(upbeat music) >> Hey welcome back, Jeff Rick here with theCUBE. We're in San Francisco International, actually at gate 54B if you're trying to to track us down. It's the Alaska Airlines improved flight experience launch event. A lot of vendors here, they're rebranding their planes, they've rebranded all the Virgin Airbus planes, and they've taken that opportunity to add a lot of new innovations. So we're excited to be here, to talk to some of the people participating, and our first guest. It's Rene Donkworth, he is the general manager of Aircraft Seating America's for Recaro. Rene, great to see you. >> Thank you, great to be here. >> So I've seen a lot of people are familiar with the Recaro seats, we think of them as racing seats or, you know, upgrading our cars when we were kids, everybody wanted a Recaro seat. I had no idea you guys played such a major role in aviation. >> Absolutely. And we are since the early 70s already in the aircraft seating business, and really a major player, a global player in this business and you know it's a very long term experience and people are often flying and they're sitting on an aircraft and to be comfortable in traveling is very important and it's our mission. >> Right, it's funny because people probably usually don't think of the seat specifically until they're uncomfortable or, you know, they're in it. But you've got a lot of technology and a lot of innovation in the past but also some of these new seats that you're showing here today. >> Right. So we are showing the seat for first class here that we have displayed for Alaska Airlines, and we developed together in a very intensive process, a lot of thing on the seat here. We have a memory foam cushion with netting, a six way head rest which overall comes to a very comfortable seating experience for the passenger, and that's really one step ahead of other products, and we went through a very intensive process with Alaska and we are proud to present it and to see the roll out now because it's exciting. If you've worked all the time on such a project to see it's flying now. >> So there's a couple components to this seat, right? There's obviously the safety, its' got to stay bolted on, but you've got kind of this limited ergonomic space in terms of what the pitch is from one seat to the other. What are some of the unique challenges there and what are some of the things you guys have done to operate, you know, in kind of a restrained space? >> Of course it's always to optimize everything with the given conditions that you have. But really looking into the small details. Reduced pressure points on the body, we are using kind of pressure mapping methods to develop that together with the customer, looking into a cushy experience for the passenger, optimizing it so that you have really kinds of luxury feeling on the seat. But in addition it's also important to look into solutions like content. How is content provided and what kind of tablet integration is there, so we have very smart solutions there that we are showing today with the right viewing angles there's the right power, the high power USB which support the power, so the overall package needs to be optimized, and that's what we are working with. >> And that's where I was going to go next, is when you're sitting there for 2 hours, 5 hours, 10 hours now we're talking about 20 hour flights, right, some of these crazy ones, people are doing things in their seat. They're not just sitting, as you said. They want power, they want connectivity, they want to watch their movie on their laptop or their tablet or their phone. So you guys have really incorporated kind of that next gen entertainment experience into this new seat. >> Right. So as I explained, there is a lot about tablet integration, not only for the first class as well also for the economy class that you can see today that you can experience. But there's also a lot about stowage in total. You know, stowage is always a big topic. Where do you stow your belongings? And there you will also see here smart solutions, lots of stowage options. For example also on the coach class seat you can use the tablet, you have the right viewing angle. In addition you can fold or unfold the table, you can use the stowages, so everything is really optimized in the details. >> And this is a huge kind of change in thought process when you think of the entertainment world, right, where it used to be you have a projector TV and then they put individual seat screens, but the airlines woke up and figured out everyone's already packing their screen of choice so how do we support that experience versus putting our own screen on that seat. >> Yeah, that's where we are going, and if you look into today's passengers almost everybody has his own tablet or iPhone or whatever with him, so it's important to be able to stow everything, to connect every kind of device, to have the power. But I think then the content is really important to be provided. The integrated solutions are not so important anymore. >> Right, well Rene congratulations and enjoy the flight and seeing all your hard work up in the air. >> Thank you very much. >> Alright, he's Rene, I'm Jeff, we're at the San Fransisco International Gate 54B at the Alaska Airlines Elevated Flight Experience. Thanks for watching.