Air Canada Signature seat partition-drops?
 

I plan to fly internationally with my wife who does not like flying, and always holds my hand when we take off/land. We were planning to fly signature class, but it looks like the middle 2 seats, though side-by-side, have a big divider between them. Can you drop that divider so see/reach your seatmate? TIA.

Unfortunately, no (788, 789, 77L, 77W). :(

alright, thanks for the quick reply!

It is possible to hold hands. Just try different techniques and you'll find one that works.

On my last flight, the SD suggested one of us sit on the other's lap, so that's also an option. Though probably not for takeoff.

I certainly hope that OP's wife doesn't qualify as a lap infant!

But for landing it's ok. :p (no hard or soft jokes)

As long as you're not this couple https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/31740234-post1131.html where you're both not fitting in the pod and you are loud as hell. Because in that situation enough people sitting in J complained that the FA and then when she was ignored the SD backed up with some threats managed to get people back in to their own pods.

Be considerate. Or, you know, just live with less physical contact for the duration of the flight. Or book on an airline that has J seating that is more couple friendly.

British Airways has dividers in some configurations of Club World, their version of business class, that can be lowered by either passenger. Depending on your destination that might be a solution.

Maybe this is why all the seats are deflating. Okay, possibly not.

You'd think that the Brains Trust in AC Planning would have gone for adjustable partitions and not fancy seats with bladders eh? Seats without electric bladders must be cheaper than regular seats.... Does anyone know of any other airline that has their own deflategate gong show being inflicted on their premium clients? No, didn't think so.

The pods are self contained, which is great news for people traveling alone, or with long time partners.

I was thinking about this last week while on a widebody in J as I watched a couple trying to chat over it.
Why couldn't they make the divider work? It could be left in the default (up) position, but lowered when a couple wanted to. There's probably a reason behind the decision, but it would be nice to know it is evidence based rather than some random committee decision one day way back.

If I had to guess, I would say cost. Anything that moves will be more expensive, require more maintenance, will be more prone to breakage and will be more complex to certify than a static sheet of plastic.

The original seats on the 777's had movable dividers which lowered up and down.. With time and use they became loose and a regular maintenance item, and most significantly, they rattled during minimal turbulence plus and proved to be disturbing. And thus...somebody made a decision.

I discovered the downside of dividers on a BA flight when a bored and somewhat hyperactive pre-teen began to amuse herself by raising and lowering the divider that separated us. The problem was solved after I had a polite word with her mum who was sitting across the aisle from her daughter.