That's essentially the difference between the term 'herringbone' (meaning the old Virgin and current NZ design) and 'reverse herringbone' (meaning the new Virgin design plus the many other examples that preceded it, eg CX/AA/AF/VA to name just a few). It's worth remembering that the original Virgin Atlantic design was a truly revolutionary and very clever product. In fact I'm pretty sure it was the first ever 1-2-1 design, ie with the direct aisle access that we all consider now to be absolutely essential in any competitive business class product. It's just that when someone finally created the reverse herringbone, by taking the same basic idea and reversing the layout they managed to solve at a stroke the two great weaknesses of the herringbone (ie somewhat lacking in privacy and very difficult to look out the window) to the extent that the original herringbone design looked hopelessly outdated as a result. But let's not forget what a fabulous product it was for its day.

And honestly, I think it's still a pretty decent product, for the kind of routes they tend to fly. Yes, NZ has unquestionably held onto it for too long, purely because it's cheap. Yes, many other aspects of the BP experience are not what they once were. But I personally still find it a comfortable and spacious seat for lounging in, and a truly excellent seat for sleeping in. No other business seat comes close for sleeping comfort, in my experience, and in bed mode I find it feels much more private. The vast majority of NZ longhaul flights are overnight, so that works pretty well for me.

I do still think that NZ made a real error in not introducing a new seat type at the same time as bringing in the Dreamliners, especially since that execution of the BP seat is noticeably inferior, but let's not get carried away. It's far from awful. And I personally find it vastly preferable to a Skybed or UA's 2+2 flatbeds or, if I'm honest, EK's staggered seats from the A380. But it definitely can't compete with a good reverse herringbone or an Apex Suite or QF's new business suite.

Let's not rewrite history. Far from being the latest to the party, when NZ introduced the seat in 2004 they were actually one of the very first to have flat beds, and only the second airline (after VS) to have a 1-2-1 layout / direct aisle access. It took QF a full ten years longer, for example. On the other hand, NZ did keep those awful 763 recliners around for *far* too long...