• Home
  • Reviews
    • Flight Reviews
    • Hotel Reviews
    • Lounge Reviews
    • Trip Reports
  • About
    • Press
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Award Expert
Live and Let's Fly
  • Home
  • Reviews
    • Flight Reviews
    • Hotel Reviews
    • Lounge Reviews
    • Trip Reports
  • About
    • Press
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Award Expert
Home » Premium Economy » Is “Interspace” The Premium Economy Class Seat Of The Future?
Premium Economy

Is “Interspace” The Premium Economy Class Seat Of The Future?

Matthew Klint Posted onDecember 7, 2019November 14, 2023 9 Comments

a plane with many seats

Will a new premium economy class seat dubbed “Interspace” finally make flying behind the curtain more comfortable?

London-based design firm Universal Movement, a subsidiary of New Territory, has unveiled a new economy class seat design this week. The seat is called “Interspace” and provides greater lateral support than traditional economy class seats by allowing passengers to rotate and lean on a fold-out cushioned surface. These “wings” provide far greater support than a traditional headrest and can easily be extended or collapsed depending upon the phase of flight.

In describing the seat Universal Movement said:

“The product has been developed with the knowledge that aircraft cabins have traditionally failed to look beyond seat pitch (the space between a point on one seat and the same point on the seat in front of it) as the primary determinant of comfort.

What people crave is the ability to rotate and redistribute weight within their seat, which is why you often see people leaning on the window of the aircraft using makeshift pillows.”

Luke Miles, Founder and Chief Creative Officer at New Territory added:

“Universal Movement and Interspace have been borne from the fact that not enough time, thought and resources have been invested into the back of the aircraft cabin.

We believe that comfort, good posture and wellbeing is a human right irrespective of financial status or social class. If you consider the psychology of the cabin, its linear, grid-like form is restrictive and as a result, seats have been designed for what is essentially an unnatural posture and seating position. The time has come to seek designs, products and services which tackle this subject head-on, creating affordable solutions for those businesses who share the same values and desires.

For this reason, we wanted to break the mold with this first product, which is the first of many to come from Universal Movement.”

Here’s a video of the new seat in action:

Breaking #aircraft interiors news: Luke Miles, Co-Founder/Creative Director @NewTerritory_io unveils the Interspace aircraft seat & new interiors company in London. Premium Expnomy travellers, rejoice! #paxex #RedCabin2019 #AvGeek #design #innovation pic.twitter.com/9G2i254IZ8

— APEX (@theAPEXassoc) December 5, 2019

Will Interspace Seat Work? Is It Practical?

Watch the video above…the seat doesn’t look much more comfortable than other current premium economy class seats, but certainly looks no worse. I’d have to give it a try, but I can imagine it would be improvement over no wings at all.

Not only could this be a next-generation premium economy seat, but we could also see it in domestic first class cabins in the United States and other markets that offer larger seats on narrowbody planes.

a row of seats in an airplane

a plane with many seats

a pair of grey chairs with a glass of water on the side

a pair of chairs with a welcome sign

a row of seats in an airplane

All image courtesy of Universal Movement

CONCLUSION

The seat was unveiled in London yesterday before many airline executives, though the new seat has no customers yet. It is nice to see seat designers tackle discomfort in an innovate way. Universal Movement promises more new designs in the months to come. I’ll be most interested in what they come up with for a true economy class seat.

What are your thoughts on the “Interspace” seat?

Get Daily Updates

Join our mailing list for a daily summary of posts! We never sell your info.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Previous Article United CEO Oscar Munoz Reflects Upon His Departure
Next Article Woman Forced To Remove “Hail Satan” Shirt On American Airlines

About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

9 Comments

  1. Sam Reply
    December 7, 2019 at 8:55 am

    If my knees are jammed into the seat, it’s not going to matter whether I can tilt left or right a bit

    • Bandmeeting Reply
      December 7, 2019 at 1:44 pm

      I’m just curious but I’ve never been in premium economy and had my knees anywhere near cramped. Have you? In PE on Air New Zealand I was barely able to touch the seat in front of me if I reached forward to it.

      It looks like reasonable knee space from the photos.

  2. Steve Reply
    December 7, 2019 at 9:29 am

    I think they’re on to something, not being able to twist or rotate at all is my main driver of discomfort (beyond obviously legroom but that’s only a problem in normal economy)

  3. 121Pilot Reply
    December 7, 2019 at 9:53 am

    It’s certainly an interesting approach but I do wonder how useful it will be in practice. On daytime flights constrained space is my primary complaint especially if I want to use my laptop.

    Now on flights when I want to sleep in coach my main issue is my head and leg position. Economy seats generally don’t have enough recline for my head to find a comfortable sleeping position and too often I end up with my head falling forward which isn’t good. The other issue is leg position and support. Those little footrest bars you see sometimes are useless. What’s required is a footrest that will elevate and support your feet and enough recline to be able to relax in comfort.

    I’ve only flown AirFrance’s PE seat on the A380 and it didn’t offer enough of either recline or leg support to be truly comfortable if you wanted to sleep. I strongly suspect based on reviews all the other PE offerings have similar issues.

    My hope (and prediction) is that what we will see is an evolution of PE towards something like the old UAL recliner business class seats. Those were not as nice as a lie flat bed to be sure but they were a very comfortable way to pass a long flight. Being able to get a seat like that at a reasonable upcharge over coach (and PE fares seem to have already moved beyond that) would be a game changer.

  4. Dick Bupkiss Reply
    December 7, 2019 at 1:33 pm

    Happy to see someone at least pay lip service to seat comfort, we will need to see what the reality is.

    The biggest problem I see is the self-reinforcing Stupidity Of Crowds. People demand a ticket that costs nothing, or as close to nothing as they can get. Airlines have gladly responded and have given the public exactly what they want: cheap flights. To drive the price down, they squeeze the seats closer and closer together. The result is the misery we see today.

    If the seats get more comfortable, via some innovation, that’ll be great at first. Then the airlines will just squeeze them even closer together, so they can make tickets even cheaper. Until we have planes with seats that leave passengers literally wedged in, up against each other, in innovative, creative seats, but literally wedged on top of each other, just so tickets can cost a few bucks less. Lather, rinse, repeat.

  5. John Reply
    December 7, 2019 at 2:22 pm

    I love it. They wouldn’t have to do away with the head rest though. It could rest above the foldable wing flaps and be made to slide up and down into position.

  6. Jake Reply
    December 7, 2019 at 5:55 pm

    I don’t like it because there’s no padding.

  7. St James Reply
    December 8, 2019 at 9:53 am

    It’d probably be nicer to apply them to existing seat designs. The underlying selling point also noting the thinness of the seat backs and trying to shift the narrative away from seat pitch and width is of course to make W more “efficient” by making it denser. Give people the privacy screens and the idea is they’d be more willing to tolerate the density, although some will feel the claustrophobia.

    If there are more seats in a given space, then people will have less space to wiggle around, simple as that. In the meantime, I shall look to W products with more generous space such as CI and JL.
    Also speaking of nightmare “fancy” W seats – Qantas and their much-maligned new premium economy seat.

    • Bob McPlumber Reply
      December 8, 2019 at 3:19 pm

      I could be going out on a limb (NPI) here but the one thing I want from PE is… Private elbow space. Just give me an armrest I don’t have to share and I’ll be happy.

Leave a Reply

Cancel reply

Search

Hot Deals for May

Note: Please see my Advertiser Disclosure

Capital One Venture X Business Card
Earn 150,000 Miles Sign Up Bonus
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Earn 100,000 Points
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
Earn 75,000 Miles!
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
Earn 75,000 Miles
Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card
Earn $750 Cash Back
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
Earn 120,000 Membership Reward® Points

Recent Posts

  • Delta Sky Club ATL F Review
    Review: Delta Sky Club Atlanta (ATL) – Concourse F May 23, 2025
  • a woman walking in an airplane with a luggage
    United Airlines Eliminates Instant Upgrades, Excursionist Perk, MileagePlus Upgrade Award Chart May 22, 2025
  • Flight Coffee Allergy
    Passenger Claims She’s Allergic To Coffee Smell, Demands Airline Ban It May 22, 2025
  • Trump Qatar 747-8
    Gift Or Grift? Trump Bets On Qatari 747-8 For Air Force One May 22, 2025

Categories

Popular Posts

  • a room with a table and benches
    Where To Smoke At Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport (CDG) April 26, 2025
  • United Airlines Polaris Lounge Chicago Review
    Review: United Polaris Lounge Chicago (ORD) May 1, 2025
  • United Airlines Refresh Polaris Lounge Chicago
    First Look: United Airlines Reopens Renovated Polaris Lounge In Chicago (ORD) April 29, 2025
  • a hand holding a blue card
    Chase Sapphire Preferred 100K Bonus Offer Ending Soon May 2, 2025

Archives

May 2025
M T W T F S S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031  
« Apr    

As seen on:

facebook twitter instagram rss
Privacy Policy © Live and Let's Fly All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Live and Let's Fly with appropriate and specific directions to the original content.