newyorklondon

I'm a classic 'grass is greener' case with almost any airline J product. I long for BA on VS, and vice versa; I long for the DL 'coffin' on AA and vice versa. Ultimately these J - even F - cabins are flying dormitories, and it's hard to escape that at some point. I just mix it up these days.

And in the back of mind is some rose-tinted memory of my student flying days, when I'd take the early morning flights to London out of NYC (in the hope that these were not so full), and I'd put up the armrests across four or five Y seats in the middle section, and sleep like a baby. I'm sure it was - in reality - horrendously uncomfortable, but I have been known - when finding it hard to get to sleep in BA F - thinking fondly of those days!

MarkP24

That's funny! If you had to choose, what would be your preferred product?

newyorklondon

If we enter slightly into fantasy-land, what I'd really like from a J product is a slightly bigger (wider, longer) version of the DL One "coffin" (I like my privacy, and I don't mind being cocooned), with VS style of service, and the kind of catering one finds on AF/JL/NH J, with a simple, functioning loyalty mileage programme which has good opportunities in the US and Europe (the closest is probably BA/AA via ow).

And, yes, that is a pig flying by the window...

MarkP24

I also think D1 is my preferred seat

newyorklondon

Yeah, if I had to pick one 'as is', I'd probably go for D1 as the best of not a great bunch!

MarkP24

Have all 10 A330's been updated by now with the 1-1-1 configuration or is there still a chance I could end up in a 1-2-1 configuration? And does the new configuration feature their AVOD with touch screen as well as a USB charger so I can charge my devices instead of the old chargers that needed an adapter?

CommanderB

Yes all the 330-300's have been updated. They are now all 1-1-1. The new configuration does feature Vera touch and a USB charger. There is also the usual universal power in the seat pocket next to you, although it can be hard to use depending on the shape of your power adapter. 333 and 789 both have the universal power. Only the A340 uses the old Empower configuration now. More details here.

The 330-200's (ex Air Berlin) have different cabins right now, and thats details here.

MarkP24

Awesome! Thank you! So I'm likely better off in an A330 over an A340, right?

Per the VS link, it seems A340's have USB power as well. Is that correct? Do all A340's have that?

CommanderB

Definitely better to be on a 330-300 IMHO. Newer than the 340 and a smaller cabin too.

I can't remember where the USB is on the 340 - probably on the screen housing like all of the others, but I cannot remember - haven't flown the 340 Upper much.

FlyAO2

The argument that the "VS seat isn't bad" is true when comparing to BA which is terrible. DL seats (both on the 767 and A330) provide more privacy and more room to maneuver.

In certain markets (NYC, ATL, MSP) you can pick DL

MarkP24

Make sense!

Agreed that DL is preferred

Flexible preferences

The majority of BA's business class seats actually do have direct aisle access - around 2/3. Taking the two largest aircraft, the hi-J 747 has 59/86 business class seats with direct aisle access, and the A380 has 62/97. It still isn't 100% like VS, granted. Personally I'd prefer a BA window business class seat without direct aisle access to the virgin set up.

dougzz

I think this is slightly misleading. When people say direct aisle access, I think part of that is that others have direct aisle access without climbing over them, or waking them to get out. I don't dispute your calculation, just that direct aisle access in the context of these complaints is a bit more nuanced than it's literal meaning.

gengar

Absolutely, and is actually the typical definition on FT of 'direct aisle access' seating - the reason for this is that being in an aisle seat is worthless to many travelers if other pax need to climb over to access the aisle (i.e., the traveler would instead choose to be the pax climbing over than being climbed over). This is why, e.g., on the BA forum many FT'ers refer only to the window seats that don't need to climb over another pax as "direct aisle access" seats (e.g., 62/64 A/K on the upper deck), or on the UA forum only the D/E seats in old non-Polaris biz, etc.

Flexible preferences

Fair point, although I think your emphasis on 'climbing over' is misleading! We are not talking about an assault course here, with a 6 foot wall topped with barbed wire. If the person in the aisle seat is reclined it is for most people just a slightly large step over them. It needn't require waking them either, although I do accept there will be some circumstances where they will be disturbed.