Originally Posted by
randyqx
dunno about flat, but the controls on the new seats are miserable, you choose modes, with no ability to move individual seat components independently. i.e. you can not just move forward if you just want your feet to reach the rests.
and narrow, with a lot of space given to a complex between-seat console for the in-flight entertainment system on which the major comedy is the flight map.
and no lumbar support. and lumpy and quite uncomfortable. i have a bad back, and did us trans-con in classic domestic first last week and felt far better afterward than i did in the new fancy seats in the ride home to narita.
for all the money spent on this, one would think that someone would have had a clue. how embarrassing.
I'm confused by your assertion that you can only choose modes with the new UA business seats. It sounds like you thought you can only choose 'sleeping' and 'sitting' modes with nothing in between. That is not quite right, but it is true that it requires a bit of practice with the various seat buttons to get it to do what you want.
But you can definitely select, for example, just for the foot rest to move up, so you can do things like sit with your feet up, etc. Although, the back will recline a bit as well to make some room when this happens.
Anyway... short answer... UA business seats feel really flat to me. Have not had the luxury of trying competing angled-flat seats, so do not know if UA's are much better, but they are definitely better to me than the old UA business recliner seats.