The Cozy Suite is a brand new type of airline seat that you may soon find on your next flight. The new seat, which was developed by Thompson Solutions from the United Kingdom, is meant to help make passengers more comfortable on their long flights. In addition to comfort, however, these seats can also help battle a rare but deadly condition referred to as deep vein thrombosis. This condition, which involves the formation of a blood clot, from holding one’s body in an unusual position while flying, can cause death.
The new seats are quickly catching on. According to reports, Delta has already placed an order for the seats and has plans to install them in their coach class cabins. Although the company is in a bit of financial trouble, it hopes to use these new seats in order to gain a competitive edge over other airlines. In addition, with the help of the new seats, they will actually be able to fit more passengers onto each flight. Beginning in 2010, the company plans to start installing 100 of the new seats in its 777 and 767 widebodies.
While these seats may be catching on quickly, their development wasn’t quite so speedy. In fact, Thompson Solutions reportedly spent seven years designing the seat and then testing it and refining it before bringing it to market.
So, what is so special about the Cozy Suite design? Well, for starters, it incorporates a unique staggered design. Apparently, its designers were inspired to create this design after noticing that people who tried to sleep during long flights generally put themselves in an angled position and that those in window seats seemed to be a little more comfortable because they could rest against the wall.
With the staggered design, each passenger is able to have a place to rest his or her head. It also helps create a sense of additional personal space and actually adds four extra inches of legroom for passengers.
When creating the new seats, the design team had to consider more than just comfort. They also need to make certain the new seats could be certified for use in aircraft. Therefore, an engineering team was also involved with every stage of the product development process.
It seems to have been a successful venture, as the company claims to be close to closing several additional deals with other airline companies. Of course, how successful these new seats will be cannot be determined until they are actually installed in the aircraft and used by passengers – more than likely, they will be better than the seats the airlines are currently using!
The new Thompson Solutions Business class seating called “Vantage” will give passengers more leg room, more working space and storage space, seats further apart, easier aisle access, bigger monitors, and a fully horizontal bed.
For the airlines, the Vantage line of Business class airplane seating is lightweight, and are being called “Green Seats” because the engineering allows more seats in a given space than any other design. These new seats seem to be a win-win for both airline and passenger.
As far as future sales go, Rogers says Thompson has a verbal agreement with one middle eastern airline (we’re guessing Emirates), and is close to deals with several others. But usability tests are different than actual flights, and he admits the new seats are a gamble. Having spent too many hours cramped in coach, we think they’re probably better than what is out there now.
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