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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

#61

Post by mattrp »

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.

they look more like old school first class seats. the problem with sleeping on a plane has to do with circulation -- it's actually hard on the heart to pump blood from your feet with you're motionless for hours at a time on a plane. If they really wanted to solve this, they'd do one of two things:

1) they would shift the time of departure from 6p - midnight to 3 am. They'd let everyone sleep in a special part of the gate area which would close to passengers not on the flight. Passengers could also go on board the plane and sleep while it is at the gate if they preferred. About 30 minutes before departure everyone would be awakened and they would board. This would avoid having to arrive 2 hours ahead of time and the delayed departure would still get the passengers to their destination at a reasonable time.

OR

2) they would get rid of the overhead section of the plane for redeye flights. They would stack horizontal chairs three high and everyone would be horizontal for the entire flight.

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

#62

Post by elgenie »

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…

“eyes open” vs “eyes closed” is a face detection problem, not a recognition one.

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

#63

Post by blackguardx »

3JPLW wrote: post #60
blackguardx wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

They probably put it in to do gaze tracking in the hopes of selling that data back to movie studios/advertisers. I'm not sure if they currently sell this data, but I'm sure we will find out when/if some disclaimer flashes on the screen in the beginning of the flight.

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

#64

Post by ip26 »

eagsalazar2 wrote: post #18
luxuryballs wrote: post #3

“As long as you can make it cheaper and able to fit more total passengers than the boring regular seat then we have a deal.” - Mr. Airline

I think the bottom line is that people aren't, on average, actually willing to pay higher prices for flying with more room. So you could just as easily replace "- Mr Airline" with "- Everyone Involved"

That's an easy conclusion to take, but I would observe it's pretty difficult to shop seat size, and the plane can be swapped for a different one at any time without warning. I understand seat upgrades like economy plus can also be revoked at boarding time.

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

#65

Post by cryptozeus »

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…

Can’t they just put “are you still there” button like Netflix? Would be cheaper and less creepy.

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

#66

Post by seanmcdirmid »

ObsoleteNerd wrote: post #44
saagarjha wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Beds in Asia often don’t have a lot of padding, they aren’t designed for side sleepers, you would be on your back quickly. Incidentally, a wooden chinese bed will cure you of side sleeping in a few days if you ever want to go that route. I found my sleep was better, but I reverted back to side sleeping quickly after getting to use a normal western bed again (after about six months of using the Chinese bed).

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

#67

Post by nanokilo »

ggm wrote: post #34

Looks like a fundamentally acceptable design change, which will probably be white-anted out of deployment on cost, or fashion grounds. I think seating in airlines demands regulation. I don't think we will see change here without it, because unlike Premium Economy and Business, where pricing differentiation justifies the spend (the increase in revenue outweighs the engineering costs significantly: Aircraft would be vi…

On the other hand, if an airline offered these seats, I'd definitely choose them over the competition.

Better seats might not drive more seat upgrades, but it might drive more traffic to your airline.

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

#68

Post by rock_artist »

This pretty much seems like a fragile 'patch' that workaround small issue that

concerns: - People that having hard time sleeping in couch would most likely be more sensitive even in 'premium' seats.

- This still not solve the REAL debate of whether bending your seat should be event allowed since it reduces the other passengers space unless he's also going with the domino...

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

#70

Post by boring_twenties »

eagsalazar2 wrote: post #18
luxuryballs wrote: post #3

“As long as you can make it cheaper and able to fit more total passengers than the boring regular seat then we have a deal.” - Mr. Airline

I think the bottom line is that people aren't, on average, actually willing to pay higher prices for flying with more room. So you could just as easily replace "- Mr Airline" with "- Everyone Involved"

I upgraded to premium economy for $80 and the two friends I was traveling with gave me shit about it at both ends of the flight. All three of us were highly paid at the time. "That's over 10%!" exclaimed one (flights were ~$700). Uh, ok? I'm gonna physically and mentally torture myself for five ours over $80?

I'm sure there's a fascinating behavioral evolution story behind this and I'd love to know what it is. It feels similar to the way lots of people will spend more time and money driving to a cheaper gas station, than they save on the cheaper gas.

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