airberlin topbonus - Updated J class in Air Berlin

There was a recent press release with pictures:

http://www.airberlin.com/site/pressreleases_dr.php?LANG=eng&ID=4110

http://pics.airberlin.com/1/webmill.php?id=40&pin=nhahFvC4&t_show=showpin


13.01.2012
airberlin launches new cabins on long-haul flights


The first A330-200 equipped with new seats and in-flight entertainment system

airberlin has launched the first of its long-haul fleet of A330-200s to have been equipped with new seats in Business and Economy Class and a new in-flight entertainment system.

In Business Class, the new fully-automatic seats offer passengers outstanding comfort whether they are sitting or lying down. The new seat reclines 170 degrees, which allows it to be transformed into a comfortable reclining seat 181 cm long and 50 cm wide. In addition, of course, every seat has a connection for a laptop or other electronic device. Following the upgrade, the Business Class cabin has a total of 20 seats.

In Economy Class, new light-weight seats are being fitted. The use of slimmer back rests guarantees maximum leg room and increases the so-called “living space”. Additional amenities such as adjustable headrests, coat hooks and pockets for magazines and books are also included. After the upgrade, the Economy Class cabin has 279 seats in total.

airberlin is also setting a new benchmark in the field of in-flight entertainment. The on-demand audio-video system provides an individualised entertainment programme. Passengers can choose what they prefer from a wide selection of box office hits, TV serials, games, music albums or even audio books. The 8.9 inch high-resolution monitor uses the latest LED technology and is operated via a touchscreen. A USB port for operating small electronic devices, such as an iPhone or Blackberry, is located directly on the monitor.

The upgrade of all airberlin’s long-haul aircraft should be completed by the start of the summer 2012 flight schedule.

Photos of our new cabins and further information about our cabin upgrades are available online at airberlin.com » and facebook.com/airberlin.


Press contact:
Silke Manitz
Press Office airberlin
Phone.: +49 (0)30 3434 1500
Fax: +49 (0)30 3434 1509
E-Mail: silke.manitz@airberlin.com


It is not a lie flat seat, but better until now. Has anybody had any experience flying with the new configuration?

I consider AB Long-haul to Europe as a viable alternative in the summer to avoid LHR during Olympics.

An improvement, but any time I've looked at booking a ticket in J, BA is almost always cheaper than AB from the US, and their J product is vastly superior. I wish they would've opted to include some privacy and a fully lie-flat seat.

Is the new business class flying? Has anyone flown it? Can one tell from seatmaps or some other way whether a particular flight has the new business class? Is the difference worth worrying about?

VF

It's about time for the upgrade that was first announced years ago - I think it was in summer 2008...

But great to see that the upgrade is due now and will be completed in a compareable short timeframe (I know it's an unfair comparison but LH's upgrade will take till 2017 to be completed AFAIK).

Rumours within flyertalk are that the new AB seat is a refurbished ex Swissair seat. Any opinions on that?

Also great to hear that entertainment will be on demand.

I agree this is a long overdue change and I am looking forward to trying it out.

It's pity they didn't choose to include flat-bed. It would be logical given that they don't have first class anyway.

An improvement, but any time I've looked at booking a ticket in J, BA is almost always cheaper than AB from the US, and their J product is vastly superior. I wish they would've opted to include some privacy and a fully lie-flat seat.

Not from YVR.

Had a glipmse on Jan 22nd BKK-TXL, that left me rather unimpressed.

Although I booked 1A, a rather unfriendly fellow was blocking my seat. Not wanting to complain I sat on 1C, next to him.

The "new" seat (refurbished swiss seat) was lacking the lumbar adjustment. (broke) Also the glass of the touchscreen monitor was cracked, that made it impossible to make any selection.

1st row is recomendable as foot rests now dig into front seat, having to climb over sleeping passenger on the aisle row.
Powerplugs are now at height of arm rests, and yeah... they are turnded on initially.

AB is passing out new "full cover" headphones, not any more the ones from Y.

The number of seats in C is reduced by a few seats. The pilots now have separate less fancy seats in the back of the cabin (A/C row). On the "old" C cabin they were just using any available C seats for their rest.

Thinking of AB's new pricing in C, I could have flown on Qatar for 25% less.

*Funny: The crew was trained on new procedures during this flight. So some (high ranked?) AB guy was doing protocoll and talking to flight attendands, keeping them busy most of the time.

There is a new page on the AB website with more discussion of the new J product.

http://www.airberlin.com/site/landingpages/new_business_class.php?LANG=eng

and a video here in English:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oO9nyVlV7Y

and German: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkidAYDc6jI

There are even more videos in German, too!

Installation of the new seats (pretty interesting behind the scenes!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKmcYPLPgTk

New Business Class and Off-Peak BKK-DUS fares up 80% on last year.

Well I just booked a business class ticket SFO-DUS in July (seat 1A), so I will finally get to see the new setup for myself! I have not seen too many reviews of the new product (except bobberle101's review below), probably because it is not completely rolled out yet.

Well I just booked a business class ticket SFO-DUS in July (seat 1A), so I will finally get to see the new setup for myself! I have not seen too many reviews of the new product (except bobberle101's review below), probably because it is not completely rolled out yet.

Last Thursday while passing through JFK Terminal 8, I went to the AB check-in counter and run into a group of plain cloth executives, and chatted a bit.

In summary, the transition to Oneworld won't be that smooth," a work in progress", the implementing of the new J configuration (old-LX) will last through fall and happen rather slowly. In other words, the gist I am getting, AB is far behind in everything. A bit choppy waters ahead.

So I wish you good luck on that trip. Keep us posted. Looks like when booking, it is the luck of the draw whether the aircraft being put in service at time of travel has been reconfigured or not.

I was kind of looking forward to avoid LHR on my German trips in the summer, especially around the Olympics. Wait and see.