Why do some seats on the plane not have windows? Passengers outraged by missing feature

PLANE seats don’t always have a window next to them, and the reason behind it has now been revealed.

Not all plane seats have windows and the reason has now been revealed

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Plane travel can be a stressful experience when it comes to a long journey.

From long delays to numerous check in processes, it can make a journey tiresome before even boarding the plane.

However, trying to choose the perfect seat when entering the aircraft can be made even trickier when not all of the seats have windows.

Passengers have recently vented their outrage over not having a window next to their seat during a flight.

The hashtag #wheresmywindow has quickly gone viral on social media as travellers question the motive for the move.

It has now been revealed as to why that is, for a surprising reason.

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Airlines will later move the seats tighter and closer together by a few inches

In fact, there are numerous reasons behind the annoying discovery of no window when finding a seat.

The main reason is for profit purposes as airlines can then get more money from fitting more seats in.

Quora forum user John Cheshire, a former fighter pilot, explained: “While aircraft manufacturers will design their aircraft whereby all the seats and windows are well-aligned, airlines will later move the seats tighter and closer together by a few inches, for more revenue per aircraft, squeezing in an extra row of seats.

“This will move most seats away from their designated windows.”

Which Passenger Planes Have The Biggest Windows?

For those that like looking out of the window during a flight, surely bigger is better? But which aircraft offer the largest windows? While the size differences in most cases are minimal, there are a few aircraft that stand out.

The Boeing 787 has the largest windows of any airliner to date. Photo: Getty Images

Boeing 787 – the largest windows in passenger service

One of the facts often quoted about the Boeing 787 is its large and innovative windows. This is not just marketing from Boeing; it does indeed have the largest windows ever seen in a jet aircraft. The 787’s windows are 10.7 x 18.4 inches in size.

How has Boeing managed to increase the window size? The main reason is that the 787 has a composite construction instead of aluminum. This is more resistant to fatigue, and therefore allows larger windows to be installed.

Fatigue is the main reason windows have been kept smaller in the past. The aircraft fuselage is continuously expanding and contracting with changing pressures, and, over time, this can lead to defects. Larger windows would increase this risk but less so with a more fatigue-resistant fuselage.

Boeing 787 windows. Photo: Getty Images

As anyone who has flown on the 787 will know, the windows also feature smart glass shades. These allow the passenger or the cabin crew to control shading and visibility, offering many more options for changing light than open or closed plastic shades. This is hopefully something we will see more of in the future.

Boeing 777 – bigger windows than the 747

The next largest windows belong to the Boeing 777. These measure 10 by 15 inches. These same windows are also used on the Boeing 767-400 and the main deck windows of the 747-800.

These are much larger than the windows on the 747-400 (and earlier). These were based on designs and fuselage layout seen on the Boeing 707 (and also the 727 and 737). The standard size of these is 9 by 12.5 inches.

The 777 has the largest windows in the Boeing fleet, after the 787. Photo: Tom Boon – Simple Flying

Airbus – generally smaller windows than Boeing

On most of its aircraft, Airbus windows are generally smaller than those offered by Boeing. The exception is the Airbus A220. It offers extra-large windows measuring 11 by 16 inches (according to Airbus).

This aircraft, of course, was designed by Bombardier Aerospace as the Bombardier C Series, before being sold to Airbus.

The A220 (formerly Bombardier C series) has the largest windows of all Airbus aircraft. Photo: Getty Images

Of the other Airbus aircraft, the A350 has the largest windows at 13.5 by 9.5 inches, followed by the A330 and A340 sharing the same window design of 12.3 by 9 inches.

Interestingly, the windows on the A380 seem larger than they are. This is due to the thickness of the cabin walls and the large frame that surrounds a smaller window – a subtle effect, but it doesn’t make the window any larger!

Boeing Business Jets – larger windows coming for corporate aircraft

The prize for the largest windows in the air goes to Boeing and the Skyview Panoramic window. This is a massive panoramic window, measuring 4.5 feet by 1.5 feet, developed by aerospace firm Fokker Technologies.

Boeing will make these available on corporate aircraft only, however, through their Boeing Business Jet offering. These are modified aircraft for the corporate jet market, based on the Boeing 737 family, and will include Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) based on the 737-700, BBJ2 (based on the 737-800) and BBJ MAX (based on the 737 MAX 8 and MAX 9) aircraft.

Design for the Boeing Skyview Panoramic window. Image: Boeing

Designing such a window has taken some time, and according to reporting in The Telegraph, has taken many years to get FAA and EASA approval. The window can be installed in several specified locations aft of the wings. It was only launched in 2018, and it remains to be seen what the uptake will be.

Will we ever see no windows on a passenger aircraft?

Whilst passengers like, and are used to, windows on aircraft, they remain a point of weakness in fuselage construction. Removing them would save money, both in maintenance and aircraft operation. But would passengers be able to cope with it?

We are likely some time away from seeing this in practice, but Emirates at least has started to experiment with the possibility of a windowless cabin. It has developed a first class suite with virtual windows, and have begun to look at expanding this concept.

Emirates’ first class suite, using virtual windows on the Boeing 777, brings a window to the middle suites. Photo: Emirates

In reporting by the BBC, Emirates president Sir Tim Clark explained:

“Imagine now a fuselage as you’re boarding with no windows, but when you get inside, there are windows. Now you have one fuselage which has no structural weaknesses because of windows. The aircraft are lighter; the aircraft could fly faster, they’ll burn far less fuel and fly higher.”

There are many things to overcome before this is made a reality. Safety is one (having vision outside the aircraft is vital in emergencies or evacuations). Passenger anxiety and claustrophobia are others. But it is nevertheless an exciting development, alongside the push to make windows bigger!

And if you just find aircraft windows too dull and repetitive, take a look at this article we wrote covering a company that offers stained glass conversions for the many aircraft windows.

It’s hard to find accurate sizes and details of all aircraft windows, so do let us know in the comments if you know of any other aircraft with larger sized windows – especially older or less conventional models.

Emirates looks to windowless planes

Emirates Airline has unveiled a new first class suite on board its latest aircraft that features virtual windows.

Instead of being able to see directly outside, passengers view images projected in from outside the aircraft using fibre-optic cameras.

The airline says it paves the way for removing all windows from future planes, making them lighter and faster.

Emirates president Sir Tim Clark said the images were «so good, it’s better than with the natural eye».

The virtual windows can be found in the first class cabin of Emirates’ newest Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.

Sir Tim told the BBC that the ultimate aim was to have planes with no windows at all.

«Imagine now a fuselage as you’re boarding with no windows, but when you get inside, there are windows,» he said.

«Now you have one fuselage which has no structural weaknesses because of windows. The aircraft are lighter, the aircraft could fly faster, they’ll burn far less fuel and fly higher.»

Safety concerns

Cabin crew need to be able to see outside the aircraft if there is an emergency, aviation safety expert Professor Graham Braithwaite of Cranfield University said.

«Being able to see outside the aircraft in an emergency is important, especially if an emergency evacuation has to take place,» he said.

«Flight attendants would need to check outside the aircraft in an emergency, for example for fire, before opening a door and commencing an evacuation — and anything that needed power to do this may not be easy to get certified by an aviation safety regulator,» he added.

However, aviation regulator the European Aviation Safety Agency said: «We do not see any specific challenge that could not be overcome to ensure a level of safety equivalent to the one of an aircraft fitted with cabin windows.»

Prof Braithwaite said the main obstacle in a windowless aircraft would be passenger perceptions of the technology.

«An aircraft could be very claustrophobic and for many, air travel is anxiety inducing already.

«The refresh rate of screen technology may also have some undesirable side effects — will they flicker? What is the lag? How will it affect someone on a long haul flight?» he asked.

‘No substitute’

Aviation expert John Strickland said having no windows would make aircraft more structurally sound. The move could also improve fuel efficiency if the fuselage were lighter than the windows it replaced.

«Everything that reduces weight on an aircraft is going to reduce fuel burn,» he said.

However, he personally liked to be able to see out of a plane: «I’m a bit of a window obsessive. For me, artificial windows would be no substitute.»

Could You Imagine Flying On An Airplane With No Windows?

For some time now, the aviation industry has been seeking alternatives to cut aircraft fuel consumption. In order to do so, aircraft weight would need to be reduced. The weight reduction would cut fuel consumption and in turn, decrease the cost of fares. According to the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), for every 1% reduction in the weight of an aircraft, there’s a 0.75% saving in fuel.

While staying on task, UK developers are looking to remove windows in planes — which would reduce pressure and usage of fuselages — replacing them with smartscreen panels. As per The Guardian, [the CPI] imagines how large, hi-definition, ultra thin and lightweight displays could form the inside of the fuselage, displaying images of the exterior from cameras mounted on the plane’s exterior.

This would give passengers the option of actually viewing the outside of the aircraft from inside, but with the use of cameras — like a live-action Google Earth. In addition to using the hi-definition screen to view the exterior, passengers could also view their email and surf the web.

“We had been speaking to people in aerospace and we understood that there was this need to take weight out of aircraft,” said Dr. Jon Helliwell of the CPI. “By putting windows into a plane, the fuselage needed to be strengthened. And by omitting them in favour of walls of screens on panels, the fuselage would be lighter.”

We decided to ask our Instagram followers if they’d feel comfortable flying in a plane with virtually no windows. The majority replied no.

To some, the thought doesn’t make sense. But to all future flyers, it saves cents; money. “Follow the logical thought through. Let’s take all the windows out – that’s what they do in cargo aircraft – what are the passengers going to do? If you think about it, it’s only really the people that are sitting next to windows that will suffer,” added Helliwell. “So you could have a display next to a seat if you wanted it; you could have a blank area next to a seat if you wanted it; you would have complete flexibility as to where you put [the panel screens]. You could put screens on the back of the seats in the middle and link them to the same cameras.”

Check us out on Twitter and Instagram and tell us what you think!

– Jamaal Fisher (@jamaalfisher)

Why you should never lean on a plane window, according to flight attendants

THE window seat of a plane is the most popular with passengers wanting to get a kip during the flight.

However, a flight attendant has warned you should never lean on the plane window, for a rather disgusting reason.

Cabin crew member Linda Ferguson, who worked on airlines for 24 years, said it was the dirtiest part of the plane as passengers regularly cough and sneeze against the surface.

Also touching it with dirty hands or their dirty hair, it isn’t advised to lean against it unless you clean it thoroughly.

She told Readers Digest: «I see plenty of people carry Lysol wipes with them that will wipe the area around their seat.

“If there was a backlight and they could light up a plane with all the germs, I think it would petrify everybody.

“My rule of thumb, and I never get sick, is I never put my hands in my mouth or near my face.»

If you do want to sleep on the plane, it is best to use antibacterial spray or wipes on parts you will touch, including the window, and to be regularly washing your hands.

It also isn’t the only offender on the plane — tray tables are often cited as one of the dirtiest places as they rarely get cleaned between flights.

Not only do people eat on them, but some passengers have even been caught using them as changing tables for their babies, or putting their bare feet on them.

A former flight attendant warned on Reddit: «If you’re flying short haul, definitely bring antibac wipes or sanitiser.

“A lot of airlines will have the crew ‘turnaround’ the plane, meaning they pick up your rubbish, fold your seatbelt over, file your magazines in the seat pocket and then welcome new passengers.

“I have lost count of the amount of times I have had to tell people how disgusting it is to change their baby on the tray table or in a seat.”

Other parts of the plane to clean include the seatbelt, while using the seat pocket in front is advised against as well.

One cabin crew member said they found everything in the pockets including «Dirty tissues, sick bags, knickers, socks, finger and toe nails, gum [and] half sucked sweets».