The self-reported seat discomfort survey on economy class aircraft passenger in the Netherlands

The economy class aircraft passengers who experience long hour sitting during air travel has experienced significant body discomfort at neck, shoulder, lower back, upper leg and lower leg. The questionnaire was set out to study the relationship between different body back part discomfort and travel time of economy class aircraft passenger in order to rank the discomfort level for each body back part. There were one hundred and four anonymous self administered surveys were completed at Schiphol International Airport, the Netherlands. In line with the survey hypothesis, findings confirmed that the body discomfort of aircraft passenger after five hours travel is higher than after one hour travel. The body discomfort of economy class aircraft passenger is associated with flight duration. Further studies concerning how to best provide comfort to long haul economy class aircraft passengers are needed. The survey presented in this paper will beneficial the aircraft passenger seat designers to facilitate future design and evaluate seats that able to reduce body discomfort during long haul air travel