The problem with sliding seats is that it takes up leg room. The seats move forward, meaning even less room for people's legs. That would not be so bad a problme if the chair pivoted instead, like those zero G chairs.

In general "companies" parted with the money so their employees could travel in Business. Nowadays fewer and fewer do.

In general, "people" don't part with money to travel in Business and probably never will.
The choice still remains whether or not to do it; only this time the choice does not bother someone else.

Travel tips: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/travel.htm

Agreed the J passenger is traditionally on a company paid ticket but aren't more people paying for their own J tickets on leisure now?

You beat me to it - this is exactly what I was thinking. This scenario SHOULD make leg room smaller as it makes the upper area larger. That way you are just reallocating the space you've been given, rather than keeping all your space, and some of the space behind you.

I think your focus is misplaced. Business class seats and amenities have made enormous strides in the past 25 years, but they still serve a tiny minority of the traveling public. Most economy class cabins, on the other hand, are still very much as they were in 1965 -- the only major enhancement being personal TV, and only on some airlines.

Rather than trying to figure out how to further pamper business class customers, who are in most cases extremely comfortable already, I think it would be more interesting and useful to figure out how to make economy-class travel less appalling. When you look at industry growth forecasts, particularly in Asia, most of those additional passengers are going to be flying coach, not business.

You might look at health-related issues in particular. With flight duration rising and economy seat pitch shrinking, airlines need a strategy to reduce DVT fatalities and associated liability / lawsuits / bad press.

My focus on business class is because previous research has shown that although passengers obviously value extra services in economy class, at the moment they book tickets, price is their primary driver. Airlines should therefore follow a cost leadership strategy for economy.

In business class, airlines should de-commoditize by offering a differentiated service, which adds a higher perceived value to its customers. They should follow a product differentiation strategy. Innovations that will originate from this focus on business class should preferably be scalable to economy class and other types of aircraft as well.

Health & Wellness is a theme I find very interesting and which can be relevant in both classes. So I am already making a list of known problems and will probably post a new thread specific on H&W in the near future.

Thanks for your reactions; I will use them as qualitative input for my research and especially the discussion about my focus on business class will be taken into account.

The first class restroom on the Cathay 747 with the new first class should be big enough for acrobatics.

I wonder if a more interesting discussion wouldn't be the other way around: given the rising cost of air travel, are there any innovations that would allow airlines to transport more people in less space in a "sub-economy" type class?

Tiny stacked horizontal "berths" (think like a beehive) come to mind...maybe they could double capacity this way for people who aren't claustrophic...

I'm surprised this hasn't come up:
http://www.thompsonsolutions.co.uk/ts_cozysuite.html

Delta is getting these. Supposedly economy in the 767s will get more room and more seats. The staggered seats mean no more worrying about the girth of your neighbor.

That's utterly conventional wisdom, don't you think? And we see the robust health the industry enjoys as a result of following conventional wisdom.

I think the airlines have clearly surrendered considerable revenue by failing to create compelling, loyalty-magnetic products in economy class, and defaulting to a commodity-class strategy of "cost leadership." This keeps the considerable Y-class trade in a state of constant churn and low loyalty, which is stupid in an economy that finds all kinds of customers, titans of business included, forced to fly coach.

I would hope an innovative research effort would question conventional wisdom rather than swallow it whole.

Thanks to ralfp for linking to the DL next-gen coach product design... look also at the new CX economy being rolled out now... some of the most challenging and exciting thinking in this area is about improving the back of the bus.

Like this? http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2...economy-class/