Tomb1K

Just came back Friday on UA 953 FRA-IAD in the new C cabin. Here are my findings:

* The lie-flat seat really worked for me. Although it was a day-time flight, I slept like a baby for 3-4 hours. This alone will make a huge difference on eastbound redeyes where I often cannot sleep at all, or only very little.

* The new 15-inch screen is nice, good picture quality (the LCD itself) and the IFE was rather fully stocked. Dozens of movies, hundreds of episodes of popular TV shows, quite a few games and quizzes and lots of music. I found the classical selection to be lightweight (as always). As others have reported, the map and flight-info is much more detailed. Still some serious performance issues with lots of stuttering on movies. Also, navigation and FF/Rew wasn’t very smooth. A UA (or Panasonic) engineer on the flight indicated they had the problem identified, just weren’t able to fix it during the Thanksgiving week. In his opinion it probably required hardware updates. Some movies were encoded in OK quality (though still a little blurry) while others seemed to have been encoded for the much smaller old screen and were very blurried. I trust they will get this right.

* I have a serious gripe with the lack of stowage space: I am used to dropping my bag under the seat in front of me, having it handy at all times. There is no space for that in the new C – and it’s not allowed during takeoff and landing. Also, I normally make generous use of the seat pockets in front of me and the little compartment under the armrest of old UA C/F seats. These seats have absolutely no stowage space whatsoever. Your napkin after dinner? Keep it in your lap until the FA picks it up. Glasses while you sleep? Put them on the narrow edge under the LCD, hoping for a smooth ride so they don’t drop to the floor. (This edge does add a bit of horizontal space, which is good). Headphones when not in use? Keep them around your neck or get up and put them into the overhead bin. A used newspaper? Put in on the floor under your feet. There is a small magazine compartment, but with Hemisphere, Duty-Free, IFE booklet etc it is already packed. New F seats have stowage space, but not C, which is a huge oversight in my opinion.

* Along the same lines, space in general was very tight all the way around. It is indeed clever that the armrest can slide down to provide a little more width. But even then, I found myself a bit crammed all the time. Admittedly, this should be compared to the old 767 C seat, not the wider one in 747/777. Possible the new 747/777 seats will be roomier.

But despite these shortcomings, it is a huge step forward from the current 767 C seat. And still better than current 747/777 C seats for sleeping and entertainment. Definitely my preference for redeyes. For daytime flights the old 747/777 is roomier and may be more practical – but requires an Empower adapter to keep your laptop running, whereas the new seats have 110V.

I don’t have too much experience with other carriers’ business class seats, but here are comparisons to what I know:

* Lufthansa’s combined F/C on the A340s is nice, with good features. But I never slept well in their flat-though-not-quite horizontal seat. They have the stowage requirement figured out (including a clever little compartment for glasses). And they know classical music! Other than that UA’s new C handily beats it. And UA’s new F beats it by far.

* SAS used to have unbelievably small seats in a combined F/C cabin. I haven’t flown SAS overseas in a while and they may have improved. I know they introduced a premium “EuroSleeper” seat on some routes (essentially an F upgrade) which may be competitive. As I recall, their food and amenities in C are significantly better than UA’s (which doesn’t take much).

* I used to fly Delta, but haven’t for several years. Back in those days, their BusinessElite seats (combined F/C) were quite a bit better and larger than UA’s current C seats. And their food was way superior. Again, that’s a long time ago, and their soft products may have deteriorated like most US carriers’. I understand they are also putting in lie-flat seats now, so I would think they remain competitive.

Once again, it was a great experience. On redeyes to Europe, I will try to get the upgraded 767s when I can in the coming months, even if it means less convenient routes and connections. On returning daytime flights, however, I will not go out of my way to get it since I mostly work on those flights.

Of course I cannot wait to try the 747/777 once UA get around to upgrading those!