Thought I’d post my personal observations on recent flights taken between LHR and YVR with respect to the CW seating now available to book in what used to be the First Class section…

Traveling as a couple, we had the option on our outbound to choose seating in the front section or the Upper Deck. Despite our favourite UD seats being available (64 A/K), we decided to try it up front and selected row 4. (Rows 1 and 2 were booked at the time)

What we found:

• My seat could not be lowered needed attendant help to lower it manually after food service
• The IFE was terrible! Hard to adjust the angle, small screen and very poor quality image
• Something was wrong with the overhead lighting and it kept turning on by itself periodically while I was trying to sleep (no buttons touched to cause this) FA indicated it was due to static electricity and new carpets?
• Fantastic service from the crew
• Seating felt very exposed and open from both sides – much less private than UD
• Far more limited personal storage space compared to an UD window seat

Based on above, we reverted to UD (64 A/K) on the return trip and enjoyed a much more private experience, better IFE and still fantastic service from the flight crew.

In future, unless rows 64/62 were not available as options, I would readily choose them at any time over seats in the front cabin again whether flying solo or as a couple. And if I go up front again, I will definitely try to stick to window seats as they seem to offer somewhat more privacy than rows 4 and 5 which were both very open.