Excellent experience in BF
 

Hello fellow FlyerTalkers,

I'm sure there are countless reports of good experiences in BusinessFirst and I'm sure many of you travel up front regularly, so I won't bore you with a long trip report. I just wanted to say how pleasant my first BF experience was. I flew in seat 2L, TLV-EWR on Thursday night on a mileage upgrade. My company is a small startup, and so we don't pay for business class (even though I flew 180,000 miles this year for work) - a policy I think is fair. Still, I have to say that I'm probably spoiled forever now that I had my first BF flight ;)

I found the seat to be incredibly comfortable, it just lulled me to sleep. I know some people would prefer it if reclined all the way to 180 degrees, but I found it more than sufficient. The food was fantastic, so much overhead space for my things (even though I only travel with one small carry-on and no checked luggage), my neighbor was very friendly and interesting, and the FAs made sure I was comfortable and had everything I needed. No crying babies (even if there was a little snoring throughout the cabin).

In any event, for those who wonder if it's worth spending 30k miles on an upgrade to BF, I wholeheartedly recommend it. Granted, coach on Continental is okay (especially for us Plats who get exit row seating), but if you're in Y or H and can get a mileage upgrade without paying the service fee, go for it!

I'm now well rested in San Francisco! :)

Glad to hear you had a nice flight. I second your opinion regarding the CO BF seat. I like it a lot more than "lie flat" seats personally. It is like a big cradle that I can turn sideways in and go to sleep. A lot of "lie flat" seats have insufficient padding or actually lean you over backwards when you are lying down, and I hate that. CO gives you massive legroom, great seat width, and good food/service. I find it a slight notch better than the UA first class suites, but only because UA food sucks.

Sounds like you haven't experienced many Business Class products on international airlines.

^Glad to hear you had a great experience..As you can see on this Board..for the most part people here are just too happy to complain..there are hardly any compliments (such as the one you give) yet when someone sits around thinking up something to complain about,everyone is more than happy to join in and give thier one cent of what they think..notice hardly anyone is mentioning they think the BF seat is great also..They will just mention that they want to get upgraded for free and then complain about the service they got for free..Thankfully CO does Not comp upgrades to International BusinessFirst..

Agree, but can I complain if I pay for BF?

I recently flew BF EWR-CDG and the experience was absolutely outstanding. The new 777 BF seats are excellent, not perfect but excellent. I agree that they are better than the unpadded lie-flat seats on most airlines. I love the tremendous width and comfort of the seat. I wish the foot extension were a little more comfortable.

The service and food were outstanding and on the way back I had one of the AVOD 777's with a spectacular selection of programming (370+ movies).

Although I did not upgrade, I only paid $1,200 rt, on an R fare, one of the great bargains going in the airline business today.

To me this is CO at its best, which is fabulous.

I flew EWR-HKG-EWR last december 28th for 3 days on an R fare in BF for around $1300.

That's amazing...especially when you consider the full fare for J EWR-HKG ($10,700)

I would not call CO's 55" seat pitch "massive." Most other Skyteam carriers have at least 60" pitch in their business class cabins - DL, NW, KL, AF, and KE (on certain aircraft) all have 60" pitch.

I actually prefer the 767 BF seats to the 777 seats because I find the 767 seats more comfortable for sleeping (due to the lack of a "slidey" effect).

Agreed the pitch is less, but sufficient for anyone under about 6'2" and the way the seats recline makes very good use of the space available.

If only the same could be said of CO's economy cabin...

I agree that CO's pitch definitely is sufficient (I am well under 6'2"). But, 60" pitch makes it easier to get out of one's seat and climb over a seatmate if seated at the window when the passenger in front is reclined. Airlines really need to move to hard shell seats, such as those on AF and KE, that eliminate the recline obstruction problem. Plus, I find that cabins with 60" pitch just feel more comfortable and less crowded.

Of course, as a passenger I don't see how anyone could object to more pitch for any reason.

The fact remains that CO has the least pitch of any airline doing international long-haul in Y (without a premium economy section) along with KL and QF.

In J, CO is among the lower third or so in a comparison of seat pitch (remember BMI has 49" pitch in their premium economy)

Agreed. Except with regard to food and service, CO BF is a second-rate, last-generation product when compared to the business class offered by many international carriers.

That is awesome for a roundtrip biz fare. I'm surprised they no one talked a bout it last year.

Seat is not lie-flat but quite comfortable...also CO always prices the product very competitively...unless you're paying full retail (which is rarely necessary) it's one of the best values going in international J...

I agree on all counts and think BF is a really good product, especially for how the lower fare classes are priced. And, from a financial standpoint, that strategy seems to be working for CO.

Nonetheless, I still think BF falls into the category of second-rate when compared with international carriers, and even some of CO's Skyteam partners. Of course, that does not mean that it is not a good product; it is just last-generation.

I find all the BF seats to be comfortable, but they are still last-generation. And, the fact that only four of their current widebody aircraft have AVOD is borderline unacceptable. DL (on almost all flights), NW, AF (on most flights), and KE (on almost all their ICN-US flights) have AVOD in J on their widebodies. In my opinion, CO really stands out with its BF food and service, along with the feeling of "familiarity" if you are a CO elite and flying on your main carrier. For example, I really enjoy the service from a tray as opposed to a cart, as well as the cheese selection and choice of four entrees. But, even the service can be spotty at times and the food catered at many outstations (especially in South America) is not as good as the food ex-USA. That would be true for other airlines, as well, so I suppose those facts should not weigh as heavily into the analysis.

Agreed on the glacial pace of adding AVOD...although the AVOD they have is truly spectacular...for someone who works in the film business like me I was very pleasantly surprised to see that they have included a very sophisticated compilation of some of the greatest classic films of all time.

As far as the product being behind, of course this is right, with the only caveat being that some of the latest generation products on other carriers may be new but, in my opinion, not actually as comfortable as BF, even if they feature lie-flat and some of the other latest gizmos..

Yes, I have to agree. One example is AF. Their new (have not experienced the "new new" seats that are closer to truly flat) business class product generally is outstanding. I find the seats to be more comfortable than any CO BF seat because they have a good "firmness-softness" balance, excellent lumbar support, 60" pitch with hard-shell seats and no one reclining into you, good width (21.5"), a massage feature, and most importantly, can be reclined into a hybrid cradle position that allows the seatback to go nearly flat, but with the legrest lifted much higher than in the sleep position, thereby eliminating the sliding effect. The CO 777 seat is not as versatile - you either have to sleep in the full cradle position or full sleep position - there is no happy medium. In addition, their AVOD system is very good (still no EK, of course).

Nonetheless, there are aspects to AF's business class product that are not as good as BF. First, the seating is 2-3-2, and which results in more passengers than in BF (the AF 773 has 68 J seats), less personalized attention by the FA's, and if the cabin is full, a feel that you are almost in some sort of premium economy cabin due to the number of passengers. Also, AF does meal service from a cart and the FA's totally disappear between the service runs - they expect you to serve yourself from the (admittedly nice) bars they set up in the J galleys. Recently, I found myself on an AF flight in a very comfortable seat, enjoying the AVOD, good food and great (by airline standards) wine, but really missing the service on CO.

I am not a CO elite (at least no longer).

As a native French speaker I have always liked flying AF, but I do not like 2-3-2 seating. Also, you will never find anything approaching an R fare on AF J.