New airplane seat design to make it easier to sleep in economy • Hacker News Board

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

#381

Post by vxNsr » Tue, Dec 10, 2019, 4:09 PM UTC

sdferdfs wrote: post #329

vxNsr wrote: post #295

Idk what economy cabins these people are sitting in but those seats look at least business-sized to me. No US airline will be sticking something that big in economy. And facial-recog? Airlines are moving away from putting anything in the seat-backs at all and now you wanna put expensive camera tech in there?

They'll find out some way to sell/use the data and the cameras will pay for themselves. Besides, if airlines are ripping out TVs, relatively low capital cost, from backseats of very expensive aircraft I doubt its because of the cost of the TVs. Maybe the TVs need hefty wiring for the power. Maybe they break often with kids punching them. But the cameras might not have that many problems, and therefore be cheap (besid…

The primary reason I heard was the copper, apparently the weight of the screen is minimal compared to the wiring it takes to set up each seat, I doubt a camera would be any different.

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

#382

Post by ehnto » Tue, Dec 10, 2019, 4:10 PM UTC

Armisael16 wrote: post #257

ehnto wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I must admit, when travelling I sort of accept a lower level of privacy. Other people who probably have location, purchase, or photographic data about my trip All the governments and airports involved of course Star Bucks saw my credit card appear for the first time across HK and Japan, hopefully the last time JR Rail Companies, all of the train stations NaviTime, the transit app company Google would know pretty much…

Please don’t use code blocks for any sort of text other than code. They’re nearly unreadable on mobile.

Of the options available, I thought this was the most reasonable. The markup available doesn't make it particularly easy to do lists on HN. It's either a codeblock to get the list items close, or one line per paragraph that takes up lots of vertical room.

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

#383

Post by wstuartcl » Tue, Dec 10, 2019, 4:13 PM UTC

They need to get rid of the recline or have laws governing a sane distance between seatback and the next seats worst case distance. As someone that is 6'5" I literally have my knees fixed to the seatback in front of me and feet off the ground in most airlines economy seats -- the person in front of me choosing to go back even an inch means my kneecaps are bruised.

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

#384

Post by infinitezest » Tue, Dec 10, 2019, 4:18 PM UTC

0xffff2 wrote: post #360

magnetic wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've seriously considered declining invitations before because I don't want to be in a house with all that crap in it. Why did you end up not declining them after all? (if I understand your "considered" wording correctly)

I'm not really sure how to answer that. I guess it amounts to peer pressure. If you're up against a group that has already decided that these kinds of devices aren't a problem, it's hard to articulate an argument against subjecting yourself to it that they find convincing.

And doesn't this perfectly demonstrate the issue with the "just don't buy one" argument? It's still _possible_ to make choices about your privacy (ex. don't get a smart phone, don't buy a smart speaker, etc.) but it requires progressively more conviction as acceptance of this kind of tech becomes mainstream.

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

#385

Post by teh_klev » Tue, Dec 10, 2019, 4:22 PM UTC

selectodude wrote: post #377

vxNsr wrote: post #295

Idk what economy cabins these people are sitting in but those seats look at least business-sized to me. No US airline will be sticking something that big in economy. And facial-recog? Airlines are moving away from putting anything in the seat-backs at all and now you wanna put expensive camera tech in there?

They're for long-haul premium economy. Those are already 2-4-2 on larger jets vs 3-4-3 or 2-5-2 in the steerage.

Nowhere in the article does it mention these are specifically for "premium" economy, these seats are, according to the article, supposedly meant for your run-of-the-mill economy cabin.

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

#386

Post by ChuckMcM » Tue, Dec 10, 2019, 4:22 PM UTC

diego wrote: post #347

ChuckMcM wrote: post #345

Interesting but they should try them with oversized passengers as well. I’m guessing that it will increase the level of discomfort for passengers that are wider than the typical narrow seat even more.

If you're too big then you just don't fold them forward and it remains a regular seat. I don't see the loss.

If the person beside a large person deploys the wing, how does that work?

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

#387

Post by efa » Tue, Dec 10, 2019, 4:24 PM UTC

puranjay wrote: post #202

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…

> This could be the worst idea ever. Have cameras pointed at every flyer for the duration of the flight, for the incredibly minor benefit of stopping your movie This seems to be uniform across all surveillance technology. The purported convenience is so laughably minor that it's almost a parody. Like Alexa - people are willing to have a Big Brother-esque speaker inside their homes for the convenience of playing some…

And adding things to my shopping list!

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

#388

Post by crazygringo » Tue, Dec 10, 2019, 4:25 PM UTC

Wow, I can’t believe how dismissive most of the comments here are.

The idea of adding folding wings to existing seat dimensions could be a huge, huge improvement for sleeping on flights.

No, it’s not changing or solving anything else. Yes the model is tiny. No this isn’t solving existing recline issues if you’re 6’5”. If you have incredibly broad shoulders then you might not be able to use the wings but you can still leave them folded up and it’s the same as now.

But this is still an improvement. This is a site for hackers looking to improve things. This feels like a really clever seat hack to me.

Can we actually just appreciate that it could be an improvement, rather than just rail on airline seat sizes? This is making seats better not worse.

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

#389

Post by ShakataGaNai » Tue, Dec 10, 2019, 4:26 PM UTC

I know it's been bashed to death, but it's funny they'd think the facial recognition thing would be "OK". Just a few months ago there was a big uproar ( https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/airplane-seatback-cameras... ) when someone finally noticed a bunch of the in-seat entertainment systems had a camera lens. This wasn't anything new (and they didn't even work) but the antics even got senators involved.

So why do some IFE have cameras that aren't used? Because the manufacturers are just slapping android tablets (sans case) into the back of the seats.

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

#390

Post by logfromblammo » Tue, Dec 10, 2019, 4:26 PM UTC

xvector wrote: post #144

ddsea wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Boring meetings have the same effect on me. The main challenge is, not to snore.

This is actually a serious problem to me. Regardless of how interesting I find them, meetings at work trigger something deep inside me that cause me to sleep. It’s like a biological switch has been flipped. Cavemen talking around a fire into the night, getting ready for the long rest for the day ahead... Sometimes I fall into a fugue in which I am semi-aware and a dream fills in part of the speech of meetings. I hear…

I call it the "Powerpoint nap".

It's not just the interestingness, but the lack of engagement. When that meeting starts, your brain is likely shutting off the flow of orexin. That orexin may have been the only thing keeping you awake. You get bored or disengaged; you conk out.

I'd guess, just from hearing that short description, that you don't get much natural sunlight in your workplace, the meetings are happening just after lunchtime, between 1 and 4 PM, and that you have some amount of sleep disorder that would be almost trivially manageable if your medical insurance plan were more reasonable. You can't drive more than a few hours without getting sleepy. On planes, trains, or buses, you conk out almost immediately, and somehow wake up just before arriving at your destination. But you don't fall asleep during movies.

Schedule a visit with a sleep specialist in the first week of January, after your deductible resets, and get a sleep study done. If you get a prescription for a CPAP, or some other durable medical equipment, buy it outright, and send a copy of the receipt to your insurer. Do not rent. If you have been putting off any other medical treatments, get them done next year too. If you can't hit your deductible with a sleep study and CPAP on the books, you probably never will.