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New airplane seat design to make it easier to sleep in economy

cnn.com

41–50 of 480 posts

Re: New airplane seat design to make it easier to sleep in economy

#41

isn't the real issue the space is limited because jet fuel is too expensive? Both in dollars to get it and cost to planet earth. Seems like the space available for seats per dollar spent will get much better with EPA or NPA ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21436838 ) and NPA with the stuff happening at places like https://terrapower.com/ seems very promising.

I once worked with someone who was perviously a consultant to a large airline and they dropped the size of their inflight magazine ~20 years ago to save weight and then were amongst the first airlines to drop it all together for the same reason

They figured out the $ they would save p.a with every change of page length, paper weight, etc. (it was partially offset by advertisers and onboard sales but not enough)

I can't recall the exact numbers but they were significant enough to warrant expensive external suits who eat their lunches at their desks doing the calculations and going ahead with it

Re: New airplane seat design to make it easier to sleep in economy

#42
Any improvement to airline seats is welcome, but this won't address the biggest comfort issue for me which is the prolonged pressure on the posterior caused hours of sitting. I feel like airplane seats could benefit by using elements of office chair design.

Re: New airplane seat design to make it easier to sleep in economy

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

90 seconds as measured by non-realistic volunteers in Toulouse and/or Everett who aren't actually afraid for their lives :(

I'm not sure if you think that people afraid for their lives would be faster or slower.

They would most definitely be slower because of the panic and people pushing and shoving each other compared to an orderly and rehearsed exit

Re: New airplane seat design to make it easier to sleep in economy

#44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d love a capsule-hotel-style option. I don’t care how cramped it is. I feel like you could stack some bunks that take up the same cubic-space-per-seat as existing seats. I only need enough space to lie sideways with my phone in front of my face and a USB port and I’d travel a lot lot more. Context: Physically disabled and have issues sitting on chairs for longer than 1-2hrs before my legs are in excruciating pain,…

> I only need enough space to lie sideways with my phone in front of my face This sounds like it'd get a lot more uncomfortable than sitting pretty quickly.

Each to their own. I sleep on my side so that’s all the space I’d need to rest and read or watch something on my phone for a while then sleep for the rest of the trip. I’d rather sleep through flights than sit uncomfortably crammed into the pathetically small chairs they give you these days.

Re: New airplane seat design to make it easier to sleep in economy

#45

> The designers are considering adding facial recognition technology to the design. Um, what > In fitting with the trend towards more personalized, data-driven flying experiences, New Territory is keen to add facial recognition technology to the mix too. > The idea is that as the seat wing recognizes that you've fallen asleep, it'll automatically turn off the movie playing on your IFE. This could be the worst idea ev…

> Have cameras pointed at every flyer for the duration of the flight, for the incredibly minor benefit of stopping your movie?

I flew on an Emirates A380 recently that had a front-facing camera in the IFE system. I'm not sure what its intended purpose was - perhaps to allow video calls?

I had no way to tell if it was in-use during the flight, but i assume there were already other cameras in the main passenger cabin with sufficient resolution to tell whether someone's eyes are open.

Re: New airplane seat design to make it easier to sleep in economy

#46

wish they made double or triple decker capsule hotel style beds for long flights.

Same. Almost 30 years ago, I took an overnight slowboat in Asia with my parents where each passenger had a thin mat (half-inch thick, 2' wide). People sat up, lay down to read or sleep. It was great. I've been on sleeper buses in China and triple-bunk sleeper trains in India and would vastly prefer those to the airline experience.

Challenges with capsule-style beds could be accommodating families and handling meals?

Re: New airplane seat design to make it easier to sleep in economy

#47
post #42

Any improvement to airline seats is welcome, but this won't address the biggest comfort issue for me which is the prolonged pressure on the posterior caused hours of sitting. I feel like airplane seats could benefit by using elements of office chair design.

If that's your main issue, you're very lucky... I wish I could worry about my posterior, but the constant pressure on the knees by the seat in front and the desperate search for a position where my legs will fit keep all my attention.

Sleeping is a pipe dream, of course. When I see headlines like this I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Airlines need a seat pitch regulation.

(and before anyone mentions that I could just pay more... no, I work at the public sector and our regulations don't let us to pay for any extras in planes because "austerity" and all that).

Re: New airplane seat design to make it easier to sleep in economy

#48

wish they made double or triple decker capsule hotel style beds for long flights.

I’d love a capsule-hotel-style option. I don’t care how cramped it is. I feel like you could stack some bunks that take up the same cubic-space-per-seat as existing seats. I only need enough space to lie sideways with my phone in front of my face and a USB port and I’d travel a lot lot more. Context: Physically disabled and have issues sitting on chairs for longer than 1-2hrs before my legs are in excruciating pain,…

You could, and you'd likely create an evacuation pathway nightmare in the process.

Re: New airplane seat design to make it easier to sleep in economy

#50
post #45

> The designers are considering adding facial recognition technology to the design. Um, what > In fitting with the trend towards more personalized, data-driven flying experiences, New Territory is keen to add facial recognition technology to the mix too. > The idea is that as the seat wing recognizes that you've fallen asleep, it'll automatically turn off the movie playing on your IFE. This could be the worst idea ev…

> Have cameras pointed at every flyer for the duration of the flight, for the incredibly minor benefit of stopping your movie? I flew on an Emirates A380 recently that had a front-facing camera in the IFE system. I'm not sure what its intended purpose was - perhaps to allow video calls? I had no way to tell if it was in-use during the flight, but i assume there were already other cameras in the main passenger cabin w…

Eventually AI will be watching your stress level mannerisms and micro-expressions to determine if youre a risk to the flight.
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