Originally Posted by
PAXboy
Whilst fortunate to have lungs in good working order - on the 6 sectors I have done on the 787 - I have noticed zero difference in the cabin atmosphere.
At the risk of thread drift…. I’ve been on it for nearly a decade and flew the triple previously. When I joined the 787 fleet I’d heard the stories about better air quality and assumed it was just marketing hype, but from direct experience it’s genuine. On shorter sectors the difference is less noticeable, but on longer ones (e.g. 10 hours plus) it’s significant.
The carbon fuselage permits a higher differential pressure, hence the lower cabin altitude, and unlike the triple, cabin air is not supplied from the engines. The computertronics also regulate recirculated air based on the number of people onboard, and playing with this number can make a very noticeable difference to air quality (think stuffy nose, dry throat, etc). And then there’s my highly scientific bread roll test: they actually remain edible for long enough to eat your meal, whereas on other types within minutes they’re hard enough to be shot out of a cannon.
It all adds up, and getting off after a long sector on the 787, I (and most of my colleagues) generally feel fresher and less tired than if we’d been on a triple.