HA A330 getting Lie-flat seats - will AS upgrade ETOPS first class?
 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel...lines/74256568

The relatively cramped first class seat pitch on AS is adequate for shorter flights, but for tall people like myself (6'2"), it can get uncomfortable on longer flights. With HA stepping up their game, perhaps AS can do SOMETHING on ETOPS equipment.

Sure - there is a big difference between wide and narrow body aircraft, I expect AS will stick with 737s, but the current hard and soft product could use some improvement to attempt to remain competitive.

An A330 can fly 10 hours or more. A 737 tops out around 6 and usually does less. Apples and oranges.

+1...total apples to oranges situation here....only the A330s are getting lie flights which are mostly used on their long haul routes like Hawaii-Asia and JFK-HNL....I can almost guarantee you that their new A321 narrow bodies they'll be using on many of their competing AS routes like PDX-HNL will not have lie flats.

AS is never getting lie-flats. Ever.

It would be nice to get a more modern F seat with a little more personal space but to do that they would either have to cut the number of F seats, or expand the cabin (reducing the number of Y seats) so I'm not holding my breath.

Now I will be interested if SAN ever sees one of these lie-flat HA 330's - we have that A/C daily to HNL.

great news for potential J routings to SYD and AKL as HA is often among the cheaper options ex-HNL. however, i'm sure the price will bump up once these installs are completed. :(

Try 7 but I get your point and agree with it

Holding one's breath would be suicide.

More space would mean fewer F seats. Period. AS F is a Spartan offering by design. I prefer it that way as a reasonably-available upgrade benefit, not as a more expensive competitive product.

If the long running rumors are true and they get 787s, those should have lie-flats. :p :D

AS doesn't like subfleets with different seating configurations. Note that they ripped out the forward lavs from their 739s (which were a subfleet).

Also, the most likely way to enlarge the F cabin is to shrink the pitch in the Y cabin. 30" pitch like UA/AA for tall people like myself (6'2") gets VERY uncomfortable on longer flights, and one of the reasons I fly AS is that I can get at least 32" pitch in coach in EVERY seat in the cabin. But I guess I don't count since I'm in coach. ;)

hawaii is a leisure market with zero market for lie flat seats. HA may be able to get a decent premium from JFK and it's international market. but that's about it.

Gee, I wonder if there's similar speculation in the HA board as follows:

AS is converting some -700s to all freighters, whether HA will be converting some of its aircraft to all freighters?

AS to likely get rid of its combi planes? Will HA follow (by getting some and then getting rid of some?)

Couldn't agree more so long as all they operate are 737s. Either A. they would have to tear out 2 rows of F seats and only have 8 seats up front or B. rip out 2 or 3 rows of main cabin seats. Neither of which is happening. You would see them pull out a row of F seats to add a row or 2 of coach seats before either one of the for mentioned ideas.

VX has close to almost lie flat with an 8 class F cabin. Here is the kicker though. Paid F is $1300 each way for a 5 hour nonstop to OGG from SFO. Paid F on AS OGG to OAK is roughly $730 each way. Less seats to sell=higher prices to make up for less tickets. So if Im flying from the bay area to OGG its a no brainer simple choice for me, save almost $1200 for the trip per person. On a 5 hour flight who cares if the seat reclines back 56 inches. To each his own though, if one thinks 56 inches of pitch and mood lights is worth $1200 for 10 hours then by all means

Of course, the fares will go up! The lie-flat seats take up TWICE as much room on the plane. So, the fares for them will go up significantly (about the same as other carriers with lie-flat seats on those transpac routes). You can also bet that the mainland-Hawaii A330 F fares will increase as well.

AS sees F as upgrade class. They made their seats worse, what makes you think AS would reconfigure them to make them better after that. HA is doing this to compete with the big long haul international carriers so i don't think AS would be much interested in what HA is doing for that market segment.

HA is getting some A321s. Will AS follow and get some A321s? :p