choosethedrew

I have not been feeling positively disposed towards British Airways of late. The unbundling, specifically the introduction of BOB, the aged fleet, the current CW seat itself, the (at times) moody staff, the mindless focus on cost reduction at any expense, the re-presentation of Gate Gourmet food on new plates, the divergence of the marketing vs. the reality, the crap new CE catering on long routes. I could go on but won't as I know this forum is generally for BA fans, but the result is I have gone to every length to avoid the airline over the last 2 years. Not that they should care as I am small fry.

However I do admit this new CW seat is deeply impressive. Will I book business class on BA again? Not yet, as for me what matters is not the concept or intent, but the reality of how fast this seat is rolled out, and in the meantime I can enjoy something almost as good on many alternative airlines with a guarantee of availability. Sadly BA is well behind the curve here and it's going to take a lot more commitment than trading off a seat on 2% of the fleet for some years.

PJSMITH0

Scrudgy

So my paid company travel is usually full fare Y/W. I walk past the CW and think no thanks, would rather put my redemptions into F.

This new seat totally changes that, and I will now be looking at booking redemptions into this seat as soon as I can.

I think it looks great

1010101

I'm not that negative on it. I'd certainly look to book this seat, particularly paired with the aircraft its rolling out on.

My worry is that BA is only just rolling out a design that's coming to the end of its life with many other airlines. If you commit your mileage accrual to BA again, in 10 years time are you going to be stuck with another Club World when everyone else has moved on to something newer and better?

T8191

But did everyone abandon BA for better seats when they came along on other carriers? Surely a large part of the calculation is route/price? And BA’s route network (for UK residents) is very tempting.

OK, given a broad 50/50 choice on a variety of parameters, we will pick AA for the ‘end of life’ seat BA is just about to start introducing: we like the seat! But, I’ll be very pleased to be worrying about it in 10 years from now!

chistery

1010101

Obviously not everybody will or even can, but a significant number did. Enough to make a dent in the passenger yields and enough to make them start upgrading the product again.

Mutu

Do you have some support for that assertion? The 380 and super-hi 747 are relatively recent J expansions suggesting demand is there in prime routes (the current J seat was 15 years old when first fitted to the 380). Overall J loads have grown and grown with capacity (ok doesn't mean yield isnt being trashed to make this happen but look at BA operating margin %. It is close to world leading which suggests they are successfully squeezing every penny of profit from this seat before launching the new CS)

mishkira

Well, while I really glad to see BA has finally decided to improve current seats and even switch to 1-2-1 setup, however all my experiences with fish-bone seats on A350 were no good so far. I tried these on SQ, CX, QR, AY. All have the same issue - the table or front/side panels are very close to my legs, so there is no enough space for my knees (I am 6'2'') to turn around while laying in deep Z-shape or horizontal position. It feels like laying in a coffin on my back all the time, I cannot fold my legs, bring up knees, turn on side easily etc.
In comparison, J seats on current BA planes are still ok for this specific reason. SQ B777 or A380 seats are so much better, wider and no issues to sleep/move/turn vs crumpy A350 seats.

I wish new BA seats will be bit wider and allow more space for the knees/legs, but I don't hold much hope as manufacturing company will be probably the same (?).

Any views from people who had same issue?

GodAtum

I am very impressed with the new seat but ironically it looks better than current F!! That's gonna cause many first world problems, new CW or crap old F lol!

rockflyertalk

A P Yu

The new and smaller F cabin will still provide the key exclusivity / privacy which people who need to travel F expect and are willing to pay for. Even if the seat isn't massively better than the J one. Adele and Sir Paul McCartney just don't want to mingle with 52 others.

Cw novice

Surely the solution will be that it's being introduced on 3 class planes and will only be introduced on 4 class in tandem with the new F seat. That would be the common sense solution

FAA1996

In a couple of years it will be nice to not have to avoid BA for their tired J offering. It's sad though that thyr are merely playing catch-up to every other competitor. These Diamond seats, which AA offers in some planes, are pretty comfortable but not as comfortable as the AA or CX Cirrus seats.

T8191

I confess to having never bothered to learn the names of the various seats. I’ve never boarded an aircraft and gone, “Oooh, a Cirrus v.2.06.”

Should the seats have nameplates to help we ignoramuses?