First of all, thanks Oliver for sharing all the photos and your feedback!^
I´m also somewhat disappointed by the results. My expectations weren´t very high to begin with, but seriously, LH spends several years and millions of Euros on R&D and this is the best they can come up with?
Originally Posted by
oliver2002
The account manager from B/E for LH Group and the *A project was at the stand and we talked for a while. He swears (and I sort of believe him) that the seat was made from scratch as LH had many many modifications to the Diamond in order to fulfill the wish list that it was like starting from scratch.
"Starting from scratch" sounds as if LH had been open-minded to create a better customer experience.
Realistically there are the following "major" C/J product groups:
1) anything in a 1-2-1 config (á la SQ) just isn´t feasable for LH
2) While the new staggered LX config is nice, it´s designed for the various Airbus aircrafts and can´t easily be used for the 747
3) Any 2-4-2 config á la UA/BA with half of the seats facing backwards certainly wouldn´t be considered an improvement by most pax (except for the flat bed)
So realistically we´re left with the following options:
4) something "creative" á la the new NH C seats (not very likely)
5) pods á la NZ/AC
6) a more traditional layout in a 2-2-2 config
As nice as options 4 or 5 would be, unfortunately LH´s strategy regarding the C product has pretty much been "which is the worst C product we can get away with?" and not "let´s create a good (but not ridiculous) product that will put us into a good competitive position for the next years"
So with a 2-2-2 config how many decisions do they have to make?
- slightly angled vs. straight
- where to put the feet
- how big should the TV screen be?
- additional features like place to put your glasses etc.
While the new seat obviously is slightly better than the current seat, I think LH has failed miserably. Once they´ve implemented the new seat they´ll again be 10+ years behind their major competitors. Not sure why they´d celebrate this as a major achievement.