strichener

I would much rather have the privacy of the 1-2-1 than have to share a double bed with a stranger!

I find it difficult to believe that anyone would suggest that there is more privacy in BA's layout than in (for example) the 1-2-1 on the AA 330s or 77Ws. This is only true of the Window seat (and even then only when the divider is up) and either the same in other seats (Aisle) or less in the middle pair.

This



or this

Ldnn1

Which, if you read the posts, is exactly what the people above were saying.

The Cirrus seat is fantastic, but a CW window seat is still more private.

dylanks

I would never pick the middle seat when traveling alone, but always pick it when flying with my wife in CW. She gets her first BA F experience at the end of the year, and she might have mixed feelings compared to sharing space in the middle in CW.

Cap'n Benj

So basically you want a feeling of privacy rather than actual privacy?

That's fine, if it's what you're after (and indeed works well for me), in reality anyone walking past has pretty much as much visible access to you in the Cirrus seat as in a CW aisle seat. Bar your feet of course entombed within the foot coffin

Cap'n Benj

I've had to share with a stranger in the middle of CW before and with the screen pulled forward I was completely unaware of his presence.

It was on a night flight as opposed to a day flight though, if we were both sitting up right eating, it may have been a bit different.

MPH1980

On the Cirrus seat from one of the middles - I found that I could easily see over to the person at the window and the person on the other middle seat. Not what I'd call private.

With the BA seats - I have choices. I can take the double middle seats if I'm travelling with someone - and we can have privacy using the dividers on either side. I can take a window for relatively complete privacy or I can take an aisle and have as much privacy as the Cirrus.

orbitmic

I find it hard to see how that conclusion can be reached? The configuration is totally different (JL current J is front facing stagered while this is yin yang not staggered) and not enough detail to see if seat itself would be similar or not.

The new jl j introduced next month is same layout as cirrus but different seat.

muishkin

I do like the idea of CW seats with different legrooms. There is a difference of 5 inches between the average height of men and the average height of women. I think it's brilliant that BA has decided to differentiate the seats. They can even charge more for the slightly bigger CW seats. The difference in fare could just be the 5-10% tacked on during seat selection reflecting the difference in the space provided.

That being said I hate the high density configuration of CW. I want to see drastically more improvements in the CW offering before I am tempted to switch from AA. For example, if they can improve the sleep experience to the point where I can actually fall asleep on short TATL flights (I am a light sleeper), etc.

MPH1980

I'm intrigued how you'd ask them to improve the sleep experience over AA J ... BA do offer the sleeper services which seem far better than the AA offering.

The downside of current CW is the noisy divider going up and down.

Otherwise surely it's all plane noise as is the same airline to airline?

henkybaby

To me it is all down to one thing: sense of space vs privacy. It is hard to beat a window seat on CW on the A380/747 UD. Every other BA seat either feels like a coffin or a park bench to me. The Cirrus seat has the same problem BA F has: not private enough, but at least all seats are more or less created equal. The 'coffin feel' on any BA window seat (except the ones mentioned) still make me prefer the Cirrus seat.

Travelling with a partner (that I like), I think the middle seats on BA are fantastic and I would actually pay extra to fly them (during the first few years of the romance at least...).

I am hopeful that the new design will make all window seats equal, all middle seats seem to have direct aisle access (good) and maybe even the park bench seats will be a little more private. If they are clever they copy the JL design as much as possible.

I think that they should hire Prospero. That man has got some serious skills. Not even joking.

JHIN

Why not use the ever popular Cirrus seat? Since resounding opinions are ^ on that design?

Cuz this supposed new CW seat doesnt look all that innovative or game changing to me versus whats flying today already on BA <yawn>!

orbitmic

I fully agree with you and disagree with others that the CW seat offers privacy. CW windows do (in fact quite a lot of it) but all other seats are some of the least private around bar the 'old style' J soe airlines are discontinuing. would personally have preferred BA to move towards the current JL J seat which is excellent (and still a very dense layout) or the Cirrus, or even the current EY/AZ staggered 1-2-1.

eae

I for one much prefer even the current club world seat over Cirrus. Cirrus is worse as a seat, much too narrow at shoulder level and has inadequate space for the legs and feet.

If this is anything like the new JL seat it'll combine the best aspects of the current BA seat with the best aspects of Cirrus (direct aisle access).

lost_in_translation

Sorry, I'm not following which bit of my post you're disagreeing with - you mean the section I quoted from lots@LHR? I don't necessarily agree with it, but don't feel it's that objectionable!

Milnio87

I agree the changes proposed are more akin to revisions to an existing concept rather than a wholesale revolution (such as moving to Cirrus) but I do quite like them as they are revising the key areas for me (direct aisle access, some more storage). I doubt the storage will ever rival the Cirrus seat but then again the foot space in CW for me (6ft3 with size 13s...) is more important for my overall enjoyment / comfort.

What I would really like to know is what they propose to do between the E & F seats when they roll this out to an aircraft that fits 8 abreast (whenever that may be!). I would really like to see them create a full wall divide between the E&F seats, albeit with a large vertical divider which comes down for when couples are using the seats.

This will keep couples satisfied but also create a private space for sleepers more akin to the window seats. There's probably a good logistical reason this can't happen that I've missed due to my lack of any engineering knowledge - but if they could incorporate this then it creates a higher number of solo traveller friendly seats per aircraft...?