Like putting your hand in a blender, flying is just not one of those things that you’re keen to do. Ever.

That’s why a number of designers have identified seven key miseries of flying, and setting out to suggest ideas that could better them.

There are some really good ideas here:

Firstly, the check-ins could be handled in a more “retail” way, as opposed to a “hospiltality” approach, according to Ideo’s chief creativity officer Paul Bennett. Taking a page out of Apple’s book, and having airport employees engaging you with a tablet instead of behind a cold counter could help make the process more appealing.

With regards to luggage tags, a company called Designworks wants to do away with the sticky wasteful paper tags and implement a Kindle-like electronic tag, which can be programmed to show the right flight details and bar-code once you check in.

There is also a proposal to redesign the plane ticket itself, presenting the reader with a systematic layout of your flight details, boarding gate, seat and any other info, as opposed to the confusing dog-show that tickets currently are.

There are some other great ideas to solve the issues of seating space, in-flight entertainment, landing procedures, and most importantly, the coffee.

All we want to know is when we’ll be finally allowed to ride the baggage carousel. Is that too much to ask for?

[source: Fast Co.]