maxack

Agreed, ltfly, people yanking your seat is super annoying.

Interesting comment about fabrics, lloydah. What would be your 'perfect' upholstery material?

Great point, Cloudship! It's ironic that the more seat adjustment controls you give passengers, the harder it becomes to actually succeed in making your seat more comfortable What do you think could be approved about lighting and air? Better targeting, or adjusting to different activities, like sleeping, reading, or eating?

The_Diamond_Z

+1

I think carriers are competing on having the most over-engineered seat and failing on just having a comfortable seat.

As the world gets wider and taller Premium Economy would seem a solution for those willing or in a position to pay for it but even then some seats are not much wider (Air France/KLM) than Economy.

There is where I think Qantas gets it right...there is a danger their PE cannibalizes their Business Class offering but more often than not I find myself booking QF PE instead of BA CW.

Also, where there is some sort of video entertainment system why do I have to plug the headphones into a hard to find headphone jack in the chair I'm sitting in. Why can't I just plug it into something next to the screen on the chair in front of me?

Cloudship

Well, it seems that in many aircraft (at least the business classes I have experienced) they still utilize the standard overhead reading lights and personal vents. They are never properly focused or positions to provide light or air where I need it (to the tray table for eating, a little closer for reading) or within reach from the seat.

I would find a way to provide an air vent not from the ceiling but somewhere from the seat unit itself. For that matter, instead of one tiny high pressure stream, could you find a way to provide a lower pressure stream but at a larger volume? This might be too much for a business class seat, but cars have individual climate controls for the driver and passenger - could some kind of air temperature mix be figured out so the passenger can control the temperature of the air coming out?

Lighting just requires a little more thought on where they place the reading lights. Most of the bendy arm ones I have seen are positioned far too low, and get in the way. And they should be directed away from the windows so you can still see out at night. If you do use overhead lights, make sure they are adjustable and aren't positioned so that they are too far forward or aft of the seat.

maxack

Thanks, The_Diamond_Z, very interesting thought about PE cannibalising Business. The headphone plug issue does not help

Thanks for your detailed thoughts on light and air, Cloudship! It's interesting how even low-end cars are beating modern planes with regards to temperature control. Also some really good points on lighting. Again, it seems like it should not be such a hard problem to solve!

timfountain

I'd say the most frustrating thing your airplane seats are overly large neighbors spilling into your space.

IMOA

Focussing on long haul business

Lack of storage space for in flight items - iPad, headphones etc. Qantas skybeds being a worst example and their latest A330 suites along with Qatar 787 suites being an example of this done right (water bottle and headphone storage in the armrest for Qatar a particular design triumph)

Headphone plug that is hard to find, especially in the dark. I think a lot of designers have woken up to this and are placing it in more obvious and easier to plug in spots

Tables that require you to sit up and have the leg rest down. Thats you Cathay and ruins what is otherwise one of the great seats. Take a bow Qatar 787, the best designed table I've used

Trapped window seat passengers. OK, this is starting to be solved by everyone moving towards all aisle access seating but why is it so difficult to design in a step and a handle into seats which have a window and aisle seat. This would make things a hell of a lot easier for the window passenger to get out when the aisle passenger is sleeping. No excuse for this oversight imo

Seats where the legrest isn't really independent from the backrest. I generally like my legs up and but I'll have the backrest at a different angle and seats which make this difficult really annoy me

Leather seats. Leather doesn't breath and has no place on an aircraft. Pleather even less so.

Kagehitokiri

eos airlines seemed pretty great to me overall

i think SQ's current J have good bulkhead seats

Qwkynuf

I prefer aisle seats, and I am a little passive/aggressive (not a great combination). In addition, I have status which allows me to be among the first on the plane.

Often, as the rest of the passengers board, I will hold in the recline button on my seat, to give a little heart attact to my neighbor behind me, as he rappels into his seat, using mine for an anchor.....

lloydah

Something that doesn't make your behind and back hot and hasn't got a pile like velvet types. Linen/cotton/polyester mixes are good. Textured weave and easy clean, you don't slide about on it and it keeps you relatively cool.

Tchiowa

Business Class seats on some airlines are too narrow. Even though they lay flat if I try to sleep on my back my shoulders don't fit.

Some airlines only half the seats have direct aisle access so you're stepping over someone. And if that person is fully reclined to a bed it's very awkward getting past them.

rickg523

Seat recline in coach on any flight less than two hours.
Lock them in their upright position.

Tchiowa

Valid concerns, but the OP asked about Business Class.

adamak

I'm short. So ALL the seats (the head portion) bothers me, whether is Y, J or F. Basically the head rest is always higher than my head, which kind of pushes my head down, tilted the whole flight. I wish the head rest is adjustable.

ibrandsguest

For domestic first-class seats, I wish that you could flip up the console between seats and thus stretch out in 2 seats, just as you can flip up the armrest and stretch out in multiple coach seats. Unfortunately you're blocked into one seat in first class. Sometimes coach is more spacious if you get a vacant seat next to you in coach because you can flip up the armrest.

Legroom in domestic first class seats isn't that great, either. Amtrak coach seats and Acela seats are much more spacious.

Qwkynuf

The Seat Swingers do it in first, too. And I am also often in the last row of first on non-bulkhead aircraft - Delta 717, for example.