Thanks guys

We're looking at flying on a Thursday so things look as good as possible for the new seats on the first leg at least.^

I have to admit I had never really considered business until I got this price from Cathay just over £11,000 for the 7 of us the equivelant route in premium economy we'd be looking at £7,500 so I thought it was definatly worth consideration.

If the night flight london - hong kong leg is in the new long haul flat beds I was hoping the the kids will sleep their usual 12 hours then the second leg would be bearable as chances are we'd all be awake for most of the flight so just the extra room would be great.

As for the level of social interaction allowed by the new herringbone layout, I was thinking if we had the 4 window seats for the kids and the 3 middle row seats "facing" these would suit us perfectly as the kids are young enough that when they wanted to chat they could share a seat, but when they wanted to sleep they would have their own bed.

Any more thoughts?