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Aircraft seating comfort: the influence of seat pitch on passengers’ well-being

Issue title: IEA 2012: 18th World congress on Ergonomics - Designing a sustainable future

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Kremser, Florian | Guenzkofer, Fabian | Sedlmeier, Claudia | Sabbah, Olaf | Bengler, Klaus

Affiliations: Institute of Ergonomics, Technische Universität München, Boltzmannstr. 15, D-85747 Garching, Germany | RECARO Aircraft Seating GmbH & Co.KG, Daimlerstr. 21, D-74523 Schwaebisch Hall, Germany

Note: [] Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]

Keywords: seat pitch, legroom, spatial perception, sitting posture, economy class

DOI: 10.3233/WOR-2012-0789-4936

Journal: Work, vol. 41, no. Supplement 1, pp. 4936-4942, 2012

Published: 2012
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Abstract

One of the most important factors influencing aircraft seating comfort in economy class, is legroom. In an airline interior mock up, with the ability to adjust the seat pitch in a range of 28 inches to 43 inches, a study to investigate the influence of seat pitch on passengers’ well-being was conducted. In a pre-study, aspects of subjective postural sensations and spatial perception were identified, and a questionnaire was developed. In the main study, 30 subjects rated at different seat pitch settings the spatial perception and the ability of adopting and changing sitting postures. As a result a functional relationship between overall well-being, the subjects’ anthropometry and seat pitch was developed. Furthermore it was identified, that there is a maximum overall well-being at a seat pitch of 34 inches to 40 inches, depending on the passengers’ anthropometry. A further enlargement of seat pitch, led to a reduction of well-being.

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