anandrag

Is there a post or even web site that compares J class for the ST members? I am travelling to India in Feb and deciding how to do that. Options of CO (till CDG), AZ, AF, KL, DL and even KE via ICN.

Insights would be great.

pbarnette

Wish I could offer more help, but thought I would try to give you a bump anyway. In my limited experience, I think the new NWA seats are really great; the AVOD is nice; and the service has been generally good. My wife and I both prefer it to BA. Unfortunately, the big leg will be on KLM, and I can't offer any insight into their WBC product. One big plus would be that the connection would be through AMS, which beats the hell out of CDG. I'm sure you have checked out the sites, but in case you haven't try:

http://www.seatguru.com
http://www.seatexpert.com
http://www.flatseats.com/

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

sbm12

CO flies EWR-DEL non-stop, and their BF seat isn't bad. AF's NTC J is pretty nice as well. The big difference between the two is that CO has la-z-boy style seating and AF has lie flat at an angle. I slid on my AF flights. It wasn't terrible for CDG-EWR, as I wanted to be awake most of the time anyways, but BKK-CDG was a little harder. I'm not sure which a/c AZ operates on that route, but their 767s are pretty bad in J. DL flies JFK-BOM n/s on their 777 as well, and folks seem to like the BizElite cabin.

AF has AVOD on their NTC J; CO has personal screen with a loop of movies; AZ has a shared TV in the front of the cabin (on the 767). I believe DL has AVOD.

Depending on where you're going and where you're coming from the connections issue may also play in to it. If you're headed to BOM/DEL you have some n/s options for the US. If you're heading to other cities there are some n/s flights from AMS/CDG. I don't know what your preference is for connecting in Europe versus the non-stop. I don't mind the n/s, even in Y, so I usually put my long flight there and connect once I get close to where I'm trying to be.

diamedic

Just to compare two - AF and DL:
1) The AVOD is up in the air for DL depending on which aircraft you get, and whether it has been redone or not. If you get a new DL AVOD bird, it beats AF.
2) I would argue that both the food and the service on DL are better - most people would disagree with me on the food point, but with the service, I only see AF attendants standing around and looking pretty.
3) The seats depend on what you like. I can't stand the angled flat seat - I slide off of it. The cradle DL seat I find to be very comfortable, especially on the redone birds.

PMMMDL

If you are paying for a J class ticket, then I would fly the non-stop on either CO or DL without a doubt. Much better than connecting in Europe.

If you are going to try to get award seats, then you will find them difficult to come by and should take anything you can find. (BTW, KE has the new "pod" style business seats that are quire nice).

alanw

The CO seats, even the older ones, are vastly better than the miserable Tilt-A-Gurney™ "seats" on NW and KL. AF is only slightly better but the nightmare of bus rides from BFE, stairs, missed connections, hostile staff, and long walks at CDG offset that difference. My experience has been limited to the 767 on DL but I found the seats far too narrow (they're going 2x2x2 where most carriers do 2x1x2) to be a true business class.

Take CO if you can.

anandrag

How does CO compare with KE's new J class seats?

PMMMDL

KE's new business class has nice lie flat pods with AVOD. Out of the choices, I would go with KE as long as the flight has the new seats.