jetfan

The other day I flew on an A340 of AF.
I believe this was the New Travel Concept (NEV) and if so, I am really disappointed.
Before I'd flown the 747-400 old style business class and those seats were horrid (30 seats on the upper deck).
Hoping for a better flight I booked the A340.

But that seat is also terrible!
It looks a lot better than the KLM seat but it is even more unconfortable.
It is the lie-flat type (slippery slope seat) but it is nowhere near flat.
The seat pitch is too small for a person taller than 1m70.
The foot rest is too short, meaning your calves are not supported whilst your legs have to press themselves to the back of the little "cave" under your front neighbour's seat.
My back really hurt after this flight and my legs were aching too.

Audio/video is really bad, only 6 movies and a few series!
Really a poor selection.
Headphones did not offer noise reduction facility.
The screen size is nice but that is no use if the program selection is bad.

Toilet ratio of 2:36 is below most airlines' standard.
The crew was fantastic and the main meal very good.

But in the end, the seat is the most important for me and AF, in my opinion, have also made a wrong choice there.

jabar102

Well, I unfortunately must agree with you.... I'm a rather big supporter of AF and continue to use them on transatlantic flights as I believe their service is above most other carriers.

BUT, they have chosen a new lie flat seat that is among the worst of that category, and being 1m94, can tell you is not very comfortable. I've flown a few other lie-flats (Finnair, NWA, etc..) and for some reason have never been able to find a correct position with the AF one, whereas I can sleep 6 hours on the NW one no-problem (and that seat is not even considered one of the best ones...).

It's a real pitty they have spent the money to upgrade (slowly) their fleet with a sub-standard product. Let's hope these don't ast too long and they get some good replacements.

Serpentos

well feedback from high contribution customers is not that good and AF consider to change its seats on a on going basis. The next generation of new seat is soon to come (welll...with the A380 first, so not so soon). The strategy is to develop different product on different routes... High contributing routes such as transatlatic routes + NRT/PVG will be fitted with new 3 class cabins starting as of 2009. Secret is well kept and I dont have additional info.
From what I understood the NEV suffered from the bankruptcy of the initially contracted manufacturer and this has an impact either on the timelines and the quality...
IMHO, I kinda like it, IFE always worked and the general amosphere is very pleasant. Dont wan tto start a contreversy here, but I'm fed up with the grey like cabins I had on american carrier...

G_G

That's ironic I presume : there is a lot of problems with IFE

Serpentos

I use irony a lot but I was not I absolutely agree with all travelers that complains about the IFE, and I do not ignore problems AF has had with their new seats.
BUT, I have so far always had good experience with the IFE
I consider myself as a lucky guy, I presume

brunos

I must be unlucky. Out of eight segments in First, it only worked properly half of the time. A slightly better ratio in C.
On the other hand, I tend to compare favorably the AF biz seat to other lie-flats. But nothing remotely close to BA or Virgin.