The A350's electronic windows (for me) are also a fail

I've never been a fan of electronic windows on board of the Dreamliner and was waiting to try the new version aboard the (Few) A350s in service with this tencology.

In fact, the Boeing 787s were the first to install this technology on board, and to date all planes of this model that have come off the American giant's assembly lines have this technology.

Those who travel little, or with ITA Airways/Alitalia, may never have encountered this tecnlogy since Dreamliners have never entered the fleet with Alitalia and ITA Airways' current fleet consists of only Airbus-made aircraft. ITA also has A350/900s in its fleet, but since they are KM0s and not aircraft built new from scratch, they had not yet been affected by the product update.

The first company to receive an A350 with this technology had been Starlux Asian carrier that still does not fly to Europe, only to the U.S. on long-haul.

In recent days I went up to aboard one of Air France's few A350s equipped with this technology, also affecting the installation of this technology on board the Airbus fleet is the long-standing issue of chip shortage, in fact in some cases Airbus and the French carrier have opted to install this innovation only in business class cabins, while in the rest of the aircraft there is still the old curtain.

Compared with the 787 version, there is no physical button, but a touch interface that allows the passenger to choose how much to darken the windows. The point is that even at maximum you will never have the total darkness guaranteed by the old (and analog) curtain. What I have noticed is definitely a higher speed among these A350s and those on the 787 and a greater reduction in light, but not complete darkness.

This is the beam of light I had in my seat during the flight from Paris to Chicago, with the sun on my side of the plane, with the window blacked out to the maximum. Of course the photo makes everything look much brighter than the live perception with the human eye, but it is still a situation that might disturb those who have difficulty sleeping in this condition.

Here is another example of two setups, the first porthole looks obscured at 100%, but it is only a photographic illusion since it is exactly in the mode photographed in the two photos above.

Of course for companies, this technology means less weight on board, so less pollution, and certainly They make life easier for the crew which can then manage the brightness on board at will in one click, in some cases even "blocking" the use of the pushbuttons at certain times during the flight. On the flip side, however. neither of these technologies allow the same result as the old curtain, which is total darkness, and for me this is the main flaw even though I understand that on balance it is a great solution for carriers.

• A350