A unique plane feature has sparked a colorful discussion among users on Reddit, where a photo of it was shared in a viral post.
Reddit user Gone_Mads shared an image of a plane interior in a post with a title saying “This aircraft has a window in the bathroom.” The post has had 11,000 upvotes since it was shared.
The image shows what appears to be a plane bathroom featuring a window just to the right of the toilet seat.
Kyle Koukol, a 29-year-old airline pilot based in San Francisco and founder of the Dial A Pilot service, told Newsweek that the unique design is “a great new feature in a more modern aircraft. In the U.S., Delta Air Lines has that set up on their Airbus A220 fleet. The aircraft is used in smaller markets as it only seats about 130 passengers. As far as I know, that is the only U.S. airline with that set up.”
The latest plane bathroom feature was unveiled back in October 2018. Asked how the idea to install a window in the bathroom was born, Delta CEO Ed Bastian told reporters at the time, “The engineer said there was an opportunity to put it in and we said, ‘Go for it,'” Forbes reported.
According to Airbus, Delta was the first U.S. airline to operate the A220 aircraft, with the delivery of its first in October 2018. It currently operates 61 A220s and is “the largest A220 customer and operator in the world.”
In July this year, Airbus announced that Delta had put in an order for 12 additional A220-300 aircraft, bringing its total firm order for A220s to 131. This includes 45 A220-100 planes and 86 A220-300 aircraft.
Koukol, who serves as a pilot on a Boeing 737 aircraft for a commercial airline, explained that according to data compiled by Statista, the global research firm, there were around 5,791 commercial planes in service in the U.S. in 2021.
Since Delta operates 61 A220 aircraft, “that would mean only 1 percent of the entire U.S. fleet has a window in the bathroom,” the pilot noted.
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‘Legit Fear’
The aircraft bathroom design has had a mixed response among users on Reddit.
Some were nervous about the feature, such as VariousGuest1980, who wrote: “I have a legit fear [when] flushing airplane toilets that I’m gonna get suctioned out of the plane. lol. This would not help assuage that fear.”
Kingcory86 simply said: “Ahhh, anxiety.”
Others were less bothered and praised the bathroom feature.
KRCManBoi wrote: “This would freak me out less.”
Dick_Hittswater said “Now that’s luxury,” and Byedon110320 added, “Now that’s my kind of window seat!”
Spud9090 simply wrote “Nice!” and Big_Schwartz_Energy agreed, saying, “I love that honestly.”
The-Ultimate-Banker noted: “All bathrooms need a window. Crack it open when it gets too stinky.”
Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via the Reddit messaging system.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.