Page 14 - Process Book Abdul Raffai Waqar
P. 14
RESEARCH PHASE
Ch 02
Literature Review & Analysis
Passengers Emotional/Psychological response to Air Travel Air Travel Stress and Cardiac Problems
Even with regular air travel adopted for a few decades, travellers still Air travel stress before, during and after flight is linked to cardiac
feel travel anxiety. Experienced travellers undergo mixed emotions problems. It is discovered that travel stress is linked to 15% of cardiac
ranging from frustration, anxiety, and travel excitement (Bor, 2017). medical emergencies during flight while some physicians also argue
The air travel experience has psychological, physical, and that pre-travel stress may have a higher contribution to these
physiological stressors which can lead to higher blood pressure in emergencies as opposed to in-flight stress (McIntosh et al.,1998).
some passengers (Koh, 2021). Moving to an unknown place, aircraft A study points out that before and after flight environment has
safety, claustrophobia, transit anxiety, delays and being in an various stress points, especially for international travellers which may
uncontrolled environment with insufficient information are the major trigger ischemic events in cardiac patients (Koh, 2021). There were
stressors for travellers (McIntosh et al.,1998). A study with 1649 577 in-flight deaths between 1977 and 1984 and research shows that
subjects explored factors that provoke anxiety in international travel 56% (326/577) deaths were due to cardiac problems with over half of
showing that females worry more than males, and new travellers them with no cardiovascular complications (Cummins et al. 1988).
had higher stress as opposed to frequent travellers. Travel stressors
are grouped as pre-travel and post-travel worries (Mcintosh, Power This shows that air travel stressors can contribute to cardiac issues
and Reed, 1996). in healthy individuals, leaving a gap to understand what stressors
cause them which can help design a solution.
These studies show that experienced or inexperienced travellers,
both experience pleasure and pain points while demonstrating
psychological and emotional responses. There is potential to
identify the emotional pattern to implement behavioural design
solutions which can improve the air travel experience for travellers.
Research & Design Project | Research Phase
