Usability Evaluation of an Emergency Alerting System to Improve Discrete Communication During Emergencies

In public flight attendants' primary responsibility is often downplayed and considered as serving meals and beverages. However, insuring safety and security is the key role of cabin crew. In case of emergencies, flight attendants are the first point of contact for passengers. The only possibility for alerting is to use the existing Passenger Call Button. Nevertheless, flight attendants cannot distinguish whether it is a service call or an emergency. Research question. This paper tries to close the existing gap in the emergency communication between passengers and cabin crew. Methodology. Therefore, a prototype of a virtual emergency button which shall be integrated into the IFE screens, has been presented to passengers and cabin crew (N = 56) to assess the user acceptance using the Van der Laan scale. Results. There was a significant difference in the sub-scale of satisfying for the passenger rating. Discussion. The significant difference could result from passengers being the main target group for the use of the emergency button. Furthermore, since not every aircraft is equipped with IFE screens concepts for a physical emergency button are presented in this paper. Conclusion. To enhance passenger safety an emergency alerting device is necessary to maintain the high safety standards of aviation. Detailed usability analysis for physical emergency buttons are necessary in future studies.