Air France launches its new fully-flat business class seat

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• Richie says:

  16 Mar16 March 06:13

  1-2-1 that’s pretty good compared to ba’s 2-4-2..

  • Mark says:

    16 Mar16 March 10:20

    That’s not quite a fair comparison though since these seats are angled and the rows overlap. The main benefit over BA will be the direct aisle access.

    The reduced seating density will translate to more space, just not necessarily where it is useful.

• Paul says:

  16 Mar16 March 08:20

  Looks stunning and AF seem to have added a certain French style to what is fast becoming the standard for business class.
  It’s interesting how AF release real pictures of real products whilst in same week the best BA could do for a new Firts product was a picture if the seat number and table!
  It looks like in the next few years at least we can expect even lower ex EU fares as BA trys to compete with new products of AF KLM as well as the onslaught from the Middle East. Sure it won’t help redemptions but I have pretty much given up in BA in any case, as it is now so hard to find seats.
  I haven’t paid for a BA long premium seat for two years preferring CX to the East and AA to the USA and have been lucky that AA intruduced their new seat on routes I use. It is really fabulous and whilst missing the panache of Cathay it really does give BA first a run for its money.

  • Alan says:

    16 Mar16 March 11:09

    Agree it’s much better than just a picture of a seat number, although these are renderings rather than actual photos 😉 (see the pattern of light from the reading lamp, the extremely straight curtains, the colours that are just a little too punchy, etc.)

• James67 says:

  16 Mar16 March 10:11

  Having originally set the trend I fear BA are now sleepwalking into a tippung pount where they will rapidly lose premium market share. I cannot believe their complacency, even their new F is woefully inadequate. They are taking their best customers for granted AF J looks good but IMO the best j product is TG a380.

  • Tim says:

    16 Mar16 March 11:55

    You might be roght but remember BAs set up is more space efficient. At 35, 000ft real estate is very expensive and efficient utilisation thereof may be the most important factor here. Expect a tweak but not an abandonment of ying yang when the A350 arives

    • James67 says:

      16 Mar16 March 16:02

      But I am paying for that space, the cabin ambiance is important to me. The reason I much prefer TG and SQ j on an a380 is a combination of quietness and stability of flight, along with great seats and the space/cabin ambiance mix the1-2-1 layouts provide. I am not interested in BAs operation efficiency, I’m interested in what I get for my £s. BA is not cheap and as such I feel I am getting much less per £ than other carriers offer me. I think other pax, like me, will increasingly go elsewhere: the price/foot pax space on BA is probably higher than a y other airline in most cases and that is often for a horrible old 777. No thanks. I already largely abandoned the hotel loyalty game. If a huge devaluation comes to BA also I will abandon airline loyalty too in favour of best value on a flight by flight basis.

      • Mark says:

        17 Mar17 March 00:16

        Sure, but the decisions are ultimately taken by BA management on the basis of what they think is right for the commercial success of the airline. As such it is a big picture tradeoff between the competitiveness of the hard/soft product, price, number of seats available to sell, operational costs, effectiveness of the loyalty scheme etc.

        Clearly some people will be more concerned about this like direct aisle access than others. Some will care more that BA Club World guarantees them a flat bed regardless of route or aircraft. Others will be less experienced travellers and may not give much consideration to the differences that exist elsewhere / may just be focussed on building their Avios and Tier Points to a worthwhile amount.

        Does reducing the overall capacity in order to make the remaining seats more attractive make sense to the decision makers? That will depend on the loads and revenue across the route network. If they are healthy then retaining the status quo may well make better business sense in the short term at least, even if it means losing a few customers as a result.

        As and when that changes I have no doubt BA management have their eye sufficiently on the bottom line to make the necessary changes.

        • Rob says:

          17 Mar17 March 08:49

          Also be careful what you wish for. Fewer seats would mean fewer redemptions!

        • Mark says:

          17 Mar17 March 09:15

          I’m not wishing for it, if only on that basis 🙂

          I suspect redemption availability is a bigger issue in the scheme of things than whether or not all Club seats have direct aisle access.

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