JetBlue will launch its new London to Boston flights in July

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• John T says:

  5 Apr5 April 10:35

  Is there a good reason as to why its so difficult to design 1-1 narrow body business class seats that face the windows? They can do it on wide bodies easily.

  What seat designer who has ever been on a plane before would think ‘all passengers would rather look the aisle than out the window’?

  • Rhys says:

    5 Apr5 April 10:41

    There aren’t a whole lot of lie flat seats designed for narrow bodies at the moment. That’s going to change in the next few years as more and more airlines move into the narrow body long haul market.

    Designing seats like this is quite challenging I think. It’s all about the tessellating geometries. For example, BA’s Club Suite seat wouldn’t work on a narrow body. In general I think narrow bodies need a steeper angle, which would affect entry/egress I think. But it’s an interesting question!

  • Mark says:

    5 Apr5 April 10:53

    The fundamental issue is that single aisle narrow bodies are quite a bit wider than half the width of any wide body, including the A380. Think six abreast in economy against a maximum of 10 abreast on a wide body. That means that anything which occupies the entire space between the window and the aisle to give direct aisle access has to be very wide and therefore, for effective use of space, sharply angled towards the aisle (as you can see from the Mint Blue photos). Reverse herringbone seats such as the Collins Super Diamond / Club Suite don’t work in that scenario without wasting a lot of space, neither does the kind of staggered seating of the type used by Iberia. A herringbone seating arrangement does work, but means the seats face away from the window. There are other possibilities, but generally they involve some kind of compromise.

    • John says:

      5 Apr5 April 11:16

      Are you saying that if all the seats faced the window they would have to face backwards too?

      • Rhys says:

        5 Apr5 April 11:31

        No. Reverse herringbone is like Club Suite – it means seats are angled toward the window, rather than to the aisle

        • chabuddy geezy says:

          5 Apr5 April 11:36

          American Airlines use a reverse herringbone seat in first class for their A321 transcon flights, agreed it is probably not the most efficient use of space though.

        • Mark says:

          5 Apr5 April 11:55

          Exactly that. If you look at pictures of AA first on their transcontinental A321s you’ll see the aisle is very wide. That may be acceptable for a small First cabin (in a three class setup), less so for a business cabin with more seats in it.

        • Geoff says:

          5 Apr5 April 13:08

          Well yes – but seats angled towards the aisle can be rear-facing or front facing.

    • lumma says:

      5 Apr5 April 16:53

      I thought JetBlue had staggered seats on their transcontinental flights? 1 row has 4 seats and 1 row has 2 throne seats. Means every other row has one with no direct aisle access though.

  • Mouse says:

    5 Apr5 April 11:51

    The simple way to think about it is to take the extreme case of seats that are shoulder to shoulder but at right angles to the aisle, and how you would access those seats. It works if the back of the seat is against the window/body of the plane, as the seat is facing the aisle, but if the back of the seat is against the aisle then there’s no way in (other than climbing over the back of the seat!). This is just a slightly less extreme version of the same problem.

    • Mark says:

      5 Apr5 April 11:59

      Exactly. They have to be at a sufficiently shallow angle to the cabin wall to allow for egress space between each of the seats. Otherwise you’d have to have a gap between each of the seats to allow access (or at least between every pair of seats).

  • happeemonkee says:

    6 Apr6 April 12:40

    https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-see-the-new-business-class-seat-design-narrowbody-planes-2022-2?r=US&IR=T

    Interesting concept from UK company Factory design. The ACCESS business class seat.
    Twin seats on a narrowbody with all aisle access. The only negative is they are not lie flat but recline to a “Z” position. Probably OK for an east cost – uk flight.

    • Rhys says:

      6 Apr6 April 12:55

      I don’t see it taking off. That mid-seat access looks VERY tight.

• Rich_A says:

  5 Apr5 April 11:16

  Are those really the flight numbers for Gatwick? Never seen a pair of flights operate with non-consecutive flight numbers.

  (Yes, I should get out more.)

  • Rhys says:

    5 Apr5 April 11:31

    I was surprised too.

  • Mark says:

    5 Apr5 April 12:14

    I suspect there are a fair few airlines that don’t (always) follow that convention. Even though BA flight numbers are allocated in pairs they are not necessarily operated that way. E.g. LHR-JNB normally has BA57 returning as BA54 and BA55 returning as BA56. Similar is true of BA’s JFK flights where due to Covid service reductions sometimes only one half of a given flight number pair has been operating at all.

• Sam says:

  5 Apr5 April 11:22

  The Mint cabin is excellent on the NYC- London route. You also get offered free upgrades on Heathrow Express if you fly in Mint.

• Richie says:

  5 Apr5 April 12:17

  Do business passengers really need to arrive in LON at 7.55am or earlier?

  • Rhys says:

    5 Apr5 April 12:25

    This isn’t new. The vast majority of US-UK flights landing between 6and 8am!

  • Panda Mick says:

    5 Apr5 April 12:31

    Yes… Allows me to go on my holibobs and be at my desk by 9am, not having to waste another day’s PTO

  • Rui N. says:

    5 Apr5 April 12:41

    Even if they don’t need, that how timezones work in any case. If you leave the east coast of the US late evening, you’ll arrive early in the UK.

    • Mark says:

      5 Apr5 April 13:41

      Depends how late of course. An 11pm departure will get you in around 11am, or a bit earlier with a good tail wind. That would generally be more my preference for getting maximum sleep but probably not the best option to maximise demand when you’re only offering one or two flights.

      • John says:

        5 Apr5 April 16:10

        11pm = 4am UK time, I want to be asleep long before that.

        • Mark says:

          5 Apr5 April 18:53

          Ah, but do you get up at 2-3am US Eastern Time on the day you fly back to get back on UK time before you fly, or do you just stay on UK time and not change your watch? 🙂

• BuildBackBetter says:

  5 Apr5 April 13:06

  Which other partner airlines can we credit the miles to?

  • BuildBackBetter says:

    5 Apr5 April 13:54

    Got this – AA would be my choice unless I need more Avios through QR’s program.

    • Rob says:

      5 Apr5 April 14:00

      Emirates too

• Paul Hickey says:

  6 Apr6 April 07:48

  Always wondered why so many flights go from London to Boston. It’s population is about the same as Leeds.

  • Brian says:

    6 Apr6 April 09:19

    the defined city limits of the very centre is around 500,000 as you say, but the greater metro area is 5million, and if you include providence and worcester its 8m+.

  • Rhys says:

    6 Apr6 April 09:33

    It’s the main international airport for all of the US north east!

    • David says:

      7 Apr7 April 00:21

      JFK might disagree!

• ADS says:

  6 Apr6 April 15:02

  Operating a single from each day from LHR and LGW is an interesting approach with limited LHR slots available. At least it gives some cover if there’s a technical problem with either aircraft. And gives the benefit of capturing a wider consumer base.

• ringingup says:

  7 Apr7 April 00:17

  According to QR’s website, you can earn Avios on JetBlue marketed and operated flights.

  • Rob says:

    7 Apr7 April 08:53

    I doubt that wording has changed since the transatlantic flights started though. Need some clarity as to whether those are included.

    • ringingup says:

      7 Apr7 April 10:55

      I’ve been able to add my Privilege Club to the booking… In the worst case we’ll find out in July!

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