oliver2002

All aisle access can be done with the current seat by adjusting the angle of the window seat, QR and others do it in their 787 with the RC super diamond. You sit at an almost 45° angle to the direction of travel.

supine

Presumably in a 1-2-1 config instead of 2-2-2?

oliver2002

Yes, 1-2-1

FlyingMarco

Any chance to find out what Seats they will use? Seems like Lufthansa simply took A/C which had almost finished construction and did not change whatever Seats were supposed to go in there. Might it be possible that, as a result, those Dreamliners will have e.g. United Business Class seats?

oliver2002

In MUCforum there is some discussion which B789 are going to come to LH. I don't think they have interiors yet, IMHO LH will take whatever version of the seat & galley is already approved for the B789 without any futher STC application required.

FlyingMarco

Interesting take on this. I just recently talked to a friend of mine about this topic and we were wondering whether there might be Copyright issues occurring when taking over the seats of another airline? I mean, I can hardly imagine that (just as an example) SQ would be allowed to buy A-35K which already have QR´s QSuite built in. So I guess they will have to go with a "rather basic" interiour...

oliver2002

The interiors are ordered and paid for separately by the owner of the aircraft. Often they are 'line-fit' by BA/AB as the aircraft is built, sometimes they are retrofit by an appointed agency after delivery. BA/AB don't like to have to do complex linefits of anything, so they only work with a standard set of seat suppliers and only approve of certain types for each aircraft type. The same goes for IFE, galleys and other things that go into aircraft. Linefits that are too complex hold up the speed at which aircraft move down the line, require additional training of workers etc. For example LH Technik installs the P/E seat from ZIM in MUC when a new A359 is delivered.

If you look closely at the pictures of C cabins, AI/LO/ET/TK and others went for the same Zodiac seat that is a linefit option. Air China uses the standard version of the B/E (now RC) Diamond seat that LH has customised. Hainan had a standard version of the RC Super Diamond installed in the B789. If LH picks the standard version from the suppliers no one will object.

MichielR

Interesting you mention Hainan, as at least 4 of the white tails at Boeing are original Hainan ordered frames, LH will have the first of the 5 B789 delivered by end of the year & LH will have the RC Super Diamond seats in these 5, as you indicated earlier. Makes me guess that LH will take these Hainan frames with those seats.

FlyingMarco

Thanks for explaining this to me! So if I understand you and MichielR correctly, they might opt for a standard seat, which Hainan already uses in their existing A/C. I´ve just looked that up and I think the seats look great compared to the current (outdated) product of LH. How much customization would you say will be done to the seats before they are ready to be installed into the LH A/C? I guess they will not go with the colourway that Hainan uses.

Additionally, from a passenger point of view, I don´t find it very conveniently, that they introduce a different seat featured only in 5 A/C as this might lead to some confusion regarding the choice of seat. On the other hand though, the afforbalde price of those A/C might be worth it, anyway.

oliver2002

Yes, Hainan is one of the obvious white tails that may be some of the 5 B789s coming to LH. I doubt RC gave Boeing the seats during assembly as it was obvious that Hainan was already in BK at the time. The current guess is that it will be line numbers 887, 893, 898, 905, & 913. Those are all Hainan which later were assigned to Suparna and Vistara but then deffered but built.

Nick Art

Is it just me or do those seats look better than the new Lufthansa C images we have seen so far? :P

oliver2002

That's the RC super diamond. QR was the launch customer in 2012-13. Super space hog which explains the 26 seats in that area. LH wants to squeeze in 30-36 in such spaces.

Dave_C

It's a decent seat. American have it on most of their fleet (let's not mention the Concept 'D'). Plus its what the BA Club Suite is based on - this just has a door. Solid upgrade for LH, not market leading, but good enough. However I was also surprised about the low number of J seats - but surely a sub-fleet of five in this configuration is going to be really hard to manage longer term? What's the betting that they get reconfigured in a few years time to match the rest of the fleet?

Nick Art

And that's the answer to my question of why the new LH C layout looked so cramped (and in my opinion inferior) compared to other layouts currently available. That is of course solely based on the pictures so far. I'm hoping to be positively surprised

If I recall correctly Qantas using the Thompson Vantage XL (as some might have noticed: my favorite Business Class seat) has 28 or 30 seats on the front cabin. But that is only possible by having moved the galley and lavs behind the second set of doors. Doesn't American have 30 Super Diamond Seats in the front cabin of the 789 as well, by employing the trick of moving the galley behind the doors?

I agree, but knowing LH, until they finally get to reconfigure these planes another decade might have passed...

Nick Art

As for the interiors, aero.com now suggests that the first batch of 789s will feature the the Thompson Vantage XL seat, the same seat that is used in the A359s taken over from the philippines. Rejoice!

Aero.com, however, suggests that the completely new C will not be done by Thompson, but by Recaro (TAP, EL Al, Air China etc.)... Not sure if this is just speculation or what changed, since I believe this was discussed here before as the LH drawings really do look much more like the Recaro sets, but until now it was suggested Thompson would produce the new C. Not sure how I feel about this.