business class 737
 

Hi - is there a way to tell in advance if your 737 flight has new business class cabin.

I have noticed on 2 upcoming seat map flights for Dec it shows the premium cabin as 2 x 2 rather than 3 x 3 (with the middle seat marked n/a). If it shows 2x2 does this mean the bird is fitted with new business class seating?

There's a whole thread on this on AFF. Up until about a month ago the was a relatively simple and reliable method; however in recent times it's become a bit less precise, mainly due to the semi refitted DJ aircraft out there (i.e. On the front cabin has been upgraded).

See here: How to tell if you are on an aircraft with the new cabin...

It seems with a mix of old (PE), refitted and BSI the presence of a Left/port/ABC side bulkhead in front of row 1A/B/C indicates the new Business seating rather than PE. The BSI aircraft do not generally have the N/A in the B/E columns, just a 'blank' space.

"Old" PE seating:

http://www.footy.org.au/IMAGES/VA_OldPE.JPG

"New" Business Seating:

http://www.footy.org.au/IMAGES/VA_Refit.JPG OR http://www.footy.org.au/IMAGES/VA_BSI.JPG

unless you join that site, you cannot view the images...

We all need to make this forum the first stop for info on Velocity instead of people always referring back to other sites

Serfty is correct with that info...are you able to post the images on here? They are not showing up

It would help if FT would fix their galleries and allow image uploads to be successful. I have fixed the links. I'll continue to refer to both sites as appropriate.

Great, can see the pics now. Many thanks Serfty!

The last 3 flights I have asked check in or Lounge if the plane is a new or old config.

EACH time they ummed and aaahed and said it really is not shown to them. It 2 or the 3 cases there were 2 staffers playing around the screen to check.

The last flight a week ADL-SYD back the girl wrestled with it and said "YES - it is the new config."

Very nice as we had been ungraded.

You guessed it - OLD config once we boarded.

So if staff are unsure, it seems very hit and miss.

From my limited experience DJ seem to swap aircraft fairly frequently so I don't get too excited until I am on board. However in "Premium" there is little difference IMHO between new and old from a practical perspective and I am happy with either. At least old has IFE.

This is not a criticism but a personal value that I have found both new and old to be fine for short haul flying. I would avoid both for anything trans-con however or international.