You would be forgiven for thinking there is no worst feature of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Everyone lavishes praise on the aircraft for all the wonderful things it has. Larger windows, fuel efficient design, all electric architecture, a lower cabin altitude and a heads up display for the pilots.
For years it was trumpeted as the aircraft that could do everything but read. However, there is an insidious feature of the Boeing 787, one people expect to love which actually the worst and a complete and utter annoyance.
A Little About Those Windows
On the surface, it seems the windows should be a passenger pleasing feature. They are the largest on any aircraft and they go from transparent to opaque electrically meaning no more blinds. Perfect!
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- 787 windows on LATAM
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- Here again on British Airways
While passengers have control of their individual windows, there is a cabin crew override. The crew can select to dim the windows or otherwise whenever they want to. Probably a good thing for those flights where people want to sleep, right?
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- Spot the windows dimmed
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- A few more here
No more having that one person with their blinds wide open in a cabin where everyone is trying to sleep, flooding the cabin with light. While it all sounds great, it is actually the worst thing ever.
Worst Features Of Those Windows
There are two terrible things about the windows. First, they are too high. It’s nice to look at the sky, but really a person would rather see what is going on below. Perhaps it is because I am not tall, but I find them far too high for comfort. Second, this happens.
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- It’s about 9am here
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- My neon breakfast on LATAM
During flight when it is daytime and the crew decide they want everyone to sleep, midnight blue is the tint and it makes everything blue. Apart from making taking pictures a total bitch, everything outside is also blue. It is just annoying and I love the colour blue so I’d be all for it otherwise.
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- Fogged up completely
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- There’s an airport out there
One other thing which may or may not be related is the fact that the windows seem to fog up after being dark the whole flight. This means while there is plenty of light being let in, you still can’t see out. It goes against the whole point of larger windows in my mind.
Overall Thoughts
Don’t get me wrong, I love the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and all its technical brilliance. It provides a good ride, is efficient and advanced but the windows have let it down on each flight I have been on. This means that despite my wanting to love the aircraft, I’m not really all that fussed and prefer the Airbus A350 with its normal windows.
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Featured image by BriYYZ from Toronto, Canada via Wikimedia Commons
I flew UA from Singapore to San Francisco last year. I paid extra to select a seat, and since I enjoy looking out of the window as we fly, I always select a window seat. As soon as we had taken off, we were swerved a snack, then at 10:in the morning, they dimmed the cabin lights and darkened the windows. As passenger, I had no control. At 10 in the (Singapore) morning, it became night, and we were all supposed to go back to sleep! Who’s dumb idea was that? Because I had paid extra to select my window… Read more »
From what I can understand, the reason is to make it easier to see the screens and watch movies – like in a cinema. I still don’t like it though. It happened to me on one LATAM flight, but when I took the same sector later in the year, we had control of the windows ourselves. I guess it comes down to the crew or the airline’s standard operating procedures. I hear what you’re saying, on a day flight it’s definitely a bit much to have them darkened. Thanks for the comment!
I would say the worst feature of the 787 is the narrow fuselage, which makes the 3-3-3 in economy very tight for long-haul flights.
Someone else said exactly the same thing to me regarding this post. I really need to try it in economy because I’ve heard more than one person say that. Thanks for the comment!
I flew it LAX-NRT and back on United when they first started flying the Dreamliner. I think the 787 is a great plane, but the economy seat felt a bit tight when comparing it to the 3-3-3 777s that I’d been regularly flying. It would be great to see you write a trip review of a 787 economy. Most blogs tend to write reviews on business and first class long hauls, but not very often long haul economy class. So if you try out the 787 3-3-3 economy, please write a trip review. Thanks!
I generally write on any class that I fly, so when I try the 787 with 3-3-3 economy, I will be writing a review of it for sure. It’s why I have written about premium economy as well as budget airlines like Ryanair and economy class on Qantas, British Airways and Aer Lingus. Keep an eye out, I might have to deliberately try to get a 3-3-3 economy just to write about it. Thanks for the comment!
JAL has 2-4-2 creating an almost 19″ wide seat with 34″ pitch. Tough to beat that in Economy, especially when paired with their amazing service
I will need to try that sometime – I’ve not had the pleasure of JAL yet! Thanks for the comment!
Again, the worst of all for me!
I flew a night flight with QR, and the seat is really uncomfortable in Economy. I think it’s 17″, compared to Airbus standard 18″. It does make a huge difference…
Now, whenever I fly Dreamliner, I’m dreading it. Not excited at all. The A350 is a lot better, I have to say.
The distance is not Boeing or Airbus designed, it is the costumer design.t
Exactly, the seating configuration is down to the airline. A very good point! Thanks for the comment!
It is a shame that they try to squeeze so many people in, but it all comes down to economics. People always want cheap fares and airlines are trying to make money so I guess if they can do this, they will – and have. Any extra space makes a big difference – I guess it is why Premium Economy is so successful. More space without an eye watering price. Thanks for the comment!
I can’t even begin to tell you how much how hate the fact that flight crews have decided it is perfectly fine to force us to live in some weird semi twilight dusky blue dark room for 10 hours DURING THE DAY by using the shade override. This was on a flight from Europe to US when we are supposed to be getting back into our own time zone. It also triggers panic attacks for those with claustrophobia (me) to have darkness and the inability to look out the window forced on us for hours on end when our subconscious… Read more »
Yes, I’ve had a couple of times on day flights where they’ve had the windows set to dark for most of the flight, which is just weird. I don’t understand the point of it – they really should leave it in control of the passengers.
I recently flew on the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner of Virgin Atlantic, the flight was amazing. The 787 is truly a magnificent aircraft, and the size of those windows is any avgeek’s delight (such as myself). However, upon landing on both my first and return flight, the windows fogged up to the point at which I could not discern objects beyond the wing. I particularly like taking videos of the takeoff and landing segments of the flight, unfortunately, the fogging of the window really degrades the quality of the views on descent and final approach. Maybe this has something to do… Read more »
Yes, it is something I’ve only experienced on the Boeing 787 as well. It has to be the difference in temperature of the aircraft versus outside, perhaps the humidity but I agree – the time to see out is often during take-off and landing, so fogging windows during this phase of flight is no good. Glad you enjoyed your flight with Virgin Atlantic though, so there’s that! Appreciate you sharing your experience there.
Wow! Thanks for your prompt reply. Yes, I must admit it was disheartening to miss most of the scenery (in particularity). However, the 787 is still a remarkable aircraft in my opinion (especially that wing).
I certainly agree that it is definitely a remarkable aircraft! I always enjoy flying on board a 787, though the windows are irritating.
Actually one of the most annoying things about those windows is that when they’re opaque and you’d like to sleep, there’s a likely unanticipated problem. I refer to the fact that the windows then act as mirrors thus reflecting the flickering light from your neighbors’s IFE! Even
With eye masks you still get that annoying flickering. This does not occur with the pull down shades. Otherwise I love the 787.
Thanks for pointing that out! I’ll make sure to check that the next time I’m flying on the Boeing 787. I can imagine how that flickering would stop you from being able to sleep. Thanks for the comment!
I recently flew from Singapore to Auckland in the truly awful economy section. The accommodations are extremely tight, there is not enough room on the tray table for a tray and a drink. I note the 777’s have a drop down cup holder that is not present on the dreamliner. The toilets are much smaller than on other aircraft. One would have thought that after the big fanfare when dreamliners came into service that they would be something special. In my opinion they are inferior in terms of space and comfort.
That’s the thing, the cabins are designed by the airlines. It was intended they be eight across in economy class and instead every airline except one has made it nine across. The cup holder would also be specific to the seat and airline, so whoever you were flying decided to omit that on the new aircraft. I know what you mean though, all the little things add up. Thanks for the comment!
I have not fly on one yet but thanx guys to point it out
You can see for yourself when you do. Thanks for the comment!
One other point on those windows… they get REALLY REALLY hot if you happen to be on the sunny side of the plane. BOS-NRT recently had me burning up on just one side of my face. Fortunately JAL was prepared with these blackout pads that blocked the heat and residual rays of face-melting magma. As always, leave it to the Japanese to engineer a clever solution and execute it with amazing service. I didn’t notice it the first 2 or 3 hours but after 4+ the windows got incredibly hot as my side of the plane faced the sun for… Read more »
Funny, I was about to write about the same thing. I recently was in a flight and we had to spend a very long time in the aircraft prior to takeoff. Problem is that I was on the sunny side as well, and it’s impossible to dim the window during all that time, since the crew override was on… Had it been a normal window, I would have been able to push the blind down and then back up once the door was closed. One of those features that looks cool at first, but is worse for the passenger. I… Read more »
I’ll be interested to experience this myself when I am next on the 787. It sounds pretty annoying to be fair! I wouldn’t love it – no-one likes being forced to sit in the hot sun with no way to get around it. Interesting!
I wasn’t aware of this at all. How do these blackout pads work? Like how do they attach to the windows? That’s interesting – it must have been an issue for them to go to the trouble of doing that. Sounds like some trial – it would be so uncomfortable being so hot on one side for so long!
They are kind of rubbery, best way to describe their feel is like the underside of a mousepad. Not sticky, but definitely non-slip. It’s cut in the window oval shape and just adheres to the window. It worked A LOT better than my jerry-rigged flight safety card tucked in the corners trying to keep the heat off me.
That’s pretty cool, thanks for the description. I’ll have to keep a look out for these myself!