Airbus A380 family

[Archibald]

The fatal design choice was in not designing a BWB.

I see your technical point, but I disagree on other grounds. Long story short: airports already balked at adapting to the A380, although Airbus had wisely stuck with "reasonable" dimensions (a square 80 m x 80 m, no bigger).
Adapting to a BWB specifics would have been far more difficult. Airbus has to listen to airlines requirements, otherwise their big plane would not sell. And the A380 already sold much less than what they initially hoped.
Also the issues of windows and evacuations. Airports, airlines, FAA / EASA are pretty conservative for safety sake, that's why the "cylinder with wings" is still there - even if BWB is technically superior on many points.

 

[NMaude]

A pressurised cabin for a BWB would be both complex and expensive to build compared to a normal cylinder type pressure cabin.

 

[SK2]

And also the issue of passenger comfort in terms of natural light (the lack of), which will be much more noticeable than traditional design.

Airbus made various design efforts, as well as trying to cooperate with Boeing on the new giant, however the finalization of design was too late and there were too many delays for the birth of A380. Had it been exist 5 to 10 years earlier, things will be much more different.

 

[NMaude]

Had it been exist 5 to 10 years earlier, things will be much more different.

If the project had been formally initiated in 1995 instead of 2000 it likely would've had a different outcome especially if two years of development work was done before the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

 

[martinbayer]

The impact of aircraft rolling motion on passengers located in the wings away from the center-line is another potential issue.

 

[NMaude]

Where the BWB might be a good design for isn't carrying passengers but airfreight instead.