Originally Posted by
chris1979
welcome to posting on FT and in particular the BAEC forum - good to have you here and hear your views.
I do also regularly read BT though - like here - the content can be leaning towards 'advertorials' at times but there are some very good sections and I am certainly pleased when I realise that a new edition is out that I can enjoy on flights.
Despite all the Tesco talk on here, we aren't all Tesco-travellers / armchair "wish I was a frequent traveller" on here (I personally love the diversity (and friendliness) on here which ranges from the mentioned "I travel very day" to those who want to travel efficiently even if it's only a few times a year.
As you say, I suspect the way the question is phrased is important and clearly any suggestion of a 'negative change' will mean people will respond saying they don't like it.
As said in my response (before fully digesting yours), I think we also need to bear in mind that neither here nor BT represents the travelling public therefore a survey that suggests that 3/4 of CE pax will vote with their feet needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. Be interesting to interview the same people again in 12 months time and a) ask them what they think of the new product and b) look at their travel patterns and see how much seat pitch really influences them (if they have any say over who they travel with - most of the time price or flight time (or indeed route - there aren't that many routes with that many airlines offering intra-European business class) dictates choice).
We shall see.
Happy Flying.
Thanks for the welcome, Chris, it is appreciated.
You are absolutely right that FF fora do not represent the majority of the travelling public and I imagine that the corporate accounts will be the real drivers here, constantly seeking 'value' (aka lower prices), for all cabins.
Like some other posters, I am going to wait and see; my experience with the newer gen of short haul seats is varied, I like the NEK legroom, but find the seat itself remarkably uncomfortable after about an hour - I have also noticed a high % of NEK seats that will not lock in the upright position on LH and OS recently, suggesting (at least to me) that the design may not be so robust. On the other hand, the Norwegian seat seems far more comfortable, with the same legroom benefits and I've been happy in that for 2-3 hours, on the London-Helsinki run.
So it would not surprise me if the new BA seat is okay in the general comfort stakes, but the two aspects that will be crucial are (a) is the recline sufficient on the longer sectors such as Athens and Istanbul (bearing in mind that the 767s will not be around forever) and is there sufficient space to use a laptop on the tray table, even when reclined.
Those last two factors would determine my purchasing decision and I would tend to buy economy if I cannot work on my laptop and then relax after an hour or two.