Originally Posted by
totti
I have no first hand experience but from the pictures the seat looks quite similar to CX, NZ and VS. So I'd expect that the seat is much more comfortable because it's a real flat bed. ^
This is a common misconception but there is in fact TWO distinct designs that are significantly different.
VS pioneered one design in their "Upper Class" and this design was licensed by NZ, lets call this this the "flip seat" which I'll explain bellow.
CX, AC, Jet Airways, and Delta all use a similar design that is different, we'll call this the "recline seat".
When the "recline seat" design came out VS actually sued the company that makes it, I'm not sure if that went anywhere.
So what is the difference? There are two...
First the "Flip Seat" is wider and the ottoman accordingly can be used as a second seat. This allows people to sit and face each other to talk, OR if the table is pulled out, to dine together. On VS and NZ the ottoman even has its own seatbelt built in and and this is a feature that both advertise. The ottoman on the "Recline Seat" is much smaller and often times there is a sticker/sign above it that tell you explicitly NOT TO SIT on it.
The second difference is that with the "Flip Seat" to make it into a flat bed you have to get OUT of the seat and then the seat FLIPS FORWARD so that the sleeping surface is formed by the BACK of the seat.
With the "Recline Seat" you can remain in the seat while it becomes a flat bed since the seat simply continues to recline to form a flat surface, thus the seating surface forms the sleeping surface.
So what does this mean? Well for the "Flip Seat" the sleeping surface is dedicated to sleeping so it is a much more comfortable "matress" type material. Also, the sitting surface is dedicated to sitting so it makes a more comfortable chair...HOWEVER in the chair mode, it will note recline as far as most people are use to, so it is not as good as a "recliner" type chair.
With the "Recline Seat" the seat has many many more positions between the upright "sitting mode" and the flat bed "sleeping mode." HOWEVER since one surface has to be both the sitting and the sleeping surface, it is a compromise. I've been in the AC product and I found the seat narrow and not that comfortable as a seat....
Informally talking to people I've gotten the impression that the VS and NZ flip seat is superior because the sleeping surface is better and because it is wider.
How this compares to the LH product I can't say...but I just wanted to clarify that there is a difference between the VS/NZ product and the AC/DL/CX/Jet product...