TheInvisibleHand

Thought I would provide a follow up post re: my experience of 5J.

In summary: a darn good seat for a solo traveller. The windows are close enough to see out of without effort, the storage bin was perfect for my bag, and having no neighbour is peaceful. I wouldn't hesitate in taking 5B however; entry is from the door at the rear of the J cabin so there won't be boarding foot traffic in either seat.

For a couple I'd definitely take the A cabin, which has a much better atmosphere than they main J deck.

The recognfigured 747 leaves a little bit to be desire though. Firstly, to my eye, it looks ugly and nothing seems to fit well together. Sure, this doesn't have a pratical implication but it did give me a shoddy impression of the fit out. Admittedly, seat in 5B/J is likely to give the worst impression with a view into the A cabin and of the assorted safety gear on the wall directly in front, but even the carpet is kind of jigsawed together. Scuff marks etc of course, but I guess that is to be expected.

Additionally, (and note I didn't really buy into the complaints on this forum when the reduced number of toilets was discussed), but toilet access actually was annoying; even on this relatively short flight when most people were sleeping it was an issue. And, on this sector pax aren't issued pyjamas so it wasn't related to ppl changing.

Whilst I did enjoy the MkII skybed, overall I was disappointed with the reconfigured 747.