Kacee

Right. A more pertinent question is how does it compare to CX, BR, NH, etc. Not well, I'm afraid. Though SQ still wins on food quality.

kaffir76

1. 1.88m is pretty tall and especially more so in Asia - may I suggest for your next flight (if there is one) to request for the bulkhead rows 11 or 19 esp. with your US size 12 feet
2. The flip down bed doesn't bother me - I kinda like fiddling with it & it provides a firm and flat bed which I personally like
3. I really don't think there is more room in Y, I took a walk thru' the aircraft on MAN-SIN & the cabin was 95% full and it looked really uncomfortable with arms, feet and legs sticking out in the aisles & propped up on the bulkhead.
4. I tried one of the regular seats (rows 22/23) and it is true, the foot cubby is tiny and angled to the side so it does look uncomfortable for sleeping but then again, JAL 787-9 aircraft are configured almost the same with a tiny but deep foot cubby angled towards the aisle & I really had a hard time sleeping on the overnight flight to NRT. And there is no difference whether it was a bulkhead or regular seat - it's all exactly the same.



I hope you found an airline that suits you - I would love to hear which airline got your PPS $$

fast passenger

I'm flying SQ22 on 4/15 in paid J. According to ExpertFlyer, row 19 is entirely open. I'm 6'2"/188cm, so it would be nice to have a little more space. However, I'm only KFEG so I'm not able to pick those seats online.

Is it worth giving SQ a call and asking them nicely? Has anyone had any luck with that?

Otherwise, they appear online 48 hours from departure, right?

Thanks in advance!

LTN Phobia

The major difference between JL 787-9 and the SQ long haul A350 is that JL one is straight in front, SQ long haul A350 one is to the side.

As a bad back sufferer, I cannot keep myself twisted if I want to avoid needing a wheelchair to get off. I'm short, but even a bit of a recline causes my feet to hit the 'bulge' from the seat in front. So, it really has very little legroom unless you twist yourself.
I'd say for most people, twisting wouldn't be quite such a problem, whereas it is rather difficult for me. Either I sit almost upright throughout the flight unless I get the bed down. Thankfully I haven't had any problem finding the bulkhead seat on my last 10 or so SQ flights on non-regional config so I have been able to avoid that problem.

On the other hand, I do like the SQ Regional A350 and 787 seats, and I don't mind the JL ones either, because the foot hole is right in front of my feet, and I don't need to twist.

ChrisLi

Now in-flight on the a350 from BCN to SIN.

I am somewhat similar with OP that of 1.8m tall and a US 13 feet, plus a relatively heavy build. While I love the width of the chair when sitting up right, I don't find the sleeping position too comfortable, I need to sleep on the side and bend a bit to fit in the space, and I have better sleep on Cathay and Air China business class with their flat bed as my feet is not stuck in the hole.

Of course the others has much worse food but I generally expect nothing in-flight and sleep all the way, I guess the design was ok but they didn't have sufficient test on the range of people gotta fly them. A 1-2inch longer seat may do the trick but that's just my opinions .

kaffir76

I got my seat 19K for both sectors SIN-IAH by calling in. It's worth a try, & definitely for your height

kaffir76

Good points, I'm also a bad back sufferer so I feel your pain.
The problem with the JL seat is that the hole is long & narrow. Once I inserted my legs into the hole, I could not move (I am a side sleeper)
So I had to take them out & bend my knees. Must have looked awkward to anyone walking past.
Another (Japanese) pax behind me actually slept on his stomach

I like the Regional version too though it looks a bit narrow & vertical, not as spread out as the LH version.
There's also a gap between the window seats & the window.
Also the bulkhead rows do not have the extra foot cubby space that the LH version has, so on the Regional it doesn't really matter which seat you choose.
There is an extra storage/shelf for the bulkhead window seats between the window & the foot cubby.

LTN Phobia

That's a pain! I have small feet (European 35-36) so I essentially never have any issues with the size of the foot hole, but I can see it being problematic for a lot of people.

The bulkhead seat on 'non-regional' SQ flights solve the issue of those twist seats but if you book late, you might find them being occupied and that's my long-standing problems with SQ. Thankfully, a lot of my SQ F/Suite-less flights are 'regional' now, although BNE currently seems to be a mix of long haul and regional.

FlyerEC

eponymous_coward

BA is taking their first A350 deliveries in July 2019 and will probably be deploying this new seat across their network for years (they won't be retiring their 747s using their old seat until 2024).

SQ took their first A350 delivery in March 2016 and kept the seat consistent with their other longhaul J products (77W, A380) until they decided to start taking midhaul A350s with a different lie-flat product (note that SQ flies much better J hard product short/midhaul than BA does- Club Europe is Y with blocked middle).

demue

+1. By 2025, when supposedly the BA fleet will be fully switched to the new suite, one can do another comparison to SQ. Let's see how things stack up then.

Don't get me wrong, the BA seat looks good, a very decent decision. I only wish they had taken that step 5-6 years ago and would not be facing the prospect of current Club World on majority of fleet for another 3 years or so before the scales may start to tip in favor of the new product to become the more dominant one.

LTN Phobia

Even though I really love the Club Suite concept, I wouldn't necessarily think ill of SQ for not implementing it. It's only QR and BA with 'doors' in J (and BA's Club Suite isn't flying yet), isn't it?

It also has a risk of adversely affecting F traffic. I know I'd prefer Club Suite to BA 777 F.

What I have against SQ J is the twist seat... Now that, I still cannot possibly work out how anyone sane thought that was a good idea!

Still, despite my feelings against them they managed get enough revenue from me to give me the PPS by driving me to Suite instead... Things work in mysterious ways

fast passenger

I just arrived home in Brooklyn after flying SQ22 in J on April 15. I tried and failed to get one of the bulkhead seats 48 hours and then 24 hours out. So, I ended up in my originally-picked 25A, an aisle seat about halfway through the rear J cabin. I am 6'2" and ~210 lbs, so I had low expectations after reading this thread and the SQ21/22 thread.

I thought the seat was fantastic.

Storage: I loved the sliding-door compartment in the top-left corner of the console. That's where my eye mask, glasses, earplugs, hand sanitizer, and moisturizer go. I also liked that it is "legal" to keep a small bag beneath the console during takeoff and landing. The headphone bin was also useful for keeping my phone connected to the AC plug but out of sight during the flight. The seat storage was so much better than the 2006 J product that I am most familiar with from SQ25/26, especially non-window 2006 J seats, since they lack the large bin on the side. The ledge on the console for drinks was nicely out of the way. I didn't fear dumping a cup of coffee all over the seat by bumping it with my arm or elbow. The table effortlessly adjusted vertically, and also could be angled JUST enough out of the way so I could exit the seat without folding the table away.

Sitting: The seat had a very comfortable upright position that is good for eating. In a lot of J seats, I feel like there is a major splatter risk (especially from noodle soup) unless I awkwardly sit forward and hunch over the table. I have definitely ruined a shirt with spicy oil in the BR Royal Laurel seat before because I neglected to hunch over the table. I didn't find that was necessary with the SQ A350 J seat. The seat is very supportive and just soft enough. I think the seat would also be ideal for working on a laptop, and also because the table glides up and down for good keyboard positioning.

Lounging: This was the only drawback to the seat, since you DO have to angle your torso so your feet can go in the footwell when the seat is maximally reclined. However, I didn't think it was that bad. The seat is wide and it has such a high side that I just used the big square pillow to make the angled position comfortable. It wasn't nearly as comfortable as the QSuite or BR seat for lounging, though.

Sleeping: This was the seat's biggest strength. I am a big person, and I loved the room for my shoulders and arms when the seat was in flat bed mode. I am a side sleeper, and I found that my arms and legs all had a place to go when lying on both sides. This made the seat better than reverse herringbone seats like the BR seat, which is narrow and constrains side-sleepers. The seatbelt was comfortable, much more so than the 2006 J seat. It was easy to roll over without being impeded by the belt. I also had room to lie fully extended on my back without my feet touching the end of the footwell. Lying diagonally wasn't weird because the flipped-over bed is a smooth surface—there aren't any cushion gaps to make you feel like you're at an angle. The footwell is indeed narrow, but it is also tall, so my size 12 feet had plenty of space vertically when lying on my back. Folding the seat to make the bed (and vice-versa) was a little annoying. I could fold it out myself, but I didn't have the ability to fold it back. Luckily, SQ FAs are always available to help. Their method was actually to sit on the edge of the bed and use their body weight to unlock it so it could be folded back, which was really funny and a complete design flaw in the mechanism. Despite this, the fold-out bed provided a seamless sleeping surface and a clean storage space for the blanket and the 2 smaller pillows so you don't have to deal with them in sitting/lounging mode.

Screen/controller/controls: The screen is of high quality, but I wish it was touch-enabled. The newer KrisWorld LOOKS like a touch UI, and the screen is so close to your face, it feels unnatural to reach over for the controller to do things. I didn't mind the controller, though, and the whole system was nicely responsive so who cares. Some folks have complained about bumping the controls on edge of the seat, but that didn't happen to me. I thought the seat lighting was bright but well-focused.

Location: The bulkhead seats offer more space for sure. But the row 15 bulkhead seats are next to the middle galley, which seemed to be the main galley on SQ22, and was almost always busy. There are also toilets here, so passengers (not FAs) are always leaving the curtain ajar on bathroom trips. The only J seats I would definitely avoid are the ones at the rear of each J cabin, especially in the back of the second one. Due to the fact there are only 4 toilets for J passengers on the ULR, there were sometimes people waiting their turn and that waiting area was close to these seats.

Overall: I think the SQ A350 seat is tied with the QSuite, and better than the BR seat, which is the (excellent) J product I have spent the most time in. It is way better than the 2006 SQ J seat and it blows away the old SQ regional J seats. As a side sleeper, it is also more comfortable than the coffin-like J seats on LX, CA, or CZ.

380Flyer

malgudi

14K for SIN-BLR .. I'm assuming this should be ok (it's a short flight), can change as the cabin is relatively empty ...