A Flight of Fancy (Part Three)

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Aboard the Hindenburg, our fancified lady passenger eventually finds her way up the stairs from "B" Deck to "A" Deck. She immediately notices a change. "A" Deck contains a full 4,500 square feet of the 5,200 square feet of passenger space inside the ship.

The stairway from "B" Deck to "A" Deck. Note the bust of von Hindenburg on the wall

 

At the top of the stairs she is greeted by a bust of the late President whose name the ship bears scowling aristocratically down upon her. She spares him just a glance as she looks for her cabin.

The passageways in the cabin area are narrow and remind her of nothing so much as the sleeper cars on trains. There is a good reason for this. Fritz August Breuhaus, who designed the passenger accommodations on the Hindenburg also designed Pullman cars.

A corridor in the passenger cabin area looks very much like a similar area on a transcontinental train

The cabins have fold-down Pullman beds. The upper bunk is accessible by a sturdy Duralumin ladder. Our friend notices that the arrangement of the room permits the occupants to tuck the ladder away when not in use, out of sight, out of mind, and out from underfoot. The cabins are well-lit and larger than the ones on the Graf Zeppelin. Regular airship travelers rejoice at this fact. Each cabin has electric heating, another improvement over the Graf Zeppelin. Each cabin also has a foldaway desk, perfect for the business traveler who needs to work quietly while traveling. And each cabin also has a foldaway sink that provides hot and cold running water, meaning that there will be no morning lines at the washrooms. Still, the cabins are hardly bigger than a good-sized closet. Each double is only 36 square feet, providing eighteen square feet per passenger. And our young lady, traveling alone, has one of the four tiny single-berth cabins of about that size. In comparison, airlines today require only 15 square feet per passenger per seat. And the Hindenburg's passengers are not limited only to their cabins.  Including the public rooms, the ship’s designers have allotted each passenger about 69 square feet of space. 

The passengers are also afforded Concierge Service. Are your shoes dull, sir? Is your blouse creased from packing, Madame?  Leave them outside your cabin door at night and the Stewards will buff your shoes to a high gloss and steam your clothes to smooth perfection.   

A double room on the Hindenburg made up for sleep. Note the ladder. The sink is folded down. The desk is folded up.

Later that night, she'll discover that the Hindenburg's accommodations have a lesson to impart, that discretion is the better part of privacy. To save weight, the walls between the cabins are light foamboard covered over by fabric. Passengers soon learn to keep their voices low and to keep their nocturnal activities to a minimum. Woe to anybody who rooms within earshot of an impressive snorer.

Old zeppelin hands are particularly dissatisfied that all of the Hindenburg's cabins are inboard. After the first night aboard, every representative of the airline is buttonholed with the same complaint. The experienced travelers like the windowed cabins on the Graf Zeppelin. They like being in their bunks with the night breeze lulling them to sleep. They like watching the reflection of the moon on the water. They like watching the stars slide by. They like being among the clouds. Why doesn't this big, fancy new ship have some cabins with a view? 

A single cabin on the Hindenburg. Forced perspective makes the room look longer than it was

Persistence pays off. At mid-season DZR temporarily pulls the Hindenburg offline to quickly expand "B" Deck. Eleven new cabins are installed, each with a window. Although the Hindenburg continues to serve only one Class --- First ---, among the passengers themselves the windowed cabins become the cabins to have if you're anybody.  

A cutaway of "A" Deck. The public rooms were arranged in a U-shape around the passenger cabins