IFE, meals, and other flight enhancements (03/26/14 Announcement)
Mar 27, 2014, 1:52 pm
#61
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: SFO / SJC / OAK
Programs: AS / CSR / AMEX
Posts: 266
AA was the first U.S. airline to offer lie flat in business class back in 2006. It was hardly behind anything. US Airways, meanwhile, takes a wonderful business class seat and screws it up. The Envoy seats, as trimmed, are a complete embarrassment. AA hopefully removes them or keeps them for mid-haul flying where they are acceptable.
From personal experience, I thought US Air's seat would have been more comfortable than even the Emirates J seat I flew in were it not for Emirates offering a mattress pad. I think, like many have said, the hard product in Envoy had been excellent (all seats have aisle access, the pods provide a fair amount of privacy, good storage, decent IFE, seats actually lie and feel flat) Yes, the soft product could be improved, but hard product wise, I think US had it down.
Mar 27, 2014, 2:06 pm
#62
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Formerly PHL suburbs, now Tucson
Programs: Formerly US CP & AA EXP, now Gold
Posts: 150
Mar 27, 2014, 2:16 pm
#63
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: BOS
Programs: Marriott LTG, HHonors Diamond, Nat'l Exec
Posts: 3,581
Mar 27, 2014, 4:41 pm
#64
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: los angeles, calif.
Programs: Alaska Airlines Gold MVP
Posts: 7,170
I've also seen Envoy as a Y+ product with a J seat. US has priced it accordingly, so to that end, there's no complaint.
Mar 27, 2014, 4:50 pm
#65
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: BOS
Programs: Marriott LTG, HHonors Diamond, Nat'l Exec
Posts: 3,581
Mar 27, 2014, 10:08 pm
#66
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: DCA
Programs: AA Executive Platinum
Posts: 2,085
The US and AA seat are from the same manufacturer-B/E Aerospace, only thing is AA has the 7-series model and US has the 3-series model.
Having flown both seats, the AA suite is far more private as it has a larger shell enclosing it, better padding, more storage and of course better IFE content.
http://www.jpadesign.com/transport/project/7
Let's not forget that US is the airline that doesn't activate the IFE system when flying domestically because they are too stingy to get adequate licensing from the content providers. It's non-sense like this that AA pax don't want to be a part of through this stupid merger.
Having flown both seats, the AA suite is far more private as it has a larger shell enclosing it, better padding, more storage and of course better IFE content.
http://www.jpadesign.com/transport/project/7
Let's not forget that US is the airline that doesn't activate the IFE system when flying domestically because they are too stingy to get adequate licensing from the content providers. It's non-sense like this that AA pax don't want to be a part of through this stupid merger.
And now the truth comes out. Your last sentence says it all....
Your comments about service execution are spot on and I'll agree with them. US execution is usually not as polished as other carriers. But the hard and soft product in Envoy is very, very comparable to other airlines' J class, especially the other US majors. This attitude that AA is SQ and US is like Cubana is silly. Maybe 10 years ago. But not today. I really encourage you to try Envoy as it really is quite pleasant.
However, domestic is a different story. I will admit that I hands down look forward to US raising up to the AA standard.
Mar 27, 2014, 11:54 pm
#67
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: High Point, NC
Programs: None
Posts: 9,171
Jim
Mar 28, 2014, 12:05 pm
#68
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: West Coast, USA
Programs: Skywards Platinum
Posts: 3,747
The US and AA seat are from the same manufacturer-B/E Aerospace, only thing is AA has the 7-series model and US has the 3-series model.
Having flown both seats, the AA suite is far more private as it has a larger shell enclosing it, better padding, more storage and of course better IFE content.
http://www.jpadesign.com/transport/project/7
Let's not forget that US is the airline that doesn't activate the IFE system when flying domestically because they are too stingy to get adequate licensing from the content providers. It's non-sense like this that AA pax don't want to be a part of through this stupid merger.
Having flown both seats, the AA suite is far more private as it has a larger shell enclosing it, better padding, more storage and of course better IFE content.
http://www.jpadesign.com/transport/project/7
Let's not forget that US is the airline that doesn't activate the IFE system when flying domestically because they are too stingy to get adequate licensing from the content providers. It's non-sense like this that AA pax don't want to be a part of through this stupid merger.
Mar 28, 2014, 12:35 pm
#69
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2001
Location: LAX; AA EXP, MM; HH Gold
Posts: 31,789
Neither do AA's; they're 171 degrees. (Slightly better than CO at 170 degrees, but NW's were actually 176 degrees.)
AA's crummy angled-flat seats recline to 180 degrees and make a flat surface, albeit one that is angled about nine degrees away from horizontal. Barney Gimbel then subtracted that nine degrees to arrive at the ignorant (and factually incorrect) conclusion that AA's seats recline to only 171 degrees.
180 degree flat seats aren't necessarily parallel to the floor, and AA's crummy NGBC seats are no exception. Just like the seats at LH and JL and other airlines that haven't replaced slanty seats with parallel to the floor flat seats.
The NW seats, on the other hand, did not recline a full 180 degrees, rather they reclined to 176 degrees.
Mar 28, 2014, 2:48 pm
#70
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: BOS
Programs: Marriott LTG, HHonors Diamond, Nat'l Exec
Posts: 3,581
AA's crummy angled-flat seats recline to 180 degrees and make a flat surface, albeit one that is angled about nine degrees away from horizontal. Barney Gimbel then subtracted that nine degrees to arrive at the ignorant (and factually incorrect) conclusion that AA's seats recline to only 171 degrees.
[...]
The NW seats, on the other hand, did not recline a full 180 degrees, rather they reclined to 176 degrees.
[...]
The NW seats, on the other hand, did not recline a full 180 degrees, rather they reclined to 176 degrees.
Regardless, it's losing sight of the initial point, which is that AA wasn't breaking any particularly new ground with its seats in 2006. They rolled out -- to use your term -- "crummy angle flat seats," when several other US carriers already had angle flat seats, and European carriers had actual flat beds. At the time, their PR people admitted openly that they'd considered fully flat seats but "We'd lose a whole row of seats if we went completely flat." The WSJ at the time opined that "American couldn't wait any longer to place its new-seat wager."
The American of 2006 was not an airline that was innovating; it was an airline that was grudgingly catching up, and doing so on the cheap.
Mar 28, 2014, 2:59 pm
#71
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: High Point, NC
Programs: None
Posts: 9,171
The US 767 Envoy seats are the 170 degree recline, flat on an angle seat. Lots of US FFers don't like the 767 seat nearly as much as the A330 true horizontal flat seat in part because of that 10 degree difference.
The old A330 seats in what was generally referred to as row 1 started life as international FC under Wolf. They were a true 180 degree recline, horizontal seat when fully reclined and believe it or not there is a difference between a 170 degree recline and a true flat, horizontal seat for sleeping.
Jim
The old A330 seats in what was generally referred to as row 1 started life as international FC under Wolf. They were a true 180 degree recline, horizontal seat when fully reclined and believe it or not there is a difference between a 170 degree recline and a true flat, horizontal seat for sleeping.
Jim
Mar 29, 2014, 11:06 am
#72
Used to be Sydneysider
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Location: CPH
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