Leading social scientist, Edward T. Hall, defined personal space as "the region surrounding the person which they regard as psychologically theirs". Invasion of personal space can often lead to discomfort or enxiety on the part of the victim.

To investigate the boundaries of personal space, KLM hired the journalist Matt Chapman and took a hidden camera to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport to measure people's behavior as part of the personal space experiment.

Unsurprisingly, they found that business passengers had high regarded for their "personal space" and did not want to sit next to someone. So KLM introduced Europe Business Class, where they block all middle seats, so they remain unoccupied. This way, the passenger always has a window or aisle seat, with lots of personal space!

Comments