Fit to fly: Anger management

Airports can make all of us want to roar occasionally. Katharine Cooke explains how the right design can alleviate stress.

Air travel can be stressful, we all know that. Getting to the airport, facing possible delays, queues and other potential problems all inspire anxiety. Then there are the nerves that many people feel about flying. Meanwhile, business travellers are under extra pressure to use the airport like an office, preparing for meetings while keeping in touch with colleagues and making decisions up until they board. So it’s no surprise that airports are often difficult places to relax. But just how stressful they can be was highlighted when staff from research consultancy the Mind Lab strapped stress-measuring devices to their bodies and headed to catch flights from London Heathrow. Two of the researchers, while caught in delays and forced to queue in a marquee outside Terminal 4, reported that their heart rates soared to levels exceeding those measured in riot police and racing drivers. One said his heart rate doubled from 50 beats per minute at rest to an average of 98 beats per minute, with a peak of 199 beats. Even allowing for the fact that they knew their reactions were being measured, which may have increased the readings, these results underline the tension people often feel at airports. David Lewis, neuropsychologist and director of research at The Mind Lab, says: “These are the kind of heart rates you would expect to find if someone in a poor physical condition was forced to run on a treadmill until exhausted. Given that the travellers were not exerting themselves physically, this reflects the high level of psychological stress they were under.” So what makes airports such a focal point of stress? Robert Bor, a consultant psychologist who specialises in aviation psychology and helps people to deal with anxiety about flying, points out that most passengers’ stress begins long before arriving at the airport but that this is the first place where their anxieties catch up with them. “We lead tightly managed and stressful lives,” he says. “Most of us are working hard, missing our families, doing things right up to the last minute, checking that we’re not going miss our flight, and so on. In fact, I’m surprised people aren’t more stressed.” On top of this, Bor says, most people have some level of anxiety about the journey they are embarking on. “Sources of stress vary between passengers – for some it’s being separated from loved ones, for others it’s handing over their baggage and not knowing if they’ll see it again, or it could be the nature of their journey. One out of four or five passengers on an aircraft would rather not be there.” People have certain expectations about flying, adds Bor. “Air travel is inspirational. We still associate it with our highest ideals and people expect magic to happen. The reality is usually a disappointment.” It has also become an impersonal experience: “Most passengers have less contact with their airline representative than they used to,” he says. “No one is taking responsibility for looking after the passenger, so they project their needs on to the airport staff and terminal.” Picture a traveller laden with all this emotional baggage, arriving at the terminal to find delayed flights, long queues at security and unhelpful check-in staff, and it’s no surprise that the pulse starts racing. William Hooper, design principal at architecture firm Gensler, has worked on airports all over the world, most recently the new JetBlue terminal at New York’s JFK. He believes airport design has an important role to play in relieving tension. “A well-designed terminal enables you to bleed the stress out of people,” he says. Many travellers might think it ambitious to say an airport could actually reduce stress, but at least a quick, smooth transition through a terminal will mean no extra stress on top of what we bring with us. “Airport design is important,” Bor agrees. “Hong Kong International and Singapore Changi, for example, have enough space, variety and comfort and the message is: ‘We appreciate you being here and we’re going to make your travel experience better, not just offer you shopping.’” Hooper has in-depth knowledge of what makes airport users tick. “As people move through a terminal you get a raw look at how human beings work,” he says. “A person feels most comfortable when they are in control of their own pace and know their next decision point is obvious. When we compromise those, we create stress.” Hooper’s idea of a well-designed terminal is one where it is easy to find your way around, there is minimal signage and people are given the directions they need at exactly the right time – not too soon for them to retain the information nor too late for them to think they might be going the wrong way. He describes how each aspect of the layout of a new terminal draws heavily on passenger psychology. For example, how often have you reached security or immigration and faced a choice of which queue to join, only to discover that you have joined the slowest one? While received wisdom may say that a handful of shorter queues is less stressful than one long one, Hooper takes the opposite view. “If I am in a line and no one is getting in front of me or breaking the line, that is minimising stress. I know that the next person at the head of the queue is going to find the next available space at the security checkpoint and the line is continually moving. It means you’re not second-guessing yourself [by choosing a queue], which is creating stress.” How to structure a queue may seem a minor issue, but it is attention to details such as these that keeps passengers flowing through an airport in the right direction. Efficient passenger flow is crucial to the success of Heathrow’s Terminal 5 if it is to live up to its billing as “a simple and stress-free experience”. Stevan Brown, design technical leader for BAA Capital Project, worked on the £4.3 billion terminal. He says a key design strategy to reduce stress was to create as much visibility as possible so passengers could see where they would be heading next, even as soon as they entered the building. He says: “On the departures side you can see the complete sweep of the roof. You know which side you have come in from – the landside – so you know you’ll be going to the opposite side of the building to get on the plane. You can see that as soon as you get in.” Then there are the “beacons” – large way-finding signs with black text on a yellow background, a colour scheme that Brown explains was first adopted by BAA then was widely taken up elsewhere and has now become associated in most people’s minds with airports. Spaces were designed to be as light and open as possible to keep passengers feeling calm. “People tend to feel more tense if they’re in a low, dark, pressure-cooker environment,” Brown explains. Even the passenger walkways – which at night often feel confining as the interior lights bounce back to create a mirror effect – have been improved by dimming the lighting by the glass to allow people to see out over the airfield. The designers also dispensed with the traditional layout for check-in. Instead of a long luggage belt that passes along the length of the check-in desks, the designers installed a lift system to ferry bags to the lower levels. “That belt became a physically impassable barrier to passenger flow,” says Brown. “It forms a wall – you do your checking in and then you have to move sideways.” In the Terminal 5 system passengers can walk between the desks and continue on their way. One area where designers can’t do a great deal about stress is security, probably one of the most unpleasant aspects of the airport experience. Hooper describes security as, ironically, the time when people feel most insecure. Bor adds: “People find being constantly checked quite invasive. It’s a bit like going through customs because most people are completely innocent but that look [they give you] is enough to make you feel guilty.” Brown says he would have preferred to create a greater sense of space for security at Terminal 5 but the team was constrained by, among other things, immigration rules requiring a barrier separating people who have been through security from those who haven’t. “Security is the place where people get tense and uptight. We are not the people who decide what the security processes are even though we have to implement them,” he says. Bearing all this in mind, which airports do the experts rate as the best? Brown says the Terminal 5 team was most inspired by Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur, while Hooper goes for Munich. “I am very comfortable when I go through Munich,” he says. “It allows you to move at your own pace and it feels open, transparent and comfortable.” Bor is impressed by Terminal 5 and calls the first class lounge “fantastic – I’ve never been in anything like it. Lots of space and comfort, the staff are discreet and the food is excellent.” So next time you’re fuming over the long wait for a delayed flight, take a deep breath and consider your options. All airports have some stress-busting solutions, from shopping to massage and mini hotel rooms. Ultimately, though, you need to take your own amusements, Bor says. “Everyone has different answers to stress. Go prepared so you can sort yourself out. If you wait for the airport to amuse or relax you, you will be disappointed. Take whatever you need with you.”