crnk

True. It would be very smart of CO to try to roll out some of the new seats while the rest of the 772 fleet goes through AVOD and nose to tail power upgrades....though I am not sure the pace this is moving at or when the seats will be ready.

sdm1130

Interesting way of introducing the seat. I would have expected something with a little more fanfare. When will we see the seat on display at EWR and/or IAH?

I like that they went with a true lay-flat seat and a much larger video display! I agree with the poster that commented that window seats are going to be a pain to get out of, but I think CO had to go this way so they didn't have to reduce the number of seats. Does anyone think the padding on the seat looks a bit thin (like DL's herringbone seats)? I hope this is not a problem when sitting upright in the seat.

It's interesting that they make no mention of putting these seats on to the 767s. I suppose this means they will all be retired a few years after the 787s start to come online.

Anglo Large Clawed Otter

Nah. CO isn't UA. It won't be overnight, but I'd bet they get the 772s and 764s re-fitted rather quickly once the rollout starts. They were rather speedy with the Wingletting of the 752s and AVOD upgrades to 772s and 752s.

PhillyPhlyer40

2010 for the START date!

No talk of when the refurb/completion of existing aircraft will be!?

With the pace of other projects (AVOD), expect these new seats to be installed VERY slowly!

KD5MDK

So many new seats. Has anybody created a chart of airlines, their seat timelines, and which ones are identical/slightly modified versions of each other?

OPFlyer

It looks very nice but I just don't wan't to wait two years for it.

Weatherboy

It's a shame CO didn't tap into this community more for feedback on the seats.

Wiirachay

How do you get more room and yet increase capacity for a given area? Is the pitch the same?

rkkwan

Because the feet of a passenger goes into the a well that's under the armrest - and the "Tower of Power" - between two passengers in front of you.

The current layout waste a lot of space, and CO had previously opted to go for the extra width on the 772 - not only the seats, but also the aisle - for its BusinessFirst product. 10 years ago, that put it ahead of other regular business class offerings.

J.Edward

It's hard to tell from the picture but it seems like the seats are kinda offset, almost angled even, from the ones in front of them.

That said it's good to see CO upping BF2 in light of the 787 delays. I wonder which aircraft are scheduled for the update (787, 777, 757(?) 767(?)).

Wiirachay

Looks like CO will be getting my business again. I'll be flying to Asia in 2010 and 2011. Hopefully, It'll be on the 787. I love their service; however, I found that their seat has falling behind the times.

Thanks for the great explanations about staggered BF seats. I wonder how the anti-social seats will work on the B767 then.

- Pat

vsop

Guess I will have to stick to Emirates for my suites

HeathrowGuy

An excellent (soft) announcement by CO! The seat looks like it will do everything CO will need it to do -- offer a true lie-flat experience, maintain adequate seating density, and closely complement the new United Business seat so as to offer a "common" longhaul premium product for the joint venture.

I think CO is acting very, VERY smartly by having such a long lag time between announcement and installation. Numerous carriers have had their refurbishment programs turn into exercises in frustration by using overly optimistic schedules that the suppliers could not adhere to. And in the meantime, the current 777 BF seat won't kill any of us -- it's lie-flat enough until the installations begin.

I also think it's smart for CO to avoid installing that lie-flat in the 767s. Years ago, a major airline exec said it best in an industry publication -- "The economics of a lie-flat product in a 767 are rather poor," and that's something that holds almost as true today as it did during the roaring 1990s when lie-flat products first began to make an appearance. I'm sure those more fully in the know can explain it better, but thus far, virtually every airline that has done a true lie-flat seat on a 767 either: 1) has alot of underutilized space; 2) takes a massive hit in seating density; or 3) has installed an extremely narrow seat, barely wider than a normal economy seat. True, there may be some more wiggle room in the possibilities for the 764s, but Delta has exlcusive rights to the Thompson seat that will be used in its 764s, so CO will have to await another solution. Unless, it follows through with installing the existing 777 seat design on the 767 fleet, which was the original intention in the early 2000s.

Fletch F Fletch

I cant get either of these two links to work, did they change? Any others having the same issue? Thanks.

HeathrowGuy

Uh-oh...the content for those links has been removed. Did CO just tease us?