l'agentsecret

I was told that the "suite" effect would be achieved through the use of curtains rather than walls. Maybe the visual used for in the new campain is even closer to the final product than we actually think...
I'm a bit worried about the material used for the upholstery. Looks exactly like my sofa and, believe, it is a stain magnet. Not sure how it would look after a few flights...

orbitmic

I find that worrying. To be honest, looking more closely at the photo, it looks a bit like KE's F seat which is definitely nothing like a suite and not very private at all. I have a suspicion that I would find being "curtained in" more claustrophobic than having a sliding door, although I guess you can always pretend you are in the polling booth ready to cast your vote. I agree with you on the stain risk. The light blue-grey looks nice, but I suspect that three spilled glasses of red wine later, it may be a recipe for disaster.

bodory

Fabrics become dirty and attract bacteria like do vacuums with dust.

Goldorak

I'm not sure I'm catching everything here

bodory

Sorry for being unclear. I was trying to say that fabrics get dirty very quickly. It is one thing to spary some detergent/bleach on plastic or leather, it is another thing to remove dirt on fabrics. I hope AF will take into conisderation that when selscting fabrics for their P suite/seat.

But maybe AF is not expecting to get so many P pax... Am I being sarcastic?

brunos

Yes, you are
They will have their usual lot of pilots and family, French politicians and officials from a selective group of countries.

But I trust that AF know what kind of fabrics work for seats. However, a small group of design guys might decide for a colour that is more "risky" as Orbitmic pointed out.

Amerlok

In this context, "suite" could equally mean "what's next" as in the evolution of P in the "palace with two wings."

olivedel

Well... In twisted minds only... But we know that could be the case with AF marketing

Zembla

And I hope you are right, I am not a big fan of travelling in a box, albeit a luxury box. I love the loungy spacious feel of the current P cabin. More privacy when sleeping, great, but I hope the loungy concept is not going over board.

orbitmic

Do you have any particular seat in mind when you say that though? All the suite seats I know (at least what I would call suite seats ie which can be closed) offer optional privacy through (often automated) sliding doors, so there is never any "obligation" to be in a box if you prefer to leave the door open and in my experience some people do. I'm not aware of any seat where passengers would be imposed a claustrophobic environment.

Fundamentally, from how I interpret what l'agentsecret is saying, AF is simply proposing to do the same with curtains instead of the sliding doors, and to be honest, I can't see any advantage in doing that while I can see multiple downsides, such as:

(1) I fear it may look less clean (if only because curtains are fabric),
(2) it is also the case that a closed curtain is precisely never as open as an open sliding door (ie the closed curtain takes space while a well done sliding door disappears inside the main seat side)
(3) curtains are not 'neat' as we can see from those which serve as cabin dividers, they move, protrude, don't always close properly, etc.

So my fear is that having a suite where you effectively replace a sliding door by a curtain would likely to feel even more claustrophobic for people who do not like to close the suite, and less neat and tidy for those who do, although of course, I'll hope to be favourably impressed when olivedel posts photos on 7 May!

olivedel

I kind of agree with orbitmic statement, even if I was skeptical about suites before. I have not tried SQ suites! but EK suites do not emphasize the claustrophobic feeling some people can have in a plane: you feel more like in a private jet.
But the separations are way lower from SQ suites from what I saw in Trip Reports.

Now the pressure is in me... Hopefully I can access FT while I will be in the press conference!

Zembla

Apart from AF I've only been in P on SQ A380, so there may be "best of both worlds" offerings I'm not aware of. On SQ you don't have a free spacious view accross the cabin, also not when you leave the doors and blinds to the isle open. With the doors left open it's a box which is sort of half open to one side. I agree with you that they are not claustrophobic (In the sense that for example BA J seats can be). In addition, the SQ suites are massively more luxurious than AF's current P offering. However, I simply like the spacious loungy feel in the AF P cabin which you defenitely don't have on SQ.

brunos

Now we know who AF had in mind when they designed their F seats

People have varied tastes and there is no point arguing about personal tastes. I do not like that people can watch the back of my head (lacking hair) or what am reading. I do not like watching other people moving around. I do not like the wind and noise next to my head on sideways, open seats. But I can understand that others like the open space feeling.

What is objective is that current AF F seats are smaller/narrower than most current F suites, like SQ 777 or most others. For example, SQ and most airlines get the 4 seats facing forward, making them much wider than the sideways AF seats. CX seats are also sideways but there are only 3 seats per row. Apparently, AF new seats will be facing forward (hence wider) but with no privacy.

Zembla

Can't argue with this... I am not the sort of person who likes to sit in a front row in any cabin (Except perhaps A1 on a KL 747 night flight). *Imagines placing his comfy seat at home facing a wall and shivers*
Just one remark, what you call sideways is nothing more than a slight rotation away from the isle.

Now...on second thought. AF might be going for a hybrid solution. A open and relatively low walled experience for those who like it, and a curtain, which can be closed as far as you want for those who don't. Some very clever design features would be required to avoid making it look like a hospital...but it wouldn't be entirely idiotic, would it?

orbitmic

I think it is possible and if so we'll need to wait and see because it may not be idiotic at all - or... Let's put it that way, AF have sadly had a record or really problematic seats and others that have made relative sense, so les paris sont ouverts!!