OK, that walk through video makes it look better and larger. But we should know it is larger as it is 1-1-1. With AF's 1-2-1 private suites the two window suites are smaller in width but of course it has the advantage of allowing a couple to have a private suite in the two middle seats.

I won't judge which is best because I would be VERY happy to be in either the EK or AF suite. But again, it's EK catching up to AF with the private suite and still failing to match AF's industry best ground service.

If you fly in an actual private suite, with full floor to ceiling doors or curtains, it does make a difference. At least to me, but everyone is different. Flying AF to PEK for instance I slept comfortably the entire flight with full privacy and the Sofitel bedding. So this is a game changer relative to the previous EK seats. But not relative to the competition that already had the fully private suites.

That is fair, La Premiere is outstanding from start to finish but the two products are so different that it would be hard to compare.

Nope, at least nothing official.

The service hatch also has to be open during taxi, takeoff and landing.

Good walk through Chris. You should put that on YouTube.

New first class is bookable on flights from Dec 1st to BRU and GVA.

Cheapest option I see right now to fly new F is $4k on BRU-DEL. (There is probably cheaper, didn't do a lot of research)

That sounds good, but it would really suck to have your new cabin airplane swapped out at the last minute for a mechanical. Such things happen, including once to me. I'll wait til there are a lot more of these new cabins flying.

It might be a long wait as there's only 6 or 7 more expected. The only saving grace might be if it is retro-fitted, but no news on that yet.

Any suggestions on which seats to chose when flying in a couple?

For me the real disappointment is that for the foreseeable future at max there will be 10 777-300ER with the new first (the 2 delivered and 8 additional new frames)

There has been no mention of retro-fitting 777’s already in service and Sir Tim Clark suggested it could be a while before the new first was seen on the A380 due to integration issues, and even then probably only on new frames.

Can’t help but feel a bit ripped off that after all the fanfare, expectation and hype that for the next 2+ years, at most we can expect 4% of the EK fleet to offer the updated product.

Singapore are going to have all their A380’s fitted with the new product by the end of next year either from new aircraft or retro-fitting the aircraft already in service.

I appreciate that EK have a substantially larger fleet than SQ, but there’s currently a lot of aircraft stored that could be updated with minimal disruption to services.

Why introduce this “gamechanging” new product that the vast majority of travellers will not be experiencing for a considerable period of time?

It doesn't matter, none of the seats are designed for couples.

Short video I've made on the new 777-300ER with the new first class suite, business class and economy class! Have a look :)

I think most passengers don't realise how big of an investment this really is. To overhaul the entire fleet will cost billions of dollars. From a financial perspective, this isn't feasible at all. For what? it's not like loads will suffer with the current product. SQ is spending $850mn to upgrade it's 18 A380s. With EK's current ~145 777 in service it doesn't make any sense spending that kind of money for a marginal increase in passenger amenities. It will not generate any additional revenue, if any.

EK makes a big fanfare about it because it is part of their marketing strategy. They have no intention to retrofit the entire fleet, though they must update the product to keep up with the competition. As long as a small percentage of the fleet has the new F class, they are able to use this as a marketing tool for themselves.

The downside to this strategy is that you'll now get the complaints from customers expecting the new F, but getting the current version. If there are only 10 games, there's gonna be a lot of disappointment.