NickB

Well, you did not have to reply in the first place,
Had you simply "pointed out", i.e made a simple statement of fact about the policy, I would not have reacted. What I reacted to was the "What many who come here to complain about this policy appear not to appreciate". This was unnecessarily dismissive. One can perfectly "fully appreciate" that the previous policy was worse and yet still think the current policy poor as the question of whether the current policy is a good policy is unrelated (and therefore a non sequitur) to that of whether it is better than the one before.

Again let us not confuse "better" and "good". A huge improvement can still result in something which is pretty bad if you start from a low enough base. If an airline had average delays of 4 hours and cuts that to average delays of 1 hour, that is a massive improvement. But that still is extremely poor if comparable airlines have average delays of 10 minutes.

amt

Jimmie76

That's your opinion and you're very welcome to it. I assume you're talking about BA although you don't say which airline. I personally like the current BA seats (although not the stepping over people so much). I do not like the majority of J seats out there because they require you to put your feet in a small box when reclined/to sleep. Those for me are the worst J class seats and it annoys me that BA are getting them.

amt

HMPS

That is certainly news to some of us...a link or copy of article please ?

BTW as a CUSTOMER matters not to me whether an airline is Govt owned ..if the fare, SERVICE, ground experiences are better, they get my money.

JAXBA

Quote:

Originally Posted by amt

If 8 is more than 4 is an opinion... I’d like to see what you consider a fact.

No need to be snarky, Jimmie76 was quite pleasant in response to your sourness.

You hadn’t mentioned 8 versus 4 in your previous rant but although BA is indeed ‘2-4-2’ and not yet ‘1-2-1’, count the heads in a row across the aircraft and both configurations have...4. BA could have numbered the seats differently back in 1999 but that probably would have confused people and you’d be grumpy about that too...

Fact is, some prefer the current config, others prefer reverse herringbone. Some like to pay for seats, others don’t but do anyway, and yet still others won’t since it’s completely optional.

Jimmie76

Like I say you're entitled to your opinion on what you consider a good seat and I'll defend your right to have one. The fact is I don't consider seats where your feet are in a small box a good seat. Thanks to the design they generally have a smaller seat pitch too. As an example the Apex suite is a very good seat in my opion as it offers aisle access for all passengers and no foot box. Legend has it that this was an F product that they dumbed down a bit to make it more J. On the flipside the Super Diamond, Thompson Vantage XL etc. are not so great for me because of the foot box. The number of seats doesn't really come into it for me except for the availability of purchase/redemptions. YMMV

LTN Phobia

It appears you might have been spared the misfortune of flying in QF SkySlope (some only droop but they droop so severely that they are in fact sloped). I am surprised that they are still in service at all. Long haul J in sloped beds, AND having to actually wake your neighbour to get out of your seat unless you are extremely athletic and happily stand on your seat and spring onto the aisle from the window seat, let alone stepping over feet/calves? Not for me.

Then there are the 'twist seats' of SQ. Again, I was shocked when they kept them on their A350 (non-regional). You can't recline without your feet hitting the back of the seat in front of you, unless you twist yourself so much that your back would really suffer (except in the bulkhead seats - which are really lovely seats). It's a bit daft that I have to change flight if I get aircraft change from regional A350 to non-regional, unless I can get the bulkhead seat (I say this even though I like SQ - my spend per year with SQ is probably a bit higher than on BA - and this to me was a horrifically illogical decision that it pretty upset me!)

Now, if you are talking about short haul J seats, obviously, QF ones are superior to CE. However, at c. AUD 760 one-way sale fare for a one-hour flight, I'd indeed expect better than Club Europe.

As for the seat selection fees, I'm quite happy (in an "I'm alright, jack" selfish way!) that they have what in my opinion is a high seat selection fee, because it keeps better seats for me if I book closer to departure. Without it, I dread to think I might end up in a horrid place for a solo traveller like the middle pair in CW

Andriyko

I don't think anyone is confusing that. It is a better policy, and those who complain should appreciate it even if they happen not to like this better policy. Something does not need to be good (very subjective) for people to appreciate an improvement (an objective observation here). Whether or not it is a good policy will depend upon who you ask as countless debates about it have shown.
And, I don't understand any of the comparisons that you've made - they just don't work. Delays or rotten food are deviations from the standard that the company promises, while the inability to select a seat is the standard in itself. The customer is not worse off; they're not given anything rotten or with a delay. I don't think analogies or comparisons work here.

MiraculousM

I would walk down the road 15 mins for both..

I used to use Flight Centre when they price matched flights and would save, on average, about Ł50 per Ł500 flight for exactly a 15 min walk out of my house vs booking at home direct. Unfortunately they dont offer this service anymore and from what i understand, BA make it very difficult to price match- they should do it the way John Lewis do.. then i would be way more inclined to book directly.

Globaliser

The "CW is 8-abreast, other airlines are 4-abreast" myth has been debunked plenty of times. Neither is actually a "fact" in the absolutist sense in which you appear to be using the word.

HIDDY

Well you just need to GOOGLE something like - eu commission unfair competition airlines - that should return enough material to give you the gist of it.

That goes without saying. I do the same.

etiene

Oh, for a more widespread understanding of very basic geometry...

AnaTravel

When there is an F cabin, I would always choose First rather than CW.

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