Originally Posted by
KARFA
there are already multiple short haul cabins on the a320 series so I am not clear why this would break the camels back now?
It adds yet another cabin to the mix, another set of seat replacements and parts if something goes wrong. Some crews may not be very familiar with the new cabin as it seems right now (as shown with the antimacassars) it just creates more workload when it comes to training.
A larger proportion of A320neos would have the older cabin vs the newer one (with the current order at least) whereas with the current cabins, it's only a very small proportion with only 3x A320s having different cabins to the rest at LHR
What we already have in terms of the multiple short-haul cabins isn't great. But with the G-MIDx aircraft at LHR due to be sent to the scrap in the near future and the ex-BD A319 frames getting the newer cabins (this does not seem to be confirmed however it is somewhat likely) it seems like things are beginning to look up.
Originally Posted by
chriswiles
I doubt your average joe wouldn't notice the difference between the current Neo seat and brand new seats. I don't see it being an 'operational disaster' at all. It's worse right now if you fly a standard A320 v Neo as on the standard A320 you get the table between seats, curtains in CE and so on. You don't get those on the current Neo.
Long haul there's a huge difference in cabins. You expect a relatively modern 787-9 to have the Club Suite. It doesn't. You'd expect the 787-10, which is almost brand new, to have the 2020 'new' F, it doesn't, etc etc. Also, it's confusing enough between 777's as BA will often refer to their planes only as a '777' so it's hard for your average flyer to know if it's a 777-200 and really old F from 2010 or 777-300 and the 'new' F from 2020 etc etc.
All this is more of an 'operational disaster' then converting A320's to the 'new' cabin.
I didn't factor in long-haul much as the thread is about short-haul interiors, the cabins on long-haul are definitely more of an 'operational disaster' than the short-haul cabins especially due to the prices people pay for the service, only one can hope in the next 5-10 years it gets cleared up.
By not refurbishing the current A320neo's in the future, not having the tables and curtains would only continue the 'disaster' we have now in short-haul.
However, I would agree that the average passenger wouldn't notice too much of a difference as of right now. That's on me for reading into it a little too much.... It's just somewhat bad PR when someone says that BA have worse legroom than Ryanair etc.!
However the A320neo cabins in 15 years will be very worn down and if they aren't retrofitted or changed then it will be very noticeable to anyone, regardless of whether it's someone on FT or a regular customer.