The piece is also quite the nearly 6,000-word romp through more than 20 years of Lufthansa's onboard product — from the old blue Recaro 6510 slopey sleepers to the Collins Diamond "footsie class", to "Lifthansa" and now Allegris.

theupfront.media/a-coda-for-a...

In practical terms in economy seats, the seatback covers and seat pan covers are separate parts that can be swapped out, which is what would normally happen.

And yes, sounds to me like the industrial laundry difference between dry-cleaning something and throwing it in the washer and dryer.

It depends on the stain and the severity — if it's full Grand Guignol then it's more likely to be discarded as impractical to clean and sanitise. But they're designed to take, for example, a glass of ginger ale or whatever, and to then be cleaned professionally.

Yeah, the vast majority (if not the entirety these days, but I bet there are exceptions!) are treated, either wools, leathers or polyurethane/artificial leather.

Material sampling and a very robust regulatory regime that specifies performance! It’s often a surprising reason why airline seats and cabins are delayed in delivery.

Cactus 1549 notwithstanding, seats and seat covers aren’t designed to be immersed in water. Well, at least not more than once.

Seats are fireproofed for safety, and if that fireproofing has been affected by improper maintenance (in this case cleaning) then that’s a problem.

Basically, it’s a fancy kind of dry-cleaning with a special solution that doesn’t remove any of the fireproofing elements.

Seat covers have to be certified to meet requirements like flammability, smoke toxicity and heat release — and this will include materials, coatings or applications that are designed to resist heat, not water. It’s fine if you drop your Pepsi, but it if they rinse the whole fireproofing off.

…and more!

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