Had the new suite for the first time FRA - HKG yesterday.

We’re not fans. It’s ok, but for selling sleeping the old seats are better. My door didn’t work - taped open and the crew didn’t care.

(Oh my side of the place the crew were pretty disorganised anyway. Luckily, the person in the window seat had a good choice of drinks because I kept getting theirs. No issue with the food though, which is more important for me anyway.)

The foot-well is too narrow (common complaint) and the entire space seems narrower, maybe because of the door.

i don’t get the fascination with these doors. No one (that I noticed 😁 ) crawled along the aisles, and everyone walking can see over the top of it anyway.

New IFE is a big improvement and I really like the little sliding table and shallow cubbyhole for small items.

We had to have the divider closed for takeoff and landing. Why? It blocks view, which I thought could be useful in an emergency. Not that it mattered - the divider flew open on landing anyway.

edited due to many typos!

On BA, the divider between the seats in J has to be open during takeoff and landing. Why is it the Cathay ones have to be closed?

Anyone know the reasoning?

Have now taken Aria on multiple long haul and short haul flights. And have had family/helper combinations in tow for three of them, rest solo. I'm still not sure how I feel about it although it clearly looks and feels great.

Aria is better for Instagram. It has nice finishes and modern tech. I do like the door. TV res is nice. Easy charging. And I prefer Aria tray table to the A350 version. Whether it's actually much better, I'm not sure. Feels like the first takes: incrementally fine but not a game changer. And some real downsides. I seem to bang myself in Aria a lot more. I'm not big.

The post above mine is why I decided to add to this. I've now gone with my younger toddler twice in Aria (once alone w him, multiple w whole family) and the barrier close requirement is crazy if you're on your own with a toddler. FA did their jobs and kept making me close it. Son got up multiple times during taxi , solution: I ran around and sat with him during takeoff, completely against the rules I know, but much better than him unbuckling it and waddling down the aisle on takeoff.

It's more manageable when we had bigger party, you stick your spouse or helper on the A or K side (someone gave me that rec above, highly agree, thank you!!). But just you and kid, flying with a young one, it doesn't work to close the barrier. They also require the shoulder strap even if the kid is 2 and it goes over their face, obviously unsafe to the untrained eye. The other thing that makes no obvious sense to this passenger is why on some airlines barriers are required to be open, but on CX the safe way is closed. Certainly this is a contradiction.

My last long-haul flight the other day, list of broken Aria things: armrest stuck (I'm usually handy with it, but neither me nor 4 or 5 flight attendants could get it down), light in footwell stuck in on position, shoulder strap seat belt. The build quality of the armrest reminds me of the 35G "aisle guard" armrest thing. Except I think this Aria armrest will get more wear and tear and thus be broken a lot more.

QR also requires barrier up for the middle seats in QSuites. Something to do with not being able to impinge on another pax’s egress space - it’s a certification requirement as I understand it.

No expert on the matter but I would imagine an evacuation would be quicker if it was mandatory to keep these sliding doors open.

My uninformed logic is that they’re better open (similar to window blinds) so we can see what’s going on in an emergency.

i suppose if testing shows people climb into someone else’s space then that could be why they’re recommended to stay closed. But what about those in Y? They’re allowed to climb over each other to get out 😁

The reason for CX Aria divider problem
 

With the assistance of AI, I think I know the answer (and why JAL and SQ F, UA and BA biz are different from CX): it is how the divider sits in the "non tension" position.

In a sudden stop, CXs Aria horizontal dividers may launch into the closed position, which would be dangerous. That's because CXs "non tensed" position for the Aria sliders is CLOSED, and the mechanism is in the front of the seats.

This realization (thanks AI!) now makes me think it is a really dumb design on CXs part. I have flown a little bit of Polaris on United (I imagine the shudders in here), the middle seats have a up/down divider mechanism. I recall the old style JAL First does as well. Those are down (in the non-tensed mode) for takeoff and landing. I think if memory serves me right SQ 777 F middles are also same, must be in down mode for takeoff, up down mechanism. So the non-tensed position for an up down divider is DOWN.

Horizontal isn't necessarily a problem this way if you design it the opposite way as CX. But CX, by having the Aria horizontal divider (D/G seats) which extends from the FRONT instead of coming from the back (or, having vertical style design), has designed it stupidly, because the non-tensed position is CLOSED and it's under tension while OPEN. I'm not sure if this was an requisite design move based on the seat, or if someone actively made this decision. If it was an active decision that wasn't requisite for engineering reasons, it was very boneheaded.

Definitely, if given the choice in a horizontal divider like Aria, the divider should extend from the back (so the "non tensed" natural position is OPEN). Opposite of CXs design. Small thing but I think this is why. Whatever idiot did that design, if unintended, it Is going to cause the flight attendants plenty of problems with children in Aria J. I didn't appreciate the issue until we flew with our kids, but I've also seen it with others while flying solo. Basically no way for parents to control kids in the "above 2 but not mature" age group. (Which is a subjective range!)

I just landed from an Aria suite flight and I wish to confirm some of your impressions.
Aria is visually great. I also like the big TV with excellent resolution. But my positive impressions stop there. It really feels cramped compared to other new seats with door. Lots of things are broken and stuffed. The door is really a problem as on all my flights there were doors stuck and FAs spent lots of time on others. Arm rest also stuck. Maybe the supplier will fix those in future delivery but a FA complained that they have to spend a lot of time explaining to pax how everything worked and that the unumber of problems was high.
Frankly this light confirmed my feeling that Aria is, at best, disapointing.

As I mentioned in my post, on landing our divider partition flew open. It could only fly closed if there was some very sudden acceleration.

you're correct, but this is precisely my main point.

slamming OPEN is not dangerous (this is the back to front direction)

slamming CLOSED is dangerous, if there are fingers / arms / whatever in there, they could be serious injuries. (this is the front to back direction)

you're right, in that it seems unlikely there would be a sudden acceleration - the plane pitches up? who knows. but what is clear, is there is no harm in the divider slamming from closed to open. vs. there is potentially great harm if the dividers slams from open to closed. I believe this is the reason CX insists on it being closed.

and that's also why the design seems very foolish. i ended up sitting with my toddler for takeoff, completely against the rules, but I saw no better solution. on my very first Aria flight (I was solo), I saw a mother arguing with the staff over what I now believe was precisely the same issue (daughter was in G, mother was in D). Mother eventually just pushed the divider open against staff rules. I have to imagine the rulebreaking will be very commonplace due to the design.

You might want to consider A/D or G/K seating pattern when travelling alone with a young child - since the suite doors have to be locked open for TTL. Particularly in the second cabin where there is more alignment between the window and centre seats (there is an inconvenient stagger in the front cabin).

Ah, now get what you’re saying, QRC3288.

Although the divider is unlikely to slam shut, it definitely can’t do so if it’s already shut. Makes sense.

Bad design, as you say.

Still, if it's a toddler in a A/D or G/K setup, I can't keep eye contact with the toddler (or more importantly, make sure he can see me or what I tell him) when the seats are set up for take off, and I can't (or shouldn't be) walking into his seat to make sure he's strapped in.

yea, we've flown with the kids multiple times now on it. the recent flight just two of us (me + toddler), i cognizantly made decision to sit in D/G (vs. D/A or G/K) and intended to just break rules and keep the thing open. but the FAs were very attentive even through taxi!

what percysmith is saying is really my concern, i can't keep eye contact w/ him if I'm in the aisle and he's in middle, esp. with the shoulder strap requirement for me. It's a lot easier to just break the rules and keep the divider open even a little bit. a few flights ago i was in K and helper behind, wife and toddler in D/G. I kept trying to lean around to stop my toddler from running off but the FAs were quite aggressive about policing my shoulder strap (which prevents me from leaning out much into the aisle), which is why for the next flight I just said to hell with it I'll take D/G.

there really is no good option if you have a young, non-infant kid except just break the rules. easiest rule to break is open the divider a little bit once the crew sit down for takeoff. my toddler is now getting to the age where TV is interesting but even a few months ago that didn't distract him. soon enough we can just play cartoons like his sibling.

what's definitely undeniable, is that the shoulder strap over my toddler's face is obviously a flagrant safety problem. so i undid that too after the FAs sat down. for bigger children the shoulder strap isn't problem but some kids under 5, the position of it (and inability to adjust height) means it just goes straight across their face.

Yeah I guess it depends on age and temperament of the child. We fly now with a Master 5 and I find the cross aisle arrangement works best on both Aria and non-Aria as I actually find the angle of the middle pair harder to make eye contact and to “fuk see” the young un if required.

The shoulder strap is in lieu of airbag in the seat shell so I get why it is required. I just have Master 5 tuck it under his armpit similar to what he would do in a passenger vehicle which so far hasn’t been a problem.

The best J design for kids still is the middle pair on QSuites.