If you tend to need a long time in the bathroom on planes, things are about to get a little awkward for you with the next generation of Airbus aircrafts able to track how long you’ve been in the loo.
According to reports in Bloomberg it forms part of a master plan to make commercial cabins a “digitally aware domain”.
The “Airbus Connected Experience” will give flight attendants more detailed information about the cabin (yep, like who is hogging the toilets).
There will also be sensors to alert to things like bathroom soap and toilet paper running low. Passenger’s belts will also signal red for unbuckled and green when fastened.
It’s all in a bid to achieve efficiency, i.e faster boarding and departure.
Airbus also is also planning to add cameras to the outside of the bathrooms to establish how many passengers are waiting to use the toilet… forming data on the length of wait times on various flights, and on different aircraft types.
The system will also know which overhead bin spaces still have room for luggage and which ones don’t (indicated with red and green lights).
Airbus has confirmed that they have begun flight testing the connected cabin on their A350 test aircraft and plan to introduce the smart cabin on the A321 family in 2021.
Airbus shared the news on their website, saying that the “Airspace Connected Experience will usher in a new personalised experience for passengers and provide opportunities for improving airlines’ ancillary revenues and operational efficiencies”.
