Worse! No blocked middle seats when it was first introduced!

At the time, all classes generally received a hot meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner. While economy was plated on plastic, biz and first got theirs on crockery. On longer flights like SYD/MEL-PER, business got some extras like a canapé service before dinner.

When first class was phased out, convertible seating allowed 3+3 economy to become 2+2 business. The front two rows - the old first class - remained fixed.

The A300 was a bit different, Originally the front cabin was all F class, 30 seats in a 2-2-2 arrangement. Business class was 2-4-2 starting at door two, and was variable in size.

Later - I’m not 100% sure on this - I believe the front cabin became mixed for a short time… same 2-2-2 fixed seating, but some rows would be First, with first service, and some business. Finally, when F was phased out, the entire front cabin just became business.

Ansett had similar fixed and variable 3-3/2-2 seating on its narrow bodies. For its 767s, there were five or six rows of fixed F seating in a 2-2-2 configuration. Like TAA/Australian, they later moved to a combined F/J cabin, so row 1 might be F and rows 2-4 might have been biz class.