FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - AF/KL to place orders with Airbus and Boeing to replace A340 and MD-11
Old Jun 14, 2011 | 10:35 am
  #27  
orbitmic
FlyerTalk Evangelist and Ambassador: The British Airways Club
5M
100 Countries Visited
All eyes on you!
15 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Diam, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 33,193
Originally Posted by evanderm
Especially on short-haul aircraft I don't like the amount of noise Airbus Aircraft produce in the cabin. I much prefer Embrear or Boeing. Long-Haul, I haven't quite determined which aircraft has the most intrusive noise levels. I was pretty impressed with the A346, but nothing beats the nose section of the 744.
Noise level fully seem to depend on the engines chosen, and both the main medium haul boeing (737) and airbuses (A318,19,20,21) come in multiple varieties. I personally don't have the same feeling as you at all, to me, the A320 series feels significantly quieter inside than the 737 series.

As for longhaul, I don't agree with you that nothing beats the nose section of the 744, to me the upper deck of the A380 does by a mile, and between the A330/340 and the 777, there is no competition either: the 777 is a very noisy aircraft for its generation (and indeed, the A340 won many awards for its quietness against the 777 before the age of the A380, even though some people said that the counterpart was that her engines are not powerful enough which I agree with)...

I also don't agree on head and shoulder room (I'm a window person too).

On the other hand, two points you make I agree with: the height of the cabin is slightly bigger on the 777, but to me it makes no difference as I don't tend to stand up much while on the plane, and I DO agree that 777 overhead bins are bigger, but then they also need to be as there are more seats in each row in both Y and J. And to me, the seat configuration is what makes me prefer the Airbus fleet to its Boeing equivalent. I like 2-4-2 better than 3-3-3- let alone 3-4-3 in Y, and I like 2-2-2 better than 2-3-2 in J. So my choice generally goes to Airbus. I prefer the 320 series to the 737 series for medium haul because I find it both more comfortable and faster, and my choice for long haul would be A380 top, then either 747 or 330 depending on whether I am flying J or Y (assuming no product discrepencies as is sadly the case on both AF and KL), the 340, then 767, then 777 which I like least.

Of course, these things tend to be very personal, depend on the airline one is flying, the way one is flying (alone, as a couple, with a family, etc), the class one is flying, and much more, and I have no doubt that both A350 and 787 will be more pleasant than both A330 and 777.
orbitmic is offline