msm2000uk

It was in reference to a post, which in turn, seemed to be referring to the issues with trolleys in the aisles.

M

FlyingScientist

NWIFlyer

I can relate the lighter foam to running shoes, which manufacturers are also trying to make lighter and cheaper to produce.

One way of doing that is to use a greater percentage of blown foam compared to traditional EVA. The downside is that this compresses quicker, in spite of what all the manufacturers say, so shoes wear out much quicker.

I’m not an expert on seat design, but every aspect of this description points towards a very similar end result in terms of longevity and comfort.

flyerkit

I see the fixed back as a benefit. Allows me to use my laptop or hook my phone on the seat back.

orbitmic

Indeed. The other comment - more specifically about this trip - was that there will be no drinkable water in the rear galley, so if BA insists on using the water tank rather than investing in large bottles of free filtered or mineral water, potable water would need to be taken from the tank in the front galley after both ET and CE services have ended. In other words, some could be excused to think the idea might be to make getting 'free water' such an unwelcome and uneasy pain in the back that customers might just give up and 'prefer' to pay for a bottle instead.

florens

Here we go, 2 days into the new year and already some bad news, yet not unexpected.

The only enhancement improvement I see is the USB power. I assume it'll be free, but you never know...

kanderson1965

florens

Indeed. Duly noted and edited in the original post.

headingwest

Just about puts it in a nutshell. ^

I very rarely recline, but I definitely see the new seating as another deterioration in BA. Who in their right mind would want to sit on those seats for over 2 and a half hours? Additionally, the indication that they have no intention of reintroducing any complimentary drinks, has convinced me to let my BAEC status lapse. Quite simply other airlines provide a much more hospitable product and that's where I'll go.

kanderson1965

I suppose I am lucky that my experience with the BA shorthaul product is limited to domestics from MAN (and LBA when BA can be bothered to run them). Because of this, I will spend less time on BA’s 29” minimal padding seats than I do on my daily commute with 26” seat pitch seats with less than 1” of foam padding at times. At least I can guarantee an UD seat though.

I pity anyone with a flight longer than 1hour to suffer these new seats, looking at them.

V10

I remember a broadly similar discussion around seats when the current SH cabin was being rolled out. Now I'm certainly not an expert (thankfully, as they're rather out of favour these days) but my arse has spent enough time in an aircraft seat for me to have a certain amount of intuition around how much comfort might be expected. The current cabin was rolled out, I thought it didn't look particularly comfortable and thusly was this suspicion confirmed following evaluation.

I'm getting much the same suspicion with these new seats - for all the talk of "innovative netting" this is a straight forward compromise of weight saving and reduction in the amount of space that each seat occupies in order to facilitate greater cabin densification, which inevitably will result in reduced passenger comfort. As someone said upthread, if they were that great they'd be used in the whole cabin. BA isn't prepared to risk them in its already spartan CE cabin, and that tells its own story.

Worcester

LordBuckethead

I've learnt that my comfort limit on the current seats is 2hrs (gate-to-gate) before I start to feel very uncomfortable. Given that in the photo the new one looks about half as thick, I need to start researching which flights are max. 1hr in length!

stifle

I always vote 6 as the likelihood of recommending them to friends or family. This is considered a negative response. I don't really know why.
Are you sure? I know it's a legal requirement for licensed premises to supply free drinking water to customers, but (1) that is qualified by "where practical", (2) planes don't operate under an alcohol licence, and (3) it's unclear if someone is a "customer" of the trolley if not buying anything else.

geordiejetsetter

All short haul services will now have a CE section (happy to be corrected if wrong) so it’s a bit disappointing not seeing plans for a 2-2 seating arrangement towards the front similar to US domestic. The middle seat seat is now pretty much redundant in the first 10 (or 12) rows acting as a stand for the CE seat tray.

I used to quite like the old BA seating with the adjustable arm rest that allowed an increased seat width.

Either of the above would be a welcome addition particularly on the longer short haul routes.