Lie Flat F on VX
 

Hi y'all (is that allowed from an Aussie??)

A few months ago I did the US with VX across all of their routes at the time in F. It cost me pennies (given the new F prices) and I was EXTREMELY happy with the product and service. I posted a summary of my trip findings at the time if you care to review it. Fanboy status engaged.

Anyway, one thing I neglected to mention in my findings was that on one of my flights (I have a vague recollection since I took every advantage of the pre-flight drinkies or SFO Upper Class drinkies), one of my flights had a malfunctioning F seat. That is, the electronics for recline etc were not working. Naturallly, I brought this to the attention of the FA almost immediately who not only made mention of some sort of credit voucher thereafter (which turned out to be $25 USD and then up to $50 after I stated this was a waste to me since I wouldn't be travelling in the US in the next 12 months), but she then went to work and not only fixed the problem, but made the F seat lie flat!!!

I have not the patience nor will (sips scotch 'n' coke) to review prior posts, and strike me down if I am repeating anyone, but if you're not aware, underneath the armrest in F, at the very back, there is a removable plastic bit. When you remove that, you won't see much, however you need to remove another plastic bit under that and voila! You have the manual knobs/controls to override the electronics of the F seat so that the seat will recline all the way until anything behind it stops it. Of course, row 1 has the best recline... when you release the lever and let gravity dump the seat on row 2 seat you've almost got a 180 degree horizontal lie flat bed. Obviously, you'd need to ensure there was noone travelling in the two seats behind you in row 2. The electronics of row 2 can be overridden with this lever to allow a greater recline (only an extra ~10%), but not anywhere near as much as row 1 would allow with noone behind you.

Even if you had a vacant row 2 behind, I would assume you'd want to alert the F class FA to your intentions to ensure that this manual intervention was OK since it clearly aint a standard recline feature, let alone design/safety allowance. In anycase, if you are able to do so for longer flights, the extra recline is almost offering you Int'l business style lie flat bed for row 1.

Very interested to hear everyone's opinions... I'm pretty certain others have experienced and can comment on this feature.

GM

Nice find ^. There have been posts about having to manually recline the seats, but I don't know of anyone who realized they can recline all the way.

If you had a lot of $$ to burn (and could ensure you were allowed to recline all the way), you could also book the seat behind you for a transcons. It would also need to be a window seat, or someone would get trapped! :D

...does the footrest also come up all the way?


- where in Australia are you from? Are you looking forward to VA starting next year? I am (I do lots of BNE-SFO travel)

Nope, the foot rest remains the same. Its just the seat back that reclines further.

Melbourne Australia here. I could care less for VA starting next year since they don't have first class cabins and I am a QFF with a vested interested in my status/points balance. I have an upcoming AONE4 next year which will see me hold Platinum for 3+ years, so no intention of flyling any airline outside of OW that doesn't allow me to Flounge (access to First Class lounge regardless).

I guess the only benefit to VA and any other airlines starting up on the Pacific route is that it will hopefully open up more biz/first award availbility on QF.