yerffej201

Any updates? I think LAX will be first route but the big question is when they will get the new bird???

Always Flyin

Interesting article on OZ's growth plans: http://centreforaviation.com/analysi...new-york-89119

A380 will be delivered in Q2 of 2014, so sometime during the period April through June.

First long-haul route will be LAX, second JFK, and final FRA in 2017.

tobegold

ICN-LAX is the first route, replacing 747's, so hopefully after the delivery in Q2 the short haul crew familiarisation flights will be over with by the time of my 747 J award from LAX at the end of September and I will get the A380.

nme7

Tangerine (London-based Design Agency) was retained to provide the layout of the cabin in the new A380s. Their previous designs for BA have won awards for their ingenuity and comfortable designs. Anyone flown BA17/18 to/from LHR and sat in Club World (their Biz class)? I've found them to be wonderful seats for a long flight. I didn't even mind sitting backwards. All seats have aisle access, just like QS. The staggered layout is able to fit biz seats at a 2-4-2 configuration. 75" pitch with a 25" seat width. Quite comparable to QS seats at 75-80" pitch and 21" width meanwhile only have a 1-2-1 layout. Makes you wonder if OZ went this way, they could double the number of biz passengers without sacrificing comfort.

cyanchan15

Would def try ba cw one day!!

sol95

Although I haven't tried the new BA seats, looking at their layout in seatguru (if it's accurate) I do prefer the extra privacy that the 1-2-1 layout affords in OZ. And if OZ go with C in the upper deck, then I think keeping that 1-2-1 layout makes better sense.

Also, nme7, are you sure the BA seat width is 25"? It seems to be listed as 20" in seatguru (although they're not always the most reliable source...)

nme7

Heh I got that info off seatguru 777-300 (4 class). I should have double checked other sources as well. It could indeed be 20 inches.

stargold

I have tried the CW seat and thought very little of it.

- Aisle access from window side involves climbing over the feet of the aisle seat passenger
- Very awkward being face to face with the adjacent seat passenger if not travelling together
- No real storage anywhere to store your personal belongings
- Seats very narrow. Definitely not 25", which would make it F width
- Seat feels very flimsily put together, especially the flip-down legrest
- Very poor IFE compared to QS

Also, they've squeezed too many seats into a very small space and you clearly can feel it. It's a flying dormitory especially on the 777s.

All this before you even approach the subject of the soft product...You do realise it's not actually whole rows of 1-2-1? It's 2-4-2 but offset by half a seat, so any given row contains the forward half of

1x-x11x-x1 and the rear half of
x1-1xx1-1x.

So OZ has maybe 10-15% fewer seats on account of the bigger space per seat, not half.

1kBill

A few clarifications on BA:
Not all BA business seats have unrestricted access. As noted, window/centers PAX must climb over aisle seats. A select few (very few) window seats avoid this.

The awkward face-to-face relationship with your seat mate is only for T/O and landing; there is a dividing screen that can be put up for most of the flight.

There is a small storage bin under the seat divider at your feet. Not huge, but it held my Bose AC's case and a few other small items.

Seats are no more narrow than OZ QS. They are certainly NOT 25"! One or both arm rests can flip up to make the space wider, but still not 25".

I don't think the seats felt flimsy at all. I do find them softer and as a result more comfortable than QS (and, for that matter, more comfortable than just about all Asian carriers' seats.) Much prefer an integrated leg rest rather than that flip down thing, though.

IFE on 747 not the latest, but content much better for western pax than that on OZ, IMHO. I'm guessing that OZ has much more content for non-English speakers, relatively speaking.

All that said, I wouldn't turn down a C seat on either carrier. And I'm looking forward to OZ staring up their 380 service between LAX and ICN.

downinit

Reminds me of the movie, Wall-E (especially now that you can just avoid those few moments of human interaction by hiding behind an iPad, since it no longer need be stowed). The future of humanity seems bleak, indeed. I still say the race between that movie and Idiocracy, regarding the future of humanity, is too close to call.


I will be on the OZ 747 in June, so with my luck, the A380 will be in service the day after I fly. Oh well, the OZ 747 is still much better than my last 747, on Air Pacific (which was also just retired).

yerffej201

how do you know the a380 is already flying in july. it could be delayed?

sol95

OZ scheduling seems to point to this. the 747 servicing one of the ICN-LAX flights disappears around early july and only 1 flight per day is listed, which is highly unlikely to be the actual state of affairs for this very busy route.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/21366839-post5.html

Always Flyin

Don't see why. I am not aware of any construction delays at Airbus so OZ will receive it in the second quarter of 2014. Once they receive it, they are not going to want to just let it sit. They will start flying it as soon as they can.

Always Flyin

I'm still showing both the 744 and the 77L flights from July 1 and through the month and into September.

yerffej201

They might choose to let it fly for a bit for a few months on an intra Asia route. I'm not saying they will, but currently there's nothing pointing to the a380 coming on the lax route in july.