NA-Flyer

Is AC working on having a new signature class seat on its 787 or 777 soon?

The current seat is not a landmark anymore. It is not innovative or revolutionary anymore like when it was introduced long time ago. Many airlines are having it and they even added a lot of improvements to make it more competitive like BA current Club Suite. WS has also introduced a newer and improved version of the seat on its 787s making AC lack behind.

When flying AC 787 or 777 in signature class, I don't find the seat an advantage anymore as it used to be. That WOW thing has gone and many travel influencers probably share with me the same feeling.

Isn't time for AC to work on introducing a new and more competitive seat?

24left

This thread would be a good place to discuss your question

Seats and Cabins on the B788, B789, and the 777 (3 versions)
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Adam Smith

This seems like a question about a refurb, not about which seat to choose.

Nitehawk

This has come up very recently, but basically given that AC is still in the process of installing these seats on the A330 fleet, I wouldn't expect a new version anytime soon. While it might not be substantially better than other North American offerings, it's also not substantially worse (provided it remains inflated).

Project XM was more revolutionary than the dream cabin, and it got going in 2006 or so. The Dream cabin program began with the first Dreamliner, delivered in 2014, so only 8 years later. Based on that metric maybe we will see new seats soon, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

lhrpete

I'm not sure there is anything much better out there, there are alternatives but nothing radically different unless you start to think of things like the Q-Suite which I personally find rather cramped and I avoid it where I can in favour of a more open cabin.

Dave510

The seats are competitive, and that's all AC needs.

Would I want something like ANA's new J offering? Sure, but I'm not holding my breath.

WoodlandCreature

To each their own, but I respectfully disagree. Having recently done MEL-DOH-YYZ, with the first segment in a Qsuite on QR and the second in J on AC, I can only say that I felt much happier and more comfortable in the Qsuite. (The same could be said of the QR service vs the AC service.)

YBang

The 777's are nice, but I can't stretch fully on the 787's.

rafi2k6

I'd love it if AC went for the Apex Suite, similar to what Gulf Air and Japan Airlines have, but apparently, it is THE most expensive business class seat on the market so my wish is but a pie in a far away sky.

nexusCFX

The cost of the seat isn't the issue, it's the density. You cannot fit as many seats in the cabin. Doubt we will ever see a new deployment of that product. It has problems anyway, regarding things like storage space.

Air Canada doesn't need to compete with ANA, JAL, or QR because for the most part they've kept them out of the country. Everyone else AC competes with is deploying or using something in-line with the dream cabin seat, albeit with some quality of life changes like moving partitions, doors, seats that don't deflate. Wouldn't expect any major revamp in the next 5yrs at least.

CanadianMike

100%.
I'd rather they work on their soft product TBH.

m.y

Business travel has not rebounded yet. Long-haul demand to Asia is still weak due to travel restrictions. AC is not going to spend money to improve seats just to impress bloggers flying on points.

yyztozag

Are they working on a new seat? Almost certainly. Will it be deployed imminently? Probably not. Maybe next year when we really start to plow out of the pandemic?

On the wow factor, I'd tend to agree with you. AC has always had a better hard product than the US3 and basically any other competitor like BA/KL/AF. Their hard product is now (mostly marginally) worse than all of these, and is only better than the likes of LH (which is not saying much). Might not be priority #1 in the boardroom, but I'm quite confident that there is discussion on it internally.

cur

No way. AC runs their cabins and brand/color/schemes for the full life span of 15 years or whatever, just like the last (ice blue) cabins and the green cabins before that. The only way there will be a new seat is if the company leases a bunch of wide bodies from another airline.

gcashin

If I'm not mistaken, the current seat started in use with AC ~2014, so it's been around with AC for about 8 years? I'd probably put my guesses between the 2025-2029 timeframe, once it's between 10-15 years.

In general, I find the UA Polaris seat to be better than the AC seat in many ways, and I think it's roughly the same as far as density. I find the downsides of the AC seat are the tray table that restricts knee space, there isn't enough vertical room in the footwell for larger feet, the shoulder room is also tight, and it deflates often (discussed ad nauseum). In general, I find the UA seat significantly better on all these dimensions especially for anyone who is taller/larger. The UA seat also has a mix of seats with better privacy for traveling alone as well as pairs of seats for traveling together. I wouldn't expect anything too cutting edge from AC, but there's definitely some options out there that are at least a bit better than the current AC seat.