Do not touch sign

This is the final Inflight e-newsletter of 2020, a year whose end cannot come fast enough.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the fabric of the aviation industry to a degree we may only discover in the years ahead.

One big change has been in the passenger experience, the new normal of which is touchless.

As Geraint Edwards, the new Global Head of Service Design at Tangerine says, “Tactility is dead. Now no one wants to touch. How do we go about designing for an untactile experience in a world where your phone becomes not only a communication tool but also becomes your gateway to the world?”

University of Arizona researcher Dr Katalin Gothard, inspired by her work at a Romanian orphanage, is seeking to understand how the brain interprets the social, emotional and physical aspects of touch.

Her team has compared the influences of the various touch parameters on emotional state and found that although the objective parameters of touch are processed first, the social aspects were more important in influencing amygdala activity and resulting emotional states. The amygdala is the almond-shaped mass within the brain, shown to perform a primary role in the processing of memory, decision-making and emotional responses.

With touchpoints along the passenger journey being minimised and, in some cases, removed entirely, how will a lack of tactility impact our passenger experience which is so sensory based? How will it affect our perception of an airline, onboard hospitality and service?

We’ll be back in 2021, ready to discuss, provide insight and showcase the inspirational and inventive responses of the industry.

Thank you for being a subscriber – Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

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