Feeling others' age

Boeing is making some initial steps to designing aircraft for people with limited mobility, this voanews.com report says. Two interesting quotes:

• Dr. Joseph Coughlin of the M.I.T. AgeLab -- "Folks over 50 that have the greatest desire and the most wealth actually want to travel for travel's sake. So, this is not just a matter of social policy, this is a matter of just good business."
• Boeing senior design engineer Vicki Curtis -- "You cannot make a product look geriatric because nobody wants to say, 'I am getting old.'"

Personally I hope Boeing is going as far as to incorporate the flexibility into new designs to accommodate wheelchairs more easily as well. Think the flip around seating in minivans and SUVs these days.