Some thoughts on the new F seat from my last two flights LHR-HND-LHR. I sat in 1K on the way out and 1A on the way back.

Very private, and lots of space.

The seat was so comfy, I never moved the seat from its takeoff/landing position until it was made into a bed about 4.5 hours into the flight.

The side table is really useful both when awake and in bed mode: I used it for the iPad with its smart keyboard folio in stand mode so I could doze off on my side with some content playing. If you want to lie on your other side, you can do the same with an iPad too on the shelf, but clearly there's not as much space.

The wireless charging didn't work on my iPhone 16 Pro: it would start but then give up a few seconds later. I couldn't find a sweet spot. I discovered on my return journey that if I took the phone out of its off-brand case, it would charge, however that inconvenience means I just used a wired charging connection.

The three sets of AC, USB A and USB C outlets are unparalleled as far as I am aware, and very welcome. I should note that the USB-C won't do Power Delivery, it seems limited to 5V at about 1.5A. Furthermore, it isn't recognised by a PC or iPhone (or iPad or Android phone) as a display device, or any other device: it didn't enumerate anything when plugged into my PC with an appropriate cable.

As has been mentioned in this thread before there are no HDMI outlets or options as far as I could find to enable screen casting. This is such a wasted opportunity, although technically I am unsure how wireless screen casting would work in a densely populated plane. HDMI or DisplayPort over USB-C, though, should be a no brainer, this is a 42" UHD screen!

The tablet UI was quite a battle, and despite having nearly 30 hours with it, I found it to be a bit of an illogical hotchpotch of nice chrome hiding spaghetti code inside.

The in-seat speakers were so quiet as to be a useless gimmick IME.

If you want to use your own wired headsets, you're going to need to use a two-prong 3.5mm adapter.



I couldn't get the IFE to recognise my bluetooth headset adapter.

Be careful of putting anything slim, like a passport, on the narrow shelf by the window... or you risk it disappearing between the shelf and the side of the chair into an abyss. Mine was retrieved, after a lot of effort by one of the cabin crew.

The table is huge, but being supported from only one side, in the event of heavy turbulence it goes into a self-induced oscillation, and your wine glass will start sloshing its contents over the sides and dancing around its base, necessitating either picking it up or steadying it.

You can get out while the table is deployed by pushing both it and its side slide towards the TV.

What you can't easily do when the table is deployed is get at any of your junk in the space underneath the ottoman.

Which leads me on to the biggest drawback of the seat, in that while there is plenty of storage, you can't access any of it while seated, i.e., with your seatbelt on, because none of it is at arm's length. Thus you have to think in advance what you might want access to, and put it on, say, the side table.

The wardrobe comes with two coathangers, enough for a lounge jacket, and a shirt & pants/trousers, but not really for a coat, however the crew will be happy to hjang your coat separately and deliver it back to you upon landing.

Below the wardrobe is shoe storage, but as the lady next to me in 1D discovered, boots won't fit. (Don't worry, I had them polished in the Red room a couple of days later).





Temperature in the cabin remains rather warm, and there are no pax-adjustable air vents there, or in the wash rooms. In recent times I've just accepted that a small fan has now become an essential travel item.

WiFi: Unlike my previous F trips on JAL's 777-300ER where I've been offered a physical voucher for WiFi, you now have to go through a very painful procedure to download and save a voucher code electronically.

The four pages of instructions aren't clear, or at least they didn't fully work for me. Instead, I went a little off-piste. Firstly apply for the 1 hour of free WiFi, and get the voucher code this way. Then, when the hour runs out, re-apply with your voucher code. There didn't seem to be a way to get the voucher code without having WiFi working first. This is not explained even in the four pages of instructions.

This took me 45 minutes to figure out on my first flight, and about 20 minutes on the second flight thanks to the knowledge I'd already gained. But this process really does need to be streamlined.

The bed is super comfy. I only used it in its single width mode. I usually sleep on my side, but sometimes if I'm tossing and turning, sleeping on my back works, however there isn't enough support from the two pillows plus a blanket for my liking. It wasn't until the second flight that I figured out how to left the head rest alone with the controls at the side. Now that was much better.

The pillows themselves though weren't great. It's good that there's two, but they're really unsubstantial, nothing like what you'd have at home. One has a fairly firm foam insert and the other is soft. I used the folded blanket to add a bit of extra head support, but could have done with more.

Regarding the washrooms, the positioning of the bidet controls is so much better than the 777, and the washroom is much better lit too, so you won't get stuck trying to find the right control to turn the butt squirter off.

The washroom to the left closest to the cockpit is significantly larger than the one on the right immediately in front of 1K.

1A or 1K?

1K is slightly more private in that unlike 1A, no-one's sitting across the aisle from you, however it is right behind the smaller washroom. While traffic isn't a problem, you can hear the flush from 1K, although it never bothered me.

I slightly prefer 1K because when I sleep, I usually sleep on my left side, and that's where the side table is, but I slightly prefer 1A because it has slightly easier access to the larger washroom for getting changed.

Toilet tourism was a problem on both my flights, with biz pax using them, particularly before pushback, so getting changed in pyjamas was delayed as a result. When the crew saw it happening they dealt with it as you'd expect: courteously and clearly. During the flight itself it wasn't a problem except towards the end when a couple of pax tried their luck but were sent back. From Aerolopa, it looks like there are only 3 washrooms for 54 pax. Of course in F it's 2 washrooms for six pax... plus the flight crew.

There are three crew dedicated to the F cabin for the 6 passengers. Very nice! BA have 2 dedicated to F for up to 14 pax.

At LHR, on departure and arrival, only door 2L was used. This wasn't a particular problem for departure, but on arrival, the crew announced that the biz pax should stay at their seats while the F pax deplaned. This did seem to work, as somehow I managed to be off first from 1A.

Deplaning at HND, both door 1L and 2L were connected, so we had our own airbridge, and I was off first here too, from 1K. I guess I got lucky this trip.

Boarding at HND though, only 2L had a jetbridge connected. Previously on the 777-300ER, it's been my experience that 1L and 2L are both connected for boarding.

I didn't notice any visible changes to the service standard between 777-300ER and A350-1000.

The TL;DR is that this is a substantial upgrade to the hard product, although I feel that improvements could be made to simplifying both the IFE UI and the WiFi connectivity (i.e., just give the pax a physical voucher again!). Having no storage access to your stuff while seated, or very limited with the table deployed, is a downside, but the seat is just so comfortable even in its default upright configuration. More power outlets than you'll ever need. No individual seat environmental controls.