marks7389

For the vast majority of the flight you won't notice - aside from taxiing, take-off and landing. In fact, I often tend to forget that the destination is behind me, and the direction I'm looking out of the window is the opposite to if I were facing forward on the other side of the plane. It's never bothered me, nor I suspect most people.

Depends on how full the flight is, and whether seats are preassigned ahead of T-24 (not sure what current policy is). If you have a strong preference, e.g. for the upper deck or a window seat pair, you may be out of luck. Personally I won't pay the seat selection fees on principle - when we've had no status, we've always managed to get seats for two together at T-24. Normally a window seat pair which we prefer although once had to settle for seats across the aisle from each other. Last flight on an A380 we got an upper deck middle and adjacent aisle seat as no window seats left.

If you're looking for one forward-facing seat your odds are probably quite good, given the more private window seats tend to be more popular and the arrangement on the upper deck means slightly more than 50% are forward facing. If it's a popular leisure route some couples will tend to go for the main deck rear facing pairs, though those are the ones to particularly avoid as a solo traveller.

You can always keep an eye on the available seats in the run-up to the flight date.

sfvoyage

Thanks. When I take trains (mostly in Europe), I always sit facing forward out of a worry that I may get motion sickness if traveling backwards. However, this may be more psychological than physiological, because on occasions when I had to face backwards, I didn't get motion sickness during the ride.

I've never flown backwards though, but it should be better because plane rides are generally more smooth than train rides except during episodes of air turbulence. I hadn't thought about the taxiing part, but perhaps that is about the same as a typical train ride in terms of motion?

sfvoyage

Thanks for the information. I've also come to the same conclusion/observations by studying the seat maps: there are more forward seats on the upper deck, and on the lower deck, the 2 middle seats may be more popular for families and couples who want to sit together.

My partner doesn't care about the seat direction, and we don't need to sit together. (Being on the same deck would be good enough for us.) The seat map is wide open at the moment (we're not flying till around Easter). I'll keep an eye from time to time. Like you, I prefer not to pay the seat selection fee on principle. If necessary, I'll fly backwards on the outbound, and if it proves to be uncomfortable for me, I'll pay the fee for the return flight.

I am actually looking forward to this trip. I am an avid traveler but not on One World and have never flown on BA. I flew on BOAC as a child from HKG to LHR in the early 70s, which back then involved a lot of stops: BKK, India (can't remember which airport), and one more, must have been in the Middle East (Dubai maybe?). It was a very long and uncomfortable journey in Y.

Furby

I know lots of folks avoid paying the seat reservation fee for a number of valid reasons, but if you care enough to spend time checking out what taken and what’s not, my advice would be bite the bullet, pay them, get the seats you want and move on. Select the upper deck, a window/aisle pair is nice if at least one of you wants a window. If you don’t reserve there is a very good chance you will end up an aisle seat and a middle seat next to each other in the middle section (at best).

marks7389

The seating direction is unlikely to make any difference at all even during turbulence as the motion tends to be vertical and no different from a passenger perspective whether facing forward and backwards.

On a train you have acceleration, braking and the direction in which you're passing points of reference outside the train. In level flight none of that is going to be noticeable.

Even during taxi a plane tends to move rather more slowly and the ride a lot smoother compared to a train passing over points and uneven rails and rounding corners at speed.

The main difference is really during take-off and landing and mainly from the perspective of the passing scenery and inertia pushing you back into your seat or forward out of it as well as any belongings you might have sitting on top of the floor level cabinets on an upper deck window seat (memories here of grabbing stuff in a 747 upper deck window seat before it disappeared down the cabin!).

AndyPatterson

There's a reason why crew seats are often rear-facing, even on the smallest Embraer. If there's a crash landing, the head goes against the extra-tall seatback, so no whiplash injury. Even the crew seats in the far back of the cabin have extra-tall seatbacks, again to prevent or minimize the whiplash.

sfvoyage

Yes I have read that rear-facing seats are safer than regular forward ones.

golfmad

I would hazard a guess that crew seats are often rear facing so that the crew can observe passengers during critical phases of a flight.

If an A380 has a crash landing, I think whiplash is going to be the least of a passenger's concerns.

SFOtoDEN

Quick question in regards to the business class seats on the A380, and specifically seats 15A/K, 53A/K and 59A/K. In lie flat, does the leg room extend out a few inches past the seat to provide a walking space or anything? Their advertised pitch is 72", but I was wondering if that was just for the seat itself, rather than the front wall?

I have the option of flying in one of those seats, or in one of their newer seat models on a 777. As a taller person, I might actually prefer their older A380 seats with the less restrictive leg room.

marks7389

Unlikely to make much difference from a length perspective, though the window seats in those pairs do have the benefit of not having to climb over anyone. Exit from the seat is to the left/right of the foot stool, just as it is on every other rear facing seat - it is just that instead of another seat beyond the footstool you have a wall.

A narrative of all the pros and cons are here - 50J is probably your best bet for length, but is right by the curtains/toilet and also suffers from missing windows.

BA Airbus A380: Which are the best seats? Master discussion thread

If you've not seen it, the most accurate seat plans are here:

https://www.aerolopa.com/ba-type-38a

corporate-wage-slave

The gap between the bulkhead and the footstall in those seats is just a few centimetres, you can't really do much with it, certainly not walk though it. In bed mode then yes, you do get a bit of extra length there, but your feet wouldn't be fully supported, they'd hang over the edge, or perhaps the bedding can give a slightly longer length to the bed by going over the edge. The other thing you can do in all seats is not to completely join up the gap between the footstall and the seat as it reclines into a bed, this is around the lower thigh so you may not notice with the bedding over the gap if it's not too big a gap. If facing backwards you will still be more or less flat given that the A380 flies with the nose upwards.

orbitmic

The length is the same as all others, the only difference is not having a B/J seat starting the row behind which footrest would block your way from a/k.

sfvoyage

I thought all J seats on the A380 have easy, direct aisle access. From the window and middle seats, does one in fact have to climb over a seat mate's leg rest (if in full flat bed mode) to get to the aisle? What if the seat mate's seat is in a upright or recline mode?

corporate-wage-slave

No, have a look at the Aerolopa site to see how it works. Also some middle seats if they are up against the bulkhead have direct aisle access. The seats you identified do have aisle access without climbing over someone, but most seats do require a crab like manoeuvre to get over the seat if it is reclined or the passenger is using the foot stall. It doesn't require much athletic endeavour. These are the legacy Club World seats, the Club Suites all have direct access.

sfvoyage

Actually, I did look on Aerolopa before posing the question on here. It seems to me that, for instance, passenger in 10A needs to step over the leg rest of 11B to get out? Similarly, 10E steps over 11D?

If I am interpreting the diagram correctly, the only window and aisle seats that do not need to step over another seat to get out are in the last row of each cabin section (rows 15 on the two sides, 14 in the middle, row 53, row 59), is that right?