Wearable tech is the "IT" thing for airline passenger experience these days, but what about edible tech? One airline is taking steps to offer a "digital pill" that would give cabin crew members insight into how you're feeling during your flight.
British Airways has submitted a patent application for a "system and method for controlling the travel environment for a passenger" - including a digital pill that would be swallowed by passengers during the flight. Upon reacting with stomach acid, the pill is activated. The patent application says BA's wellness system could indicate when the passenger is awake, asleep, hungry, nervous, hot, cold or uncomfortable. Giving a passenger more insight into his or her overall health throughout the flight can also help reduce the effects of jetlag. The aim is to create a "timeline for the passenger's optimal wellness."
The wellness system would also likely include some sort of wearable device such as a bracelet. This is where the motion tracking would be captured and transmitted from. The wearable device could also receive information from the pill, and encourage you to have a drink of water, or stretch your legs. Long flights have been known to cause blood flow issues for some passengers. The airline could also choose to install cameras above the seats, but that would possibly raise red flags among privacy advocates.
The pill would obviously be optional for passengers, but the benefit would be to help flight attendants become more in tune with passengers' needs throughout the duration of the flight. Passengers on long flights often find themselves ignored for the several hours after meal service until the next service, and information from the pill could potentially help prompt more intuitive service.
In 2014, BA experimented with "Happiness Blankets" attached to headbands that measured passengers' brain waves, letting cabin crew know if they were relaxed and happy. The blankets changed colors, depending on their mood. But this system would obviously take things to a different, more intrusive level.
A BA spokeswoman said: "We are always looking to deliver new innovations for our customers, whether it be in design or digital transformation. As such, we develop many ideas and submit many patents." In the past, BA has been on the leading edge of passenger experience trends, such as being the first airline to introduce lie-flat seats.
An airline could never make you swallow a digital device, or anything else for that matter, but similar pills are already being used in the medical field, so this is just an evolution of that technology. I'm hesitant to predict that we'll ever see this in broad use on BA or other airlines. After all, these things cost money, and many airlines are still pinching pennies wisely. That being said, I'd love to participate in the live field testing, to see how they can actually change or improve the flying experience.
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