What makes a passenger comfortable in flight? There are plenty of answers to that question and last week’s APEX EXPO education day included a panel discussion with key players from Airbus and Boeing to debate that topic (and several others).

Stefan List, Airbus’ Head of Product Marketing Cabin Program, cited his company’s research that a wider seat contributes significantly to passenger comfort. Airbus believes that one extra inch of seat width can counter 1.6 inches of reduced pitch for passengers. Boeing’s Rachelle Ornan, Regional Director for Experience & Design Research Strategy, countered that width is “towards the bottom” of factors passengers care about, citing “spaciousness” as the primary concern, also based on internal research.
Which, of course, leads to the question of “What is spaciousness, if not a combination of seat width and pitch?” Fortunately a Q&A period was part of the discussion and I was able to pose that very question. Not surprisingly, the two offered up very, very different takes on what it means to deliver a spacious experience on board.
Ornan took the mic first to respond, suggesting that perception is equal or even potentially more important than physical space in this context:
We, as a philosophy, tend to focus attention to the overhead, up and out. We give the impression of having sky overhead. We design for visual perception of every human. Spaciousness is very much a visual perception thing, including with the bins. The advent of pivot bins is huge. It is a physical manifestation of spaciousness. Being able to move about the cabin how you want to, being able to let someone pass by, all those things create the passenger experience of spaciousness.

The Boeing Sky Interior on the latest generation of planes definitely delivers on the more open overhead areas in the aircraft. But does that really make passengers happier after a few hours on board? And compared to what?
For Airbus the reply was cordial but direct: dimensions really do matter:
We believe seat width and pitch are a baseline, but all the perception elements come on top of that. …
If you wear VR glass in a HD configuration very close to your neighbor, from a perception view you believe you’re in business class. But as soon as you start moving it comes back from the perception to the physical dimension of the seat.

Boeing’s position is no surprise given its product line. Ditto for Airbus. Each has research that supports its view, which is to be expected.
Read More: In-flight: New York to London on American Airlines

Ornan also offered up the example of fans at a sporting event, able to be comfortable and happy even when in tight quarters. It was not clear from her example what the common cause or distraction on a plane is supposed to be to create that sense of team (or even if people at matches really are less annoyed at the lack of spaciousness they are faced with). But apparently that’s supposed to work.
Read More: Norwegian across the Atlantic: On the Dreamliner JFK-Gatwick
As for me, I do notice when my shoulders rub against the passenger next to me while seated. I do notice when the aisle is narrowed so that both people and bags are squeezed moving through. I do notice when a seat reclines so close that the IFE screen is no longer at a viable viewing angle. And I notice all of those things WAY more than the lights in the cabin emulating a sky scene or how close the bins are to my head.
More from APEX Expo 2017
- Faster wifi flying on Singapore 777s
- Gogo Vision Touch IFE to launch on Delta’s CSeries in 2018
- Inflight connectivity coming to Interjet
- Global Eagle’s Ka connectivity takes flight
- Airbus’ Airspace A320s to Launch with JetBlue
- Boeing v Airbus on spaciousness and in-flight comfort
- Air Europa’s streaming upgrade: Next-gen from BoardConnect
- XTS is dead. Long live XTS. Panasonic sees "radical change" coming
- Delivering big PaxEx improvements over a low bandwidth connection
- When the IFE system can watch you back
- Bringing a 360 view to the moving map
- Can a new recline reshape long-haul economy travel?
- EXPO Preview: What’s on tap this week
- Airconnect Go set to stream on Canadian North Airlines this winter
- Aeromexico confirms Viasat connectivity on MAX fleet
- Alaska Airlines adds SkyLights’ VR headsets to IFE lineup
- New livery, free drinks, free wifi coming to Aer Lingus in 2019
- PAC picks up an IFEC a pair
- Ka-band inflight connectivity to take flight in China
- Air France Connect brings inflight wifi live on board
- Another tiny lavatory preps for flight on American Airlines
- PaxEx Premium: Digging deeper on the Inmarsat/Panasonic strategic partnership
- Now boarding: Bluetooth audio connections
- PaxEx Premium: Does Spirit have a secret for selling wifi?
- Finnair ends free trial, rolls out wifi charges
- Bringing IoT to flight: Sensors, alerts, payments and more from APEX EXPO 2018
- PaxEx Premium: LEO connectivity testing reaches new heights
- PaxEx Premium: A LEO milestone for Global Eagle, Telesat
- Gogo makes a China 2Ku play
- Cabin-wide Bluetooth audio to fly in 2021
- EL AL brings USB-C in-seat power online
- Viasat extends its SAS reach with long-haul planes
- JetBlue selects Thales AVANT for A220 IFE
- Moving Maps and much more coming to Vistara’s long-haul fleet
- PaxEx Update: APEX EXPO
- Inflight WiFi for JSX slips to 2020
- AERQ wants to be more than just a Welcome Board
- Long live the Queen: The Weekly Wrap
- Boeing enters the wireless IFE market with Digital Direct
- OneWeb, GDC Technics partner on new ESA solution
- SmartSky announces ATG availability for regional airlines
- Inmarsat, GDC celebrate 737 certification of Falcon 300 terminal for GX Aviation
- Anuvu adds $50 million for MicroGEO connectivity growth
- Malaysia Airlines plans IFE update with Flymingo
- Panasonic Avionics, OneWeb team for inflight internet service
- Anuvu boosts Ka-band connectivity with dual panel antenna
- Virgin Australia picks 2Ku for Wi-Fi boost
- Panasonic Avionics highlights Stellar Blu antenna for OneWeb LEO service
- Dimmable windows coming to the A350 with Starlux
- A first look at Spirit’s new seats
- Bringing the moving map online: Panasonic’s Arc gets a data feed
- Pairing, casting and streaming: The next generation of inflight entertainment emerges
- Starlink/JSX STC slips
- SLAs suck: Seeking a service specification shift
- Immfly, Gategroup team for inflight retail technology
- NetForecast launches QMap network monitoring for ground ops
- Airbus taps Intelsat, Panasonic Avionics for HBCplus Ku-band services
- Spafax launches AdConnect targeted advertising marketplace
- Apps to boost US border crossing experience
- DirecTV plans a global push for its live television services
- AI Flight Feed boosts context, revenue potential of FlightPath3D moving map
A favor to ask while you're here...
Did you enjoy the content? Or learn something useful? Or generally just think this is the type of story you'd like to see more of? Consider supporting the site through a donation (any amount helps). It helps keep me independent and avoiding the credit card schlock.
Leave a Reply