Why seats are always so uncomfortable at the airport – especially in the UK

NEXT time your flight is delayed, you might find yourself having to sit for hours at the airport on very uncomfortable seats.

A designer has revealed why the seats are so hard to sit on, especially at airports in the UK.

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Most airports have long rows of hard seats, which are not only uncomfortable but make it difficult to have a conversation if you re with families and friends.

Barry Weekes, Head of Design for Heathrow, previously told The Telegraph that they trialed a different kind of seating – but it didn’t work.

He said: “We did a trial at Terminal 3 where we introduced new ‘hub’ seating that featured four chairs clustered around a coffee table.

“What we found, however, was that as soon as one person occupied a single seat on a cluster of four, everyone else would avoid them.

“The more standard set up prevents people creating their own little fiefdom – or moving two chairs together to create a bed.”

Psychologist Robert Sommer previously suggested that the seats were designed to be “sociofugal” which means they discourage social interaction – and make people more likely to go to the shops and cafes and spend money instead,

Other airports outside of the UK have successfully introduced hub seating, like Toulouse-Blagnac Airport in France.

There, passengers can relax on circular leather sofas that have been arranged in groups.

At Haneda Airport in Tokyo, passengers can also relax on large leather banquettes designed to seat up to 12 at a time.

Earlier this year, a woman was slammed for taking up four seats at a busy airport.

A traveller was recently slammed by a woman at the airport after she accused them of “hogging” the communal plug sockets.

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