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

cnn.com

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

#51

Post by larnmar »

eagsalazar2 wrote: post #20
tcoff91 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cost of flying has gone down significantly over time so I would not be so sure about that.

The price per square inch of human space has probably stayed the same after inflation adjustment. People on average are just more likely to buy cheaper seats than more room, so by natural selection we get smaller seats.

Fares have come down in absolute dollar terms (let alone inflation adjusted) over the last twenty years, while economy seat sizes have barely changed.

What has changed is yield management — airlines have got much better at flying with as few empty seats as possible. So the main thing that has gone down to allow prices to decrease in real terms is your chance of getting an empty seat next to you.

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

#52

Post by [deleted] »

grendelt wrote: post #21
singron wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All the pictures are of women in the seats. Men often have broader shoulders and larger upper arms. If I sit next to another man, we sometimes make contact on the upper arms for most the flight. The wings seem to take up a couple inches themselves, so it could become too cramped horizontally to be comfortable.

I laughed at her sitting cross-legged on the bulkhead row. Try that just one row back, sister.

[deleted]

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

#53

Post by eitland »

eberkund wrote: post #43
saagarjha wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I learned the other day that to simulate panic at some point they started giving money to the passengers who got out first. They said nothing about the amount, but as far as I could understand it actually worked.

Edit: this was in a program about the Manchester plane fire in 1985 where 55 people died. The details are from the part about the investigation after the fire.

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

#54

Post by blackguardx »

oceliker wrote: post #39

> 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…

I'm pretty sure many airlines already have cameras looking at your face.

The last few international United Airlines flights I was on had IR LEDs just below the seat entertainment screen shining in my face the whole flight. I worked for an 3D camera company at the time and was pretty tuned in to IR (~850 nm) LED's dim red glow. There is no reason for them being there unless there are cameras looking at your face.

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

#55

Post by samstave »

Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #47
danans wrote: 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…

How tall are you?

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

#56

Post by topkai22 »

bobthepanda wrote: post #38
ccamrobertson wrote: post #6

Those look like Premium Economy seats based on their generous width, not the crushing 17"-and-change width of typical Economy seats.

The rendering seems to be 2-2 seating, which is definitely more of a business class configuration.

There are a couple of wide body configurations that have 2x3x2 seating in economy, but I'm a little incredulous too. Unless they are pretending that's a regional jet :)

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

#57

Post by gowld »

oceliker wrote: post #39

> 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…

The camera will be used to automatically pause the ads when your eyes are closed.

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

#58

Post by seanmcdirmid »

prawn wrote: post #46
greggman2 wrote: post #16

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?

Hard sleepers in China have everyone hanging out on the bottom bunk during the day, their are three levels of bunks, and the top bunk is not for the claustrophobic. Still a bit more comfortable than flying economy, and pretty cheap also (though they are disappearing as HSR trains replace them).

I took an overnight ferry from Shanghai once to putuoshan (maybe in 2004?), I’m guessing it was similar to your experience 3 years ago.

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

#59

Post by boring_twenties »

Johnny555 wrote: post #25
SlowRobotAhead wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s tough to defend CNN... but it has to recognize faces to do that right? :)

Depends on what you mean by "recognize faces". It has to recognize that it's seeing a face and eyes, but it doesn't need to recognize that the face belongs to John Smith, Frequent Flyer #0123456789

What exactly is the privacy risk there?

The airline already knows who is sitting in the seat, and also their ff#

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

#60

Post by 3JPLW »

blackguardx wrote: post #54
oceliker wrote: post #39

> 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…

I'm pretty sure many airlines already have cameras looking at your face. The last few international United Airlines flights I was on had IR LEDs just below the seat entertainment screen shining in my face the whole flight. I worked for an 3D camera company at the time and was pretty tuned in to IR (~850 nm) LED's dim red glow. There is no reason for them being there unless there are cameras looking at your face.

But why?
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