats are not just seats but historical artifacts. Two are from the 1920s. They're made of wicker and woven cane and look like what Sydney Greenstreet sat in while swatting flies in "Casablanca." Early airplane seats were made of wicker to reduce weight and save the airline a few bucks on fuel. This thing about high fuel costs is not exactly a new tactic for airlines. "I guess I could sit in one of those, if I had to," Meraz said. "I'm glad I don't have to." Next to the seats are black-and-white photos from the 1920s of actual passengers sitting in the seats. The men in the photos were wearing suits and ties, the women were wearing furs and pillbox hats. It was the golden age of travel, something to don a pillbox hat for. Some of the passengers were actually smiling, maybe because they didn't have to watch an in-flight movie. "Chairs have become the subject of intensive study and design," said a museum brochure, "resulting in the sophisticated, multi-functional sitting machines of today." What makes today's multifunctional sitting machines so horrific, most travelers say, is not so much the actual seats as the space - or lack of space - between them. A modern coach seat is only about 17 suck-in-your-gut inches wide, with only about 30 tuck-your-knees-to-your-chest inches separating it from the one in front. "I sat like that on a trip to Mexico recently," Meraz said. "It was horrible. Just awful. Really cramped. You don't get a feel for that, just looking at the seats." Museum curator John Hill agreed that airplane seating is a "stressor" in air travel. That's why the exhibit is about seats, not seating. The seven seats are displayed spread out, with lots of leg room between them. If Hill arranged the seats realistically, the way they are on a real plane, it would wreck the mood. "I wasn't going to cram 'em together," Hill said. "They're sculpture. They need their space." Other seats in the exhibit are metal and cloth and look more conventional. The last seat - a modern blue throne with a retractable leg rest, a wraparound head rest and lumbar support gizmo - actually looked halfway passable. The sign explained why. "First class," the sign said. It's a good thing the first-class seat was inside the glass case. A multifunctional sitting machine like that deserves a little privacy. Besides, sitting in one of them, to Paris and back, costs $14,883.50. The airplane seats will be on display at the museum until Jan. 15. After that, they go back into storage inside the museum's warehouse, where they cannot scare anyone. E-mail Steve Rubenstein at srubenstein@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx This article appeared on page B - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If you wish to unsubscribe from the AIRLINE List, please send an E-mail to: "listserv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx". Within the body of the text, only write the following:"SIGNOFF AIRLINE".