NoY

Noooooo. That doesn’t work, now does it! If I am a solo pax flying alone & I take ANY seat in Business Class, I have to either a) have someone climb over me or b) I have to climb over someone (assuming no spare seat next to me). How 90’s is that LOL

skywardhunter

I think Emirates is pretty clear in their positioning and what they would say is if you don't want to climb over/be climbed over then buy a first class ticket.

ioto1902

Such verbatim wouldn't surprise me coming from Michael O'Leary. Sir Tim would chose his words more carefully. The first one is just a bloody Irish anyway.

eternaltransit

Michael O'Leary knows when market sentiment changes and adapt accordingly - now Ryanair is all smiles and customer service with the "Always Getting Better" campaign...which seems to be working for them.

With regards to the comments about density on a 2-3-2 configuration - JL's direct aisle access product in J is on a 77W configured 8-49-40-135, which has 1 row of J in the forward F section. They also have a PE product and are 3-3-3 in Y. Given an EK 77W is 8-42-310 (mainly), equipping new deliveries with 8-42-300 (remove 1 row of Y), is not a stretch. Load factors across the network are not 100% so there would be room to do this, imho.

The argument for 8-49-270 is slightly more difficult (7 J seats could roughly be about the same revenue as 30 Y seats) but the same principle applies.

For the high Y demand routes you always have a 2-class A380

Canuck2012

My, some of you guys complain a lot. Is having to lift one's leg a few inches in the air to pass over your seat neighbor so onerous?

I think these new seats look fantastic, comfortable, like a mini-lounge, as opposed to a sterile dentist chair. Combine good food/drink/hospitality/connectivity, price point, Emirates is hard to beat.

Pity the poor sods who have to fly in economy.

eternaltransit

It's not onerous to me - but it is to the person who wakes up if they are a light sleeper, or if I'm on the aisle and you have someone who constantly gets up and wakes you up when you are trying to sleep (after all, isn't that one of the major reasons J is purchased - rest potential?)

The seats are fine. They are a very nice product. The problem is the configuration when 2-3-2 with direct access already exists. It's a solved problem that ticks the revenue density boxes and the customer satisfaction boxes, yet EK, an airline that historically tried to innovate (first airline with personal IFE, first airline with enclosed suite doors in F) now cannot even copy an existing product - and that does not bode well for the future, given the history of the aviation industry. Standards very usually go one-way over a period of time...

The comparison with economy is not really relevant imho; that's like saying pity the people who have to take a packed ferry when you're in a Ryanair jet. Also, this is Flyertalk, the home of first world problems

Airline products, either between airlines and other forms of transport, as well as different cabin products are completely different products with completely different expectations (and prices). Although in reality you are simply buying a seat on a plane, some seats are sold and marketed as having additional features - the fact that a basic budget option exists doesn't mean basic budget expectations should still apply on the more expensive, different products. Even in economy people expect and should receive certain standards (of service, of product) - no one should begrudge them that just because they might be on el cheapo tickets. The same applies to those on expensive premium tickets.

For many passengers (most passengers, I think), you are correct of course that the choice of carrier is based on a combination of factors - especially on price point - but for many, many passengers, EK is certainly not the cheapest nor do they take advantage of food and drink because they are jaded travellers For them, it's a bit of a kick in the teeth, imho.

TPJ

Much ado about nothing then... Not impressed. How do they want to compete with QR 2-2-2 (current B777 product) or 1-2-1 (current Dreamliner product).

Canuck2012

Well, when I check ticket prices and see Emirates offering biz class fares for $500-1000 less (or more with a seat sale) than competing airlines, it's an easy choice.

Canuck2012

Don't forget about the new a350 1-2-1

eternaltransit

You're in CAI though, an EK sale land

Enhancements

Direct aisle access is constantly overrated in FT though... but understandable given how easy it is to describe and debate specs rather than the experience itself.

Price, catering and service IMHO are of much bigger weighting than needing to cross over one's feet 3 times in a flight.

eternaltransit

It's not a zero-sum situation though - direct aisle access in a 2-3-2 configuration doesn't change the cabin density except for perhaps the removal of 10-20 Y seats (and given loan factors are 80%, not 100% potential loss of revenue can be mitigated by a small premium on J fares justified by a now ostensibly superior hard product); catering remains the same; service improves in general (as there is individual access to seats, rather than leaning over people's movie watching, which is a minor irritation, but an irritation nonetheless, and in general, people in J do seem to inflate these minor irritations quite regularly )

Additionally, in situations where most people have little experience - so in this case, unless you're flying weekly in J/F long haul, that's what we mean - they reach out to any kind of comparable experience to provide a base-line: given the base-line comparisons are now going to be based on 1-2-1, 2-2-2, which is superficial sure, but we're talking about impressions, then that will pre-dispose many more negatively from the start - which I think is an avoidable mistake on EK's part.

DYKWIA

They already do compete... quite favourably.

Dieuwer

And of course with the 2-3-2 product also comes the nightmare of connecting in DXB by bus! Lovely...
So you save $500 compared to the other guys, but you medical bills are $1000 from all the stress and irritation.

m3red

You'll be ok no doubt taking advantage of the cheap J and f Alaska redemptions