New business class: Sitting together as a couple choose middle seats
 

There are heaps of posts about which seats a couple should choose on the new business class. I wrote this to try to help. A few days ago curiosity got the best of me in new J (on a half-empty 77W) and I tested a few things. I moved over to G, and a kind FA sat in the corresponding D seat. I think it's pretty clear if you do fly with a partner and want to interact with them, the two middle seats are a no-brainer and very convenient for conversation. Note the test I ran above is on 77W.

Here's what I found:
On 77W, the two middle seats (D/G) slide horizontally forward just a shade under 10 inches. It is a massive amount of movement. When both seats are fully forward (and you close the headphone storage door) and not reclined, you can have an easy conversation with your partner. Even with both your heads resting back against your headrest, you can still see their face and chat easily with them. Your feet rest comfortably on the footrest in front of you. It's quite comfortable (although you cannot recline without losing sight of their face. The seats are comfortable enough in the upright position, but just be aware of that). The genius in the design is that if both people move back 10 inches to the original position, you cannot see the other person's face at all and privacy is restored - obviously a benefit for single travelers. You can get additional privacy by popping out the headphone closet door.

The only downside is that eating proper meal service is difficult in the forward position, because the pop-out food tray does not accommodate you. It doesn't slide forward enough. However, you can still share snacks and drinks on the smaller tray area between your seat and the middle divider. It's just the proper pop-out food tray that won't come out. Just wanted to give folks a heads up if the thought they'd be having a proper meal with their neighbor. You can easily sip drinks and chat together (in the forward position), but it will be difficult to have the full-sized meal tray in front of you in this position because of the pop-out tray issue.

The button that makes the seat slide forward is horizontal, below the seat recline button and above the leg rest button. The button is identical to the type of button in your car which makes the seat slide move backwards/forward (assuming you have power-operated seats). As I've said in many other posts, I have seen couples on more than one occasion unable to figure this out. I guess it's not intuitive on airplane seats, even though everyone has this feature in their cars. In one situation, I actually saw the husband (sitting in D) come over to his wife (in G) and sit in the footrest/well area of her G seat in order to chat with her. Very bizarre. Easily remedied by just sliding the horizontal button and moving your seats up 10 inches.

Hope this helps.

Very useful thank you. ^

We have a couple of flights coming up and have chosen the middle pair. Whilst there may be many posts about this yours is the first I've read with some specific information.

See prior posts about seats movement forward.and yes it is great.

I'm more interested in how you managed to get an FA to sit on the other seat to act as your "partner". :p

ha!

it helped that it was just me in the mini cabin on the G/K side, and the only other pax in the mini-cabin were in the A seats facing away. I saw her going up the A aisle, and flagged her down. I probably would've been too embarrassed to ask if there had been other passengers around. I was very curious myself to get this answered, because I never travel with anyone but read many questions here about folks traveling together! I had to try for myself. Opportunity was too good to pass up

This seems to be pretty obvious. The alternative is an aisle separating two persons, and the fact the pods are offset making the only choice side by side in the middle with or without sliding seats.

This info is also on the CX website:


Our new Business Class seat features up to 28 cm (11 inches) of travel. Move the seat back for privacy or forward to converse with your travelling companion. A precision toggle allows you to adjust the seat position to fit your mood and posture.





http://www.cathaypacific.com/cpa/en_...wbusinessclass

Actually the trays used can fit on the middle table if u be a bit careful and then you can eat together

Haha be careful someone might accuse that this demo will impede on safety on aircraft like pdb

Even when the seat is slid back enough to allow for some recline and/or to eat a meal, it is still easy to converse with one's partner, although one will need to lean forward and wave to catch the other's attention. It is also easy to share food by just passing a plate back and forth.

At least on the A330, the ottoman area of the center seats are narrower than the aisle seats, and the center seats are blocked off below the ottoman while they are open at the window seats, allowing small bag storage. However, the bulkhead center seats are open under the ottoman and do have bag storage. Note that even when the space under the ottoman is open, it is not permitted to store bags there during take-off and landing.

Also, at least on my flight, meal service was done in a U shape, so two people traveling together and sitting in center seats are not served together. The person in 11D, for example, was served at the start of each round, while the partner in 11G was served at the end.

Row 22 on three class 777
 

Does anyone have any comments on whether row 22 in J on the three class long haul has any downsides or no?

LAV is far away... perhaps...;)

3-class config in 77G if you sit on the left side (A,D) the lav is right in front of you.

Thanks. I do see that the lav is far away. Traveling with a lap infant (16 months old) and trying to decide if 12 D, G is better than 22 G, K. Those are my choices...

77W with F, does 11K and 12K get bothered by the galley and Lav? I have a upcoming trip in Jan, FRA to HKG. At least the flight is half full in J.