What's with the foam packing on the A330Neos?
 

Flew one of the A330Neos last night in business, 5K. I found the new seat acceptable and comfortable though did not try the full bed as it was a daytime flight, I wasn't tired enough to sleep and not curious enough just to check it out. Though I did find a lack of storage, particularly a place to stow newspapers and magazines (the space in the rear seat side cabinet only holds TAP's inflight magazine, safety card and barf bag).

However, the point of this thread is to answer the mystery of the [supposedly] packing foam between seat pods and the fuselage. If this is meant to be insulation of sort, permanent to overcome some design deficiency, why are they not covered in some vinyl or leather instead of appearing so bare?


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...bc1459b793.jpg
This is behind the last pod and the rear cabin wall.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...61c07969c0.jpg
Between the pod and the fuselage wall.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...0a49892a9.jpeg
Arm rest and fuselage wall.

I have a guess, and it's only a guess. There is also a space between the arm rest and fuselage on American's A330's which I have flown.

On one occasion a passenger dropped his credit cards and phone down there before we left the gate. Once they are dropped down there it is nearly impossible to reach them. Maintenance had to be called and they had all sorts of tools and still had a hard time retrieving them. I then heard the purser ask the pilot if he wanted to take a delay. Moments after she said those words the maintenance worker miraculously fished out the items.

So my guess is that the foam is there to make sure no one can drop their items down the side and lose them!

Hadn't heard that one, though a friend yesterday mentioned he thought this was to secure the pods more firmly to prevent them from shaking. He claims this has been an issue on A330s and these new types of pods.

Are these just around the window seats? Do they have any around the middle? Or is it just the window seats that shake?

The middle seats are single unit pairs so nothing between the two seating sections and I did not notice the foam behind the last bank as I saw on the side seat units (the first photo).

That makes a lot of sense. With all the concern about the fire hazard of batteries in smart devices, the foam sounds like a good compromise.

This is my guess. Without the foam to add stability the seat could become loose after a while. in your second picture the 2 pieces of foam are not continuous near the wall, so I guess that primary intent was not to CC/phone/object proof the gap (it's just a side benefit where it exists)