APEX FTE EXPO 2026: VIBEQUEST Brings a New Approach to Economy Class Comfort
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VIBEQUEST is bringing its premium portable seat overlay to APEX FTE EXPO in Singapore, where attendees will have the chance to try the product through live demonstrations. Designed primarily for Economy and Premium Economy passengers, the overlay focuses on overall comfort, lumbar support, and sleep while working with the existing aircraft seat, with no aircraft or seat modification. Founder and CEO Brandon Capps believes VIBEQUEST can give all passengers the ability to access added comfort while creating a new ancillary revenue opportunity for airlines.
Designing VIBEQUEST Around the Passenger
The idea behind VIBEQUEST started with Capps’ own experience as a passenger. His mother spent 30 years as a TWA flight attendant, so he grew up flying frequently and saw firsthand some of the challenges that come with spending long periods of time on an aircraft.
Capps has struggled to sleep on airplanes for years and often experienced discomfort in his lower back during longer flights. Those issues became especially noticeable during a stretch of travel in March 2025, when he traveled through four states and three time zones in about 10 days.
By his final flight home, Capps started thinking about how he could solve some of the problems he experienced while sitting and trying to sleep. He began sketching ideas on an airline napkin, which eventually led to VIBEQUEST. “I literally took one of those napkins that they give you with a drink, and I started trying to figure out my own problems,” Capps said.
What started as an attempt to solve his own discomfort quickly grew into a broader passenger experience idea. Capps began researching, building early prototypes, and eventually worked with a U.S. engineering and prototyping company to turn the concept into a physical product.
His goal centered on giving more travelers access to a higher level of comfort even if they could not afford upgrades. “I want to be able to provide a luxurious, comfortable first-class experience from a comfort standpoint to all passengers,” Capps said.
VIBEQUEST brings several features into one portable unit, enhanced comfort with precision engineered build including adjustable lumbar support, different resting positions, designed around passengers who spend long periods sitting onboard. Together, those features give travelers more control over how they sit and rest throughout a flight.
Sleep plays a major role in the concept. The system supports passengers while sleeping backward, to either side, and the game changer, now passengers have the opportunity to sleep forward with their face and head down, giving travelers more options for how they rest onboard. “To my knowledge, no one has anything allowing passengers to sleep forward,” Capps said.
The forward-sleeping option grew out of Capps’ own difficulty sleeping onboard. Rather than relying only on the aircraft seat, tray table, or cabin wall, passengers can use VIBEQUEST to position themselves differently during the flight. The adjustable inflatable lumbar support lets passengers adjust the amount of support based on their seating position, giving them more control over how the system feels throughout the journey.
Because VIBEQUEST uses a portable design, airlines can introduce it without replacing the underlying seat or redesigning the cabin. For Capps, the larger goal centers on making that added level of comfort available to all passengers throughout the aircraft. “That’s really the goal is to help people, and this just happens to help everyone,” Capps said.
Bringing Comfort and Ancillary Revenue Into the Cabin
VIBEQUEST originally planned to sell directly to consumers, but the company has expanded its approach to include airlines. Capps believes carriers could use VIBEQUEST to enhance the Economy experience while creating a new source of ancillary revenue.
Under the proposed airline model, carriers could offer the units to passengers as rentals during a flight. VIBEQUEST would provide the units without requiring airlines to purchase them at any point; VIBEQUEST supplies every unit and every replacement at zero capital cost to the carrier. “What we do is we provide all of the units to the airlines at no cost, so they don’t have to pay anything to get engaged,” Capps said.
VIBEQUEST and participating partners would then share the rental revenue, with airlines and potentially airports receiving a portion. Capps believes the model could expand revenue opportunities beyond premium seats and extra legroom. “This makes every single seat in the jet a profit center,” Capps said.
That approach comes as ancillary revenue continues to play a larger role across the airline industry. IdeaWorksCompany projects airlines worldwide will generate a record $157 billion in ancillary revenue in 2025, up from $148.4 billion in 2024 and $67.4 billion in 2016. Ancillary revenue now accounts for 15.7% of total airline revenue, compared with 9.1% in 2016.
Airlines already generate ancillary revenue through baggage, seat selection, onboard food, hotel and car rental commissions, and co-branded credit card partnerships. VIBEQUEST wants to add passenger comfort to that mix by giving carriers another optional service to offer throughout the cabin.
Capps views VIBEQUEST as a complement to existing premium products rather than a replacement. An Economy passenger could rent the system, while someone who already purchases extra legroom or a premium seat could still add VIBEQUEST to the experience.
Its portable design also allows airlines to offer the system without taking aircraft out of service for a major refurbishment. Capps said VIBEQUEST plans to provide replacement units when individual units eventually need to come out of service.
Capps believes repeat rentals could strengthen the model further. If passengers find value in using VIBEQUEST on one flight, he expects some will choose it again on the return trip or on future flights.
VIBEQUEST is exploring uses outside the aircraft as well. Discussions at FTE Global / IFSA Global Expo raised the idea of placing the system in airport lounges, where passengers could use it to rest before departure or be rented directly through the lounges as well.
The company is targeting four airline proof-of-concept programs in 2027, with two planned in the United States and two internationally. Capps said initial discussions have already started. “We have some initial discussions going domestically and internationally,” Capps said. “The reception last week was phenomenal. We do have some positive momentum going.”
Putting VIBEQUEST in Front of the Industry
Live demonstrations have become an important way for VIBEQUEST to show airlines, airports, and passengers how the product works. Rather than simply describing its different features, the demonstrations allow attendees to sit down, try different resting positions, the forward leaning sleep, adjust the lumbar support, and experience how VIBEQUEST works with an aircraft seat.
VIBEQUEST brought that hands-on approach to FTE Global / IFSA Global Expo in Dallas, where attendees had the chance to try the product for themselves. The demonstrations gave airline representatives and other industry leaders a closer look at how the different features come together and how the system could fit into the passenger journey.
The company plans to bring that same approach to APEX FTE EXPO in Singapore. Attendees will have the chance to experience VIBEQUEST firsthand on real plane seats while the company introduces the product to more airlines and other companies across the passenger experience industry.
For VIBEQUEST, those conversations bring together the two sides of its approach: giving all passengers the ability to get more comfortable during a flight while giving airlines a new product they could offer across the entire cabin and bring in a new untapped ancillary revenue stream.
VIBEQUEST will showcase its premium portable seat overlay at booth 1013 during APEX FTE EXPO, with live demonstrations of its lumbar support and forward-sleeping design.