I'm on a Airbus A320 anyone have any idea what the black part on the back of the passager seat is used for?
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8$\begingroup$ I’m not entirely certain and don’t have time to write a complete answer but I suspect that it may be a card reader for in-flight purchases. $\endgroup$– dalearnDec 25, 2019 at 12:50
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That’s a credit card reader so a passenger can purchase either premium food products or spirits or inflight entertainment items.
answered Dec 25, 2019 at 14:31
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$\begingroup$ In an A320? Wow. I wouldn't expect such a thing in an aircraft that isn't usually used for long-haul connections. If I didn't know that Ryanair only uses B737's I'd bet this was another "invention" of Mr. O'Leary. $\endgroup$– PerlDuckDec 25, 2019 at 15:38
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2$\begingroup$ Yeah, it looks to be a bog standard magstripe reader, no different than the ones that are commonly used for magstripe access cards, library cards, etc on terra firma $\endgroup$ Dec 25, 2019 at 15:42
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$\begingroup$ Virgin America used to have a similar system (the card reader is harder to see, at the bottom), but Alaska removed it when they bought the airline. Remember that A320 flights can be up to ~7 hours long, so there's demand for entertainment options, though airlines are largely moving to streaming to customer-provided devices now. $\endgroup$ Dec 25, 2019 at 18:14
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$\begingroup$ The card reader looks pretty useless if no display is installed. $\endgroup$– boglDec 28, 2019 at 17:31
