Wellness Takes Flight: BA’s New Program

It’s unusual for an airline to acknowledge that air travel is stressful  – rarer still for an airline to invest in a cure for airborne angst.

But British Airways this week is unveiling its new “Mindfulness for Travel series” to give passengers meditation techniques for a “relaxed and positive state of mind.”

The program is the brainchild of Mark Coleman, founder of the Mindfulness Institute in San Francisco, who teamed with BA to develop a series of “mindfulness practices” – essentially meditation techniques – for various phases of the flight.  

Short explanatory videos will be available onboard certain BA aircraft types and at http://www.ba.com/wellbeing.  Local British Airways employees are also getting trained in the techniques.

“The series will help travelers develop the clarity, calm and focus necessary to get the most out of their travel experiences, ” said Coleman.

Wellness makes sense
Airlines have addressed health issues before, of course,  but those efforts have mainly focused on physical exercise, obviously a challenge in the confines of a packed aircraft cabin.  (Inflight calisthenics didn’t exactly catch fire.)  

BA said that tapping into the wellness scene made sense, pointing to a recent Twitter survey about personal flying habits. The survey showed that U.S. passengers prefer to tune out the noise as a way to relax inflight, listening to podcasts or music or simply looking out the window.

The airline is also upgrading its personal inflight entertainment system to feature wellbeing exercises, therapeutic audio playlists and a “Flying with Confidence” video.

Lowering stress levels
There’s no word yet on how BA’s novel approach is being received, but the airline is also using the occasion to tout the benefits of its new A380 aircraft which was launched on the London- San Francisco route last month.

BA said that the A380’s increased interior space and an advanced cabin air conditioning system – with 15 different temperature control zones – is also part of the move to lower stress levels.