Pics: DL 767-400 business class -with newly installed lie flat seats (and more)
#91
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Portland, OR
Programs: DL MM Plat, PC&HH Gold
Posts: 2,602
I find all of these seats less than great. But as another wrote -- still way better than Y.
Since I don't sleep well on planes, I prefer the big screen AVOD on the 330's and 747's. What is the AVOD like with the new DL seats on 767 and 777?
The tiny screen on the old seats is hard to watch after a while.
Since I don't sleep well on planes, I prefer the big screen AVOD on the 330's and 747's. What is the AVOD like with the new DL seats on 767 and 777?
The tiny screen on the old seats is hard to watch after a while.
#92
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: SJC (formerly CHI and STL)
Programs: AS, DL, AA, UA, WN
Posts: 1,013
#93
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: ATL
Posts: 637
I liked the 77L seats. I have not flown the 764 seats. I found the old 763 seats to be useless for sleeping, but that was a long time ago. I could probably sleep okay in them now.
The 77L seat is fairly narrow, and I can see how someone who is claustrophobic would not like either the 77L or the 764 BE seats. But for those who like privacy, and especially side sleepers, it is appealing.
As for the hardness, I read somewhere the designers know people want a harder surface for sleeping, and a softer surface for sitting. That is why VS, and some other airlines, have flip-over seats. There is harder padding on the bed side, and softer padding on the seat side.
But who knows. Despite that empirical evidence, and despite years of evidence firmer mattresses are better for reducing lower back pain, go mattress shopping today. Firm mattresses are the exception.
#94
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: SEA
Programs: UA Silver, BA Gold, DL Gold
Posts: 9,779
On the flat-bed 767, I would say that they are at least as big as the old WBC screens. The only real bummer is that they are wide-screen, but the content is traditional 4:3.
Personally, I think that the new seats are pretty good. I found them comfortable and good for sleeping, and I'm at 6' and wear a 42" jacket. The wife really likes them (she prefers them to BA), but she is smaller and isn't overly concerned with width. Pretty much every flat-bed J seat comes with some sort of compromise, and the compromises with these seats are bearable, IMO.
FWIW, I didn't find the tray table so awful. I wish it sat a little higher, and there is a trick to getting it back in position, but I don't think it is the Rubik's Cube of tray tables or anything.
Personally, I think that the new seats are pretty good. I found them comfortable and good for sleeping, and I'm at 6' and wear a 42" jacket. The wife really likes them (she prefers them to BA), but she is smaller and isn't overly concerned with width. Pretty much every flat-bed J seat comes with some sort of compromise, and the compromises with these seats are bearable, IMO.
FWIW, I didn't find the tray table so awful. I wish it sat a little higher, and there is a trick to getting it back in position, but I don't think it is the Rubik's Cube of tray tables or anything.
#95
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Atlanta & San Francisco
Programs: DL 2MM DM & My Wife is a DL 3MM DM
Posts: 2,784
Not having experienced the DL lie-flat BE seat but having flown and slept many nights in the A330 and 747 WBC seats (lie flat as well, just slightly angled - but so is actually good for health and coincidentally happens how I was recommended to sleep by two doctors), I would say that really instead of putting in the flat un-angled BE seats, DL should reconsider instead putting in the NW and KL style WBC seats. They are well proven to work well and be comfortable; no wonder that both NW and KL selected them. Sure, the slight angle can be annoying if one has slippery clothes, but other than that it's great for both sleeping and relaxing. The pod gives good privacy - just enough, but it's not as much a "coffin" feeling like it seems to be in the DL BE lie-flat un-angled seats.
Personally I always try to avoid DL aircraft (many 767's on long routes are really, really bad cabin interior and lack of IFE wise and seemingly have been in need of a cabin overhaul for over a decade, and the lie-flat un-angled BE seats have never seemed very appealing to me and seem to close to each other - one is sure to hear the person next to one snoring, it seems) and try to fly on the NW 330s and 747's instead whenever possible.
Personally I always try to avoid DL aircraft (many 767's on long routes are really, really bad cabin interior and lack of IFE wise and seemingly have been in need of a cabin overhaul for over a decade, and the lie-flat un-angled BE seats have never seemed very appealing to me and seem to close to each other - one is sure to hear the person next to one snoring, it seems) and try to fly on the NW 330s and 747's instead whenever possible.
#96
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: ATL
Posts: 637
The screen sizes on the 764 flat bed aircraft and 77L flat bed aircraft are 10.6".
So about the same.
As for the AVOD system, the 77L in BE has an outstanding system, with a large number of current and popular movies to select from. Last summer I watched Slumdog Millionaire, Gran Torino, Frost/Nixon, and American Beauty to and from SYD.
#97
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: ATL
Posts: 637
One more thought on the new DL 764 BE seats. Compared to BA's and UA's J lie-flats, which are six abreast on the 767, I do not think the DL seats can be considered that narrow.
As for the "coffin effect", it seems worse for the DL seats than others, but the BA window seats probably are the most isolated. And the VS Upper Class design, now used by many airlines, also has a serious "coffin effect".
The design selected by DL for the 764 does seem to balance privacy and density.
As for the "coffin effect", it seems worse for the DL seats than others, but the BA window seats probably are the most isolated. And the VS Upper Class design, now used by many airlines, also has a serious "coffin effect".
The design selected by DL for the 764 does seem to balance privacy and density.
#98
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: ATL
Posts: 637
Interesting. The 77L BE AVOD movie content was definitely not stretch-o-vision. I do not think it was HD, but it was DVD quality.
#99
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Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2009
Programs: Delta skymiles DM + 1MM
Posts: 8,144
One more thought on the new DL 764 BE seats. Compared to BA's and UA's J lie-flats, which are six abreast on the 767, I do not think the DL seats can be considered that narrow.
As for the "coffin effect", it seems worse for the DL seats than others, but the BA window seats probably are the most isolated. And the VS Upper Class design, now used by many airlines, also has a serious "coffin effect".
The design selected by DL for the 764 does seem to balance privacy and density.
As for the "coffin effect", it seems worse for the DL seats than others, but the BA window seats probably are the most isolated. And the VS Upper Class design, now used by many airlines, also has a serious "coffin effect".
The design selected by DL for the 764 does seem to balance privacy and density.
#100
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Upstate, NY
Posts: 3,359
I have yet to experience this product...BUT the "coffin" comments are not just from people on this forum...
I was talking to an FA on a transcon after the seat first came out and she mentioned she had worked one of the first flights with the new seat..
She made a remark about how the pax looked like people in coffins when they were sleeping...
The "coffin" effect is due to two things...
1) When flat the seat is pretty low to the ground
2) The armrests do NOT fold down with the seat and there is no "canopy" so the pax is "framed" by the seat like in a coffin...
I was talking to an FA on a transcon after the seat first came out and she mentioned she had worked one of the first flights with the new seat..
She made a remark about how the pax looked like people in coffins when they were sleeping...
The "coffin" effect is due to two things...
1) When flat the seat is pretty low to the ground
2) The armrests do NOT fold down with the seat and there is no "canopy" so the pax is "framed" by the seat like in a coffin...
#101
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Wayne, PA USA
Programs: DL MM, Marriott Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium, HHonors Gold
Posts: 7,242
Have you ever seen an SQ MegaTop FC cabin at night with everyone in their sleeper suit and in sleep mode? It honestly looks sort of like some bizarre science fiction movie with either hibernating people in pods, or storage units. I've not been in the product yet, but I suspect the "coffin" comment is a bit of a dramatization.
#102
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Upstate, NY
Posts: 3,359
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N06mWF2yq6c
Nobody is saying it looks EXACTLY like a coffin, there is no lid of course... but they look more like coffins than beds...
I'd love to try them, no matter what they've got to be better than a Y seat!
#103
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 1,589
They are my first flat bed seats apart from Air France's first class. I really liked them, AF first is a bit better but so much more expensive. They are better than AF business or CO's non-flat business (although these are great too). I believe it is Delta's best product.
#104
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2001
Location: MSY; 2-time FT Fantasy Football Champ, now in recovery.
Programs: AA lifetime GLD; UA Silver; Marriott LTTE; IHG Plat,
Posts: 14,518
1A or 1D?
Seatguru says 1D is "very private because a closet blocks view of other pax", and that 1A is standard. Some on this thread said 1D can be noisy. Which would you choose, assuming a flight where you hoped to sleep most of the way?
Seatguru says 1D is "very private because a closet blocks view of other pax", and that 1A is standard. Some on this thread said 1D can be noisy. Which would you choose, assuming a flight where you hoped to sleep most of the way?
#105
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Meechigan
Posts: 1,006
2 trips last month and the materials/mechanics of the seats were in good condition; however don't look into the nooks and crannies when you move out of the upright position - the amount of old food and trash down there was disgusting