Hi folks -

Flew BA F for first time yesterday coming back from Cairo and, yes, all the ooohs and aaahs about the food were well deserved. I now see why my friends refuse to fly AA over the pond if they have any say. Service was iffy with waiting to move seats after ice came dripping down on my head, but that was the dingbat FAs fault (she also started to get coats out on final approach to LHR before being told 'love, what are you doing, I'll do that after we land!' by the purser). Still, baklava and closing the cabin up for a nap were nice touches, and AA should be embarassed by their wine list in comparison. Pity it was a morning flight.

Here's the issue though. I'm a little over 6 feet and have big shoulders (I lift). In Club World, my bare feet were pretty much crushed against the seat back in front in bed configuration. In F, I could in fact wiggle my feet with the bed - but the seat arms pushed my arms up since I was too wide for the seat. Hard to nap on my back that way.

I find one of the things I really like on the AA 777 F is the ability to lower the seat arms. Don't feel like you're in a coffin that way.

Now, since I have 19 segments left and may rejigger my RTW anyway...I'm curious to hear about other people's impressions of CX/QF/LA/IB F seats. The board has been really, really helpful in terms of service, but I've done a couple searches and haven't found anything on the length/width issue. Love to hear suggestions. Thanks!

CX First seats have arms that drop, but I think the seat itself is marginally (perhaps one inch) narrower than the BA seat.

Thanks for the quick response. The narrowness didn't bother me as much as the ability to not feel scrunched because of the armrests...I usually put pillows on the arm rests in J class on AA so to avoid that.

Any feedback on the other airlines?

Lan Chile doesn't. I expect that Iberia doesn't since they use similar seats, but I dont know for sure. The Qantas 747 I was on didn't drop down, but it was also a very old jet and I think their seats have been updated since. I believe you will find Cathay's the most comfortable in part also because your feet are not next to the person in front of you like BA's are. They are fully behind the seat.

Hi,

QF have rock hard coffins as seats in F. No droppable arms and the CSM suggested that I would find it more comfortable to sleep on top of the duvet rather than under it.

Cheers,

nonce

I'm very broad shouldered as well, but don't remember having a problem with the BA or QF First seats... BA I remember being very comfortable in particular. LanChile however was too narrow, I couldn't recline the seat completely without my shoulders being squeezed.

Wow, glad to see there are others out there who get pinched. Erk about QF, given that will be my longest haul flight after the CX flight that I'm toying with switching to AA to NRT (and then CX to HKG then AKL)...hope that was on the old seats...

On Lan Chile, was that on a 340 or a 767 (or do they have the same seats?)

The seats are similar, but not identical. I would go for the A340 as it is definately not narrower than the 767 seat, but I cannot say with certainty that it is wider. Overall, the A340 seat is better (go for the center seat for the most space), but the differences are, overall, minimal.

I don't understand how the arm rests can affect your shoulders that much... On CX F, your shoulders are still in the 'shell' of the seat. Subsequently, when you're lying down, your shoulders and arms are nowhere near the arm rest. It makes 'getting out of bed' so much easier.. To me (I'm about 5'10"), dropping the arm rest when lying down allows you to stick your leg outside your cabin space.

Now, whether the 'shell' of the seat squeezes your shoulders, I didn't have a problem. I'm not that big, but not skinny either. I think you'll only have trouble if you're built like competitors on World's Strongest Men. Then again, if you're built like that, I suspect you'll have this problem at most places...

Also note that CX will be dropping F between HKG and AKL from April.

Flew most of the OW carriers in F. I am 6 ft, so length is not a problem, but width.

Here my comments:
Seats on BA and QF are almost identical. The lauyout in the 747 is different: BA has 5 on each side and two pairs of 2 in the middle. QF 4 on the sides, 3 pairs in the middle. 14 seats total, seats fairly narrow, some seats are extremly narrow close to the walkway (especially where your feets are). Better privacy on single seats on BA because of the layout.

IB and LA have 2-1-2, feets are not boxed in. More space, but less privacy. Likely better for tall people. 767 and 340 seats on LA seem to be identical in width, on the 340 (wider plane than the 767) there is an extra storage container next to the middle seat.

CX has 12 seats on the 747, actually my prefered seat for sleeping. Wider and more space around than BA/QF. 4 across on the A3x0. Only negative: very small armrest between you and the aisle, so people walking by are more notiacle.

AA: depends which config you get. Suites are nice, old seats are fairly narrow. I try to avoid them, because you are never sure which seat you get and also because of food/service/attitude etc.

Generall the seats which just move back (IB,LA,LH) give more shoulder/arm space than the seats which move forward (CX,BA,QF,SQ) because the armrests dont interfere

Heh, fair point. It's not actually my shoulders per se, but I have found that I sleep better on my back with my arms close at my side. If the seat is narrow...think about elbows in pain...not a lot of fun. I usually use pillows in AA J on the armrests to make it workable.

Thanks for the heads up on CX HKG-AKL. Glad I'm going to try that in March. Given the feedback here might even try to do the return on them through HKG and sacrifice the segment rather than do QF direct...or for that matter do a mileage run on them HKG-BOM rather than fly across Ozland. My last experience in QF J (YVR-HNL a couple years ago) didn't exactly thrill me, although it was on a 767 and clearly not their best stuff.

Also toying with doing SCL-MIA on an AA 777 and doing a cheapo bought ticket back up to BOS rather than SCL-JFK on the LA flight...more miles given the trip miles promotion, a chance to book up for the AABOS promotion, and I know I can sleep on that. The LA food and experience I'm sure I'll get doing LAX-SCL-IPC-SCL, along with practicing my ol' spanish on the reported beautiful FAs.

And yes, I know I'm spoiled sorting through F like this, but hey, its part of the fun.

Be aware that HKG-BOM is a two class plane with "Regional" Business Class, which might not be as comfortable as running around Oz if you can pick the right planes there.

Hmmm, what are the 'good' routes in/through Oz then? Trying to find a picture of the CX regional seats on airliners.net...

I'd also forgotten the fun at MIA before I saw the recent thread on the AA forum. Making me reconsider changing...

Oh, by the way, my experience with the LA F seats (which I think has been repeated elsewhere) -

The A340 has the exact old (circa 2000-2001) blue AA F seats from the 767, down to the massage button. Not quite wide enough for arms to rest comfortably, but at least they give you a duvet to pad it and it does recline to flat enough so if its not 180 its real close. Slept ok, not great. The 767 I was on (SCL-IPC-SCL) had older F seats (looked like 1998 models) with less functionality (only 1 lumbar, not 2), less recline, and less width. Wouldn't want to spend 13 hours in them.

Of course, all is much better than the 757s I'm taking to SJO, but such is life...