A routine trip to Dubai last week saw me booked on the 106 back to LHR, scheduled to be a 777-300 (the jumbo murderer mentioned in the title
). I had selected 16K and watched the flight fill up quite quickly..no surprise as it left just after the start of the UAE weekend.
Dubai was the usual zoo, though Terraces was a little less busy than previous trips.
A loud, deep beep at the gate meant by 16K had been converted into something more pleasant – 2F to be precise.
On boarding I was met by the utterly lovely purser working in First (who’s name I have forgotten), and settled down to have a little play with the seat. First impressions were very positive. The centre pairs on the 777 have more shelf space than the windows (and the CCR model I checked out in March) and the overall sense is of a well put together product.
My biggest aesthetic objections from the model and photos were the nasty window blinds, intrusive ‘ambient’ light and acres of plastic. In the cabin none of these looked quite so intrusive, especially when set against the darker bulkhead walls. The colour palette worked better than I had imagined. The window blinds still look incredibly naff and they reflect the mood lighting, projecting a bit too much light. The cabin was certainly brighter than the -200 with old F I’d flown out on, which feels like a mistake.
I thought the seat controls were very neatly designed. The knob to control seat position worked beautifully and the glowing lights to indicate seat position are a nice piece of design. The overhead reading lights have been upgraded to LED and are impressively bright.
The seat itself is comfortable. The adjustable headrest just about worked and the lumbar support is not too intrusive. Unlike other posters I didn’t miss the legrest too much in my preferred sun lounger position. The adjustable – and better shaped – footstall compensated adequately for the loss of the legrest imo. Build quality is hugely better than NGCW. No wobble or shake at all. The seat is a little closer to the floor and the seat surrounds are also lower which means it feels marginally less private. But only just a little bit. On the flip side, the screen separating E and F seats is nicely done and best of all can be left up for take off and landing which adds to the privacy.
The buddy seat looks much more usable than the previous offering. It is several inches wider so anyone with a normal shaped arse should now fit comfortably. The table is huge and very stable but I thought the pattern on it a bit psychedelic. I didn’t miss the legrest that much as the moveable footstall provides more and better
My IFE screen had a little fit before take off – resulting in a personal demo from the aforementioned purser. Slightly odd but rather charming experience! It rebooted pretty speedily after take off. Normally I don’t bother with IFE, however I had managed to loose my headphones the day before so decided to browse the music selection. Wow. I was delighted to have the choice of Paloma Faith, Stone Roses, Joy Division, Massive Attack and Deadmau5 amongst loads of other CD’s. Very impressive. Mood lighting is OK, but nothing exciting and the impact on the blinds mentioned above is regrettable.
I was slightly confused by all the ports provided in the new seat. 2 USB ports (what for?) and something called RCA which looked like it should be stuck on the back of a DVD player.
I just about managed to fit my half full rucksack into the cupboard along with a shirt and pair of jeans. It isn’t that generously dimensioned (unlike the CX cupboard) but you can access it while seated with your seatbelt on, useful the realisation hits that an electrical device is still on.
In bed mode the new seat is as good as anything I’ve slept on in the sky. Soft enough, yet hard enough with enough room from head to toe, very impressive indeed. I got a solid 5 hours sleep through to the 40 min call. The cabin is a little quieter than the -200 (I assume due to the additional distance from the engines), most welcome given the din the 777 normally generates.
The lovely purser once again appeared and managed to procure a banana to satisfy my slightly odd craving at 5am. In fact both crews on this trip were top notch with no sign of BASSA fatigue.
Overall I walked away from the flight impressed. I thought it compared very favourably with the new CX F suite, and while lacking the bling factor of EK or SQ it still managed to deliver a very enjoyable first class experience. There are a couple of niggles but overall an excellent experience. Nice to see the REN products back in the F amenity kit too. They look the part, unlike the Tesco Value D.R Harris stuff.
What of the rest of the plastic plane? Club really does look like a flying dorm with 7 penned in rows Comparatively quite undesirable. WT+ looks excellent and a really improvement over the old seat. Didn’t go any further back, there be dragons.
