Comfort v capacity
With summer holidays almost here, many people will be heading to the airport to fly off on their annual break. But with airlines trying to fit the maximum number of passengers on planes, what effect is it having on travellers’ experiences, and how can they balance comfort with capacity?
New research has explored this question by looking at the effects of seat sizes on different passengers. It highlighted that while the average body size has increased over the past decades, the number of occupied seats on planes (the load factor) has also risen. This means passengers are now less likely to be adjacent to an empty seat that provides more space to extend into.
Discomfort is also not just driven by physical factors but also psychological ones, such as the perception of physical space and stress from being in close contact with others.
Researchers recruited 76 participants with a range of different body sizes to test various seat widths and layouts. Female passengers were more uncomfortable in narrow seats and a layout that featured five seats per row (a block of three and a block of two) was preferred to six seats (three and three).
The study, published in the journal Ergonomics, said: “Airlines must balance passenger comfort with capacity. Simulations combining body size data and passenger feedback show that narrow seats and crowded flights negatively impact comfort, especially for females. Wider seats improve comfort but reduce capacity, revealing a clear trade-off between efficiency and passenger experience.”
