Automated flight attending involves the use of

automation Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machine ...

to replace some of the tasks, that are currently done by

flight attendant A flight attendant is a member of the aircrew whose primary responsibility is ensure the safety of passengers in the cabin of an aircraft across all stages of flight. Their secondary duty is to see to the comfort of passengers. Flight attenda ...

Examples

Food delivery

In 1965, Martin Limanoff created one of the earliest automated food delivery systems, consisting of a square box that was designed to travel up and down the aisle along a monorail track on the cabin floor. However, it is not known if this was ever used on commercial flights. In 2015, Sell GMBH, a German division of aeroplane equipment company Zodiac Aerospace, filed a patent for a food delivery mechanism that would distribute food using automated conveyor belts, allowing passengers to access their food on demand by pressing buttons on the

in-flight entertainment In-flight entertainment (IFE) refers to entertainment and other value-added services available to aircraft passengers during a flight. Frequently managed by content service providers, the types of in-flight entertainment and their content vary s ...

system, causing the food distributor to rise out of the floor.

Food order

Many

In-flight entertainment In-flight entertainment (IFE) refers to entertainment and other value-added services available to aircraft passengers during a flight. Frequently managed by content service providers, the types of in-flight entertainment and their content vary s ...

systems, such as

Virgin America Virgin America Inc. was a low-cost airline headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Burlingame, California. It primarily focused on operating low-fare, higher-quality service between cities on the West Coast of the United States a ...

's 'Red' playbook and Panasonic Avionics' eX2, allow passengers to order food or drink using the IFE touchscreens. A passenger selects one of the meal options available for purchase, swipes their credit card through the in-seat ordering system, and then a flight attendant brings the meal to their seat.

Drink dispensing

Introduced in 2012, The SkyTender is a robot bartender which can dispense more than 30 different drinks, including soft drinks, coffee, wine, and cocktails, at the touch of a button or two. The SkyTender took its first flight on the German airline, WDL Aviation, going from

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

to Palma, Majorca.

In popular culture

Premiered on May 2, 2015, comedy show

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

featured fictional automated flight attendants on the airline company

References