Club Europe / Euro Traveller Cabin Divider
 

Hi,

I’m travelling on a BA A319 soon and currently booked in row 4 which is showing as the first row of world traveller. My question is, will the divider / curtain go club be bothersome in this seat? Or more importantly is it likely to block the view out the window? Thanks

What seat are you?
I assume 4A or F as you mention Window. it may fall back a little, but you should be ok. its worse in C and D.

Yes, in 4F which is why I’m hoping it won’t block the windows too much! I know it’s likely to fall back for a short time on departure.

Let's put it this way - there is a well known feature for those sat in 1C for them to be occasionally clobbered by rucksacks as people board the aircraft, or get their feet kicked. Not that I can recall any such incidents on a personal level. There are many references to this in the archives of this forum. But to the best of my recollection there has been no similar complaints about the curtain, which is as harmless as it gets. It's only covers the area above the seat in front if you are in 4F. There are complaints when (for example) the runner is damaged and thus no curtain deployed at all. The antimacassar is also fairly timid too, while I'm at it. The windows is not obstructed in any event.

I wouldn't book row 4 - not because of the curtain but because that implies a currently small CE cabin with the prospect of growing. If it were to grow you could find yourself moved to 25B or similar at the last minute, by which time better options may have been taken. You're probably safe from row 7 or so backwards if the cabin is only 3 rows at present. I tend to try for one of the exit rows if I'm in ET though.

I was originally booked a lot further back, but having checked today they’ve moved Club Europe from rows 1-6 to just 1-3 meaning they’ve shortened it. Is there a strong chance of it expanding again, even though they’ve shortened it within 48 hours of the flight?

Id be cautious that the curtain moves back a row or two and you end up further back!

Yes it is a risk, do a query on "Curtain roulette" to see the tales of woe and desperation from those afflicted. That said, A319s can't have many rows of CE due to the staffing so you are slightly safer. But the theoretical maxima for CE is rows 1 to 8 if they deploy an additional crew member.

I guess "how soon" is soon? If it's later today, you're probably safe. If it's mid Feb, who knows

the flight is in the next 48 hours, so we’re not too far off, but I do appreciate things can change right up until the last minute!

I agree with those who say move further back. A long time ago I always tried to grab the first row behind the curtain in either the A or C seats because back then the way the convertible seating worked the first row of A/C still had the middle seat squished while D/E/F were normal size this was to allow the trolley to deal with the adjustments to the aisle.
These days I see no benefit of being in the first row of economy. You will get your water first but that's it. If you want to order something more substantial then pre-order from the Speedbird Cafe as the pre-orders are the next to be served after the water run.

Interesting question, I actually don’t like the first row of ET because of the curtain - it doesn’t block the window, but does make me feel claustrophobic as I can’t see forward. Yes I’m weird, but I do actively avoid that row as a result.

I’m more intrigued about the OP’s prospect of World Traveller on an A319 though :p

We quite like row 1 but agree with CWS that being clobbered by rucksacks during boarding whilst sitting in 1c was never much fun. However, we found a workaround a while ago - all you have to do is take out the tray table from the right hand armrest of 1c and hold it in the vertical position until boarding is complete and then stow it. We find it works beautifully and all clobbering ceases! For my fellow row 1 lovers (let’s not start a debate about row 1 - there are more than enough of these on FT), do try it on your next flight and let me know what you think.

To be fair, I find you get that in any aisle seat in CE. People in economy board with huge rucksacks, then walk down a tight aisle happily bashing it into the shoulders and even faces of people sitting in the aisle.

When I flew back from HAM I was all the way back in row 8 and saw one of these economy passengers casually put his huge rucksack above 5F (which was then vacant), only to walk up to his economy seat. The 5F passenger turned up a few minutes later and found no space in his locker at all. I find people who have the biggest bags are often those with rucksacks.

We have to love the curtain divider! Although if you are sat in the front of Euro Traveller, crew and passengers passing through it need to be careful. I have witnessed several near misses with people charging through the curtain only to find someone or something immediately on the other side. Recently that included a passenger holding his child while the window seat passenger tried to get out and suddenly a trolley was energetically being pushed through the curtain. Some airlines actually use transparent fabric for health and safety reasons.

But many of us might remember the days where on BA longhaul 747s, up until the early 2000s or so, a red rope was placed across the cabin zones and signs such as “First Class/ Club World passengers only beyond this point” were the norm.